Nine staff to take on UK nuclear safeguard regime

Responsibility for replacing Euratom safeguards would fall to handful of individuals at nuclear regulator

The nuclear regulator employs just nine staff to deliver the safeguarding tasks that the UK will be taking back responsibility for after it quits Euratom, the energy minister has admitted.

In a written answer to a question submitted by recently elected business select committee chair Rachel Reeves, Richard Harrington said that the Office for Nuclear Regulation’s (ONR) safeguards unit has nine staff. The nine-strong team, which is made up of various grades, makes up 1.5 per cent of the ONR’s total headcount of 568, he added.

Reeves had asked Harrington, who was recently appointed parliamentary under-secretary at the department for business, energy and industrial strategy, how many staff the Office for Nuclear Regulation employed to undertake nuclear safeguard inspections and activities under the UK’s Euratom obligations.

Harrington assured that BEIS is working closely with the ONR, which is due to take over Euratom’s currently role in safeguarding nuclear materials and labour when the UK quits the pan-European body following Brexit, to ensure it is ready for its enhanced responsibilities.

He said: “We are working closely with the ONR to ensure that they will be in a position to take on the role and responsibilities required to meet our international safeguards and nuclear non-proliferation obligations upon leaving Euratom.”

The publication of the new figures follows a warning from senior Lib Dem in the House of Lords that it takes five years to train a nuclear inspector.

Reeves said: “We know that normal business could be disrupted across the nuclear industry if there is a failure to put in place a regime providing equivalent safeguards. If the Government is determined to leave Euratom, there will inevitably be additional costs in establishing an alternative regulatory regime. It is up to the Government to explain what these costs are likely to be.”

A spokesperson for the Nuclear Industry Association said that the figures underlined the complexity of quitting Euratom.

He said: “Leaving Euratom is going to be a complex and time-consuming process to replicate the safeguarding agreements currently undertake by Euratom.

“The best outcome would be for the UK to continue with some form of membership of Euratom, and the government should seek to pursue that in discussion with the European Commission. If this proves not to be possible, it is vital a transitional period is agreed to guarantee continuity of current arrangements until they can be replicated.”