Executive summary
Date(s) of inspection:
October 2025
Aim of inspection
To judge the adequacy of Devonport Royal Dockyard Limited's (DRDLs) response to Regulatory Issue, RI-12126 focussing on continued delivery of safety performance in line with routine regulatory attention. This inspection is the last of a series of inspections targeting the safety leadership and culture attributes from our guidance on the Assignment of Dutyholder Attention Levels, ONR-GEN-GD-013. It will sample DRDL's progress on the observations and advice provided during the previous inspection, IR-52959.
Subject(s) of inspection
- Leadership & Management for Safety - Rating: Green
Key findings, inspector's opinions and reasons for judgement made
The purpose of this inspection was to judge the adequacy of Devonport Royal Dockyard Limited's (DRDLs) response to Regulatory Issue, RI-12126 focussing on continued delivery of safety performance in line with routine regulatory attention. This inspection was the last of a series of inspections targeting the safety leadership and culture attributes from our guidance on the Assignment of Dutyholder Attention Levels, ref. ONR-GEN-GD-013 and will be used to inform ONR's decision on DRDL's regulatory attention level for 2026. It was undertaken in collaboration with DRDL's internal regulatory function and sampled DRDL's progress on the observations and advice provided during the previous inspection, IR-52959. This inspection was undertaken and rated against published guidance on regulatory expectations, as described in relevant aspects our guides NS-TAST-GD-072 - Function and Content of a Safety Management Prospectus, NS-TAST-GD-080 - Nuclear Safety Advice and Independent Challenge, NS-TAST-GD-104 - Corporate Governance for Safety and ONR-INSP-GD-064. Based on the evidence sampled at the time of the intervention against DRDL's arrangements and documentation, and regulatory guidance we judged that DRDL had satisfactorily addressed the requirements of RI-12126.
Conclusion
Based on the findings of the intervention, I consider that DRDL has adequately documented and implemented its revised governance and assurance arrangements thereby providing confidence on the delivery of sustainable safety performance in line with routine regulatory attention level. DRDL's nuclear safety governance framework was observed to be operational and functioning as a system. This included a sample observation of the Devonport Licensing Committee (a sub-committee of the board), which provided confidence that appropriate challenge and advice will be provided to the DRDL board in relation to compliance with the site licence. Confidence in the framework was further assured by the surveillance provided by DRDL's internal regulatory function, which has included a separate intervention into other aspects of the framework and identified further observations that will improve its effectiveness. They have committed to continued oversight of these, which provides further evidence of DRDL's ability to self-regulate and act autonomously in support of its move to routine regulatory attention.
It is therefore judged that an inspection rating of Green (No formal action) is merited, in accordance with ONR Guide ONR-INSP-GD-064, where relevant good practice was met when compared with appropriate benchmarks and, no significant shortfalls were identified in the delivery of safety functions.