The Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) has granted its first nuclear site licence to an operating facility in 15 years today. ONR’s Chief Nuclear Inspector, Mark Foy, granted the licence to Inutec Limited (Tradebe Inutec) who occupy part of the Magnox Limited Winfrith nuclear site in Dorset.
A new site licence was required following Tradebe Inutec’s acquisition of buildings and land at the Winfrith site from the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) in February 2019. Up until this point, Tradebe Inutec had been operating as a tenant of Magnox Limited under their nuclear site licence but their operations will continue beyond those of Magnox Limited and the subsequent delicencing of the Magnox Limited Winfrith site.
The existing Magnox Limited Winfrith licence has also been revoked and re-licenced today to account for the changes on the Winfrith site.
Tradebe Inutec‘s application for a new licence, submitted in April 2016, was the subject of comprehensive assessments by ONR. The degree of ONR assessment was proportionate to the scope of Tradebe Inutec‘s operations and in line with the regulator’s published guidance. It focused on those areas where responsibilities are changing and those which are judged to be important for nuclear safety.
Inutec Limited’s nuclear licenced site will now fall under ONR’s regulatory regime and be subject to regular inspections by a team of its inspectors.