Overall, the report shows that HSE/SEPA regard UKAEA's approach to, and progress on the recommendations to be satisfactory at this stage. Although significant additional resources will be needed to address the remaining recommendations, UKAEA continues to show strong commitment to the task.

By the end of August, nine of the 143 audit recommendations had been formally closed out and 10 were expected to be closed out very soon. A further 10 were essentially completed and had moved into a six-month review phase, while responses to another 51 had been submitted to HSE/SEPA to consider for close out or review.

Many recommendations were aimed at providing the basis for a work programme, which would strengthen UKAEA's safety management system to enable it to better fulfil its duties as a nuclear licensee. Their implementation should result in improved organisation, systems, procedures, work programmes, plant state, environmental performance etc. which will then become part of normal routine business.

HSE/SEPA recognise that while some recommendations can be closed out fairly quickly, many, e.g. emptying the waste disposal shaft, will not be considered as being complete for a considerable time.

Due to the complexity and long-term nature of many of the required actions, the substantial amount of work already undertaken by UKAEA is not reflected by the relatively small number of recommendations that have been formally closed out.

For recommendations with very long timescales, it is not realistic for HSE/SEPA to wait until all the work has been carried out before closing these out. Criteria for each recommendation, which will allow HSE/SEPA to close out actions when they have confidence arrangements are in place and ongoing to complete tasks to agreed timescales, are under discussion with UKAEA.

When UKAEA launched its initial Action Plan, it was clear that a key to success was recruitment of experienced engineering and scientific staff. Although UKAEA has been successful in achieving its initial recruitment targets, its ability to recruit sufficient staff to meet its future decommissioning programme will be monitored by HSE/SEPA.

The report, `Progress on UKAEA's Response to the 1998 HSE/SEPA Audit of Dounreay - September 2000', is available free from Nuclear Safety Directorate Information Centre, HSE, St. Peters House, Balliol Road, Bootle L20 3LZ (Tel: 0151 951 4103/Fax: 01 51 951 4004). It is also available on HSE's web site at www.hse.gov.uk/nsd/audit00.pdf

NOTES FOR EDITORS

1. This is the second annual summary report on UKAEA's progress in responding to the Dounreay audit. The first was issued on 30 September 1999.

2. The Dounreay audit was carried out in June 1998 by a multi-disciplinary team of Inspectors from HSE's Nuclear Installations Inspectorate and Field Operations Directorate, plus an Inspector from SEPA. The audit report, published on 1 September 1998, contained 143 recommendations, including the preparation by UKAEA of an Action Plan for agreement with HSE/SEPA by 30 November 1998. Its main finding was that organisational changes within UKAEA had so weakened the management and technical base at Dounreay that it was not in a good position to tackle its principal mission, namely decommissioning the site.

3. UKAEA initially responded to the audit by publishing an Action Plan on 30 November 1998. HSE/SEPA welcomed this as a good basis on which to go forward and, in particular, the shortened decommissioning timescales. HSE/SEPA also expressed the view that areas remained where more detailed plans needed developing, and that some other timescales - in particular for producing safety cases - appeared rather long.

4. `Safety Audit of Dounreay 1998' (HSE Ref. MISC 148) is available free from HSE Books, PO Box 1999, Sudbury, Suffolk CO10 2WA (Tel: 01787 881165/Fax: 01787 313995). The report is also accessible on HSE's web site at www.hse.gov.uk/nsd/nsdhome.htm

PUBLIC ENQUIRIES: Information Centre, Nuclear Safety Directorate, HSE,

St Peters House, Balliol Road, Bootle L20 3LZ. Tel: 0151 951 4103/Fax: 0151 951 4004 e-mail: nsd.infocentre@hse.gsi.gov.uk

PRESS ENQUIRIES:

HSE: Mark Wheeler - 020 7717 6915. Out of hours enquiries: 020 7928 8382.

(For press review copies of the report, `phone 020 7717 6904).

SEPA Public Affairs: 01786 457723/4.

SEPA Head Office, Erskine Court, Castle Business Park, Stirling FK9 4TR