SPECIAL REPORT | INCIDENT RESPONSE PLANNING
The Radsafe scheme allows expert representatives to be sent to an event site much more quickly. Source: Nuclear Transport Solutions
With the immediate concern addressed, the consigner can
take over. It has responsibility for a recovery plan, for any remediation, and to keep the Office of Nuclear Regulation (ONR) and Environment Agency informed (beyond immediate information provided by the call centre).
Fit for the future? Radsafe was originally administered by the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA). But when that organisation moved into the private sector Radsafe was an anomaly; UKAEA was the administrator but not the owner, and there were liability issues that might lie with UKAEA in the private sector. As a result, Radsafe became a ‘not for profit’ company, operated for the benefit of the members and the sector as a whole, whose owners each had one share. Membership fees cover annual training and other activities for the members. More than 35 years after it was set up, the
mutual approach has proven robust through some fundamental changes in the country’s radiological organisations, especially its nuclear power plant operators. The 14 members now include those arising from the UK’s civil nuclear power history – EDF Energy Generation, UKAEA - Culham Centre for Fusion Energy, NRS Dounreay, Nuclear Waste Services (NWS), Nuclear Restoration Services (NRS), Rolls Royce, Sellafield Ltd, Urenco and Westinghouse (Springfields Fuels Limited), as well as the Ministry of Defence, two healthcare companies (Eckert & Ziegler Environmental Services Ltd and GE Healthcare) and the Science and Technology Facilities Council. In its three and a half decades, Radsafe has seen only one false alarm and one occasion where the documentation did not accurately reflect the consignment. But it continues to keep the mutual aid response fresh with regular training and interaction for its members and for third parties. It has been able
34 | July 2026 |
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to accommodate changes in the speed of information exchange as mobile communications and data has become ubiquitous. The mutual aid approach means there is no ‘single point of failure’. It is an efficient and fast way to cover the whole of Great Britain and it means there is a uniform response across the members. But Radsafe is not a practical option for every
user. Organisations such as universities or medical organisations that use small sources are unlikely to be able meet ‘mutual aid’ responsibilities and guarantee that they could have 24/7 health physicist or advisor availability, in case they were called on to attend an event. Those users are required to have arrangements if they are consigning radiologically active material. For situations where there are no arrangements in
place, there are so-called ‘National Arrangements for Incidents Involving Radioactivity’, overseen by the UK Health Security Agency. What will be the capabilities of potential new types of nuclear organisation? The nascent small and micro reactor industry suggest that reactors will be deployed at more sites, and potentially in areas that are less remote than current facilities. Some of the small reactor designs assume remote
operation and maintenance and, in extreme cases, they may be sealed units that are fuelled and defuelled in a dedicated factory at the start and end of their life. This suggests fewer movements of radiological material, and it may also be that the operators would not be able to meet their part of the ‘mutual support’ requirement. It remains to be seen how this arrangement will
accommodate new types of organisations that use radiological material. New parties, such as micro reactor operators, will have to decide whether they want to join the Radsafe scheme and make their commitment to this mutual approach, or find a different solution. ■
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