Title of publication
THE OFFICE FOR NUCLEAR REGULATION
SPECIFICATION FOR THE REVIEW OF ELEMENTS OF NGL’s PSA for SZB PSR2
BACKGROUND TO THE PROJECT
1)
A Periodic Safety Review (PSR) is required every ten years in order for a
licensee to comply with the requirements of Nuclear Site Licence Condition 15.
2)
EDF Energy Nuclear Generation Limited (NGL) has recently undertaken a PSR
at Sizewell B. ONR requires:
 a Seismic PSA expert to assess how the Sizewell B PSA compares to relevant
good practice, modern and international standards:
 a Level 2 PSA expert to assess how the SZB PSA compares to relevant good
practice, modern and international standards:
3)
The purpose of the review is to inform ONR about the adequacy of Sizewell B’s
PSA (in the areas of Seismic and Level 2 PSA). This will assist ONR to indentify
if the Sizewell B PSR2 is adequate or whether areas for follow-on work by the
licensee may be required.
SCOPE OF THE SERVICES REQUIRED
4)
The scope of the work is a technical review of the Sizewell B PSR2 PSA
submission and its supporting documentation. This review will be based
predominantly on;
 relevant aspects of ONR’s Technical Assessment Guide (TAG) for PSA,
TAG 030 (Ref. 1),
 IAEA’s specific safety guide (SSG) for level 2 PSA, SSG-4 (Ref. 2),
 IAEA’s SSG for Level 1 PSA (including Seismic PSA), SSG-3 (Ref. 3),
 any additional relevant international standards and guidance as identified by
the contractor.
CONSTRAINTS
5)
The outcome of the technical review will inform ONR’s decision on whether it can
accept Sizewell B’s PSR2 submission or whether NGL will be required to
undertake additional follow on work. Given the timing of the overall assessment,
the technical review of the PSR2 submission will have to be reported by 19
September 2014 (draft report).
6)
It is proposed that the work be undertaken within a 2 week period at the end of
August and at NGL’s Barnwood offices, in Gloucestershire.
7)
The successful technical support contractor (TSC) will have a detailed
understanding and experience of PWRs, PWR PSA and level 2 PSA.
8)
ONR accepts that a single individual or TSC may hold expert capability in both
Level 2 PSA and Seismic PSA.
Office for Nuclear Regulation
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OBJECTIVES
The objectives of the work are:

Objective 1: Carry out an assessment of the Seismic PSA against
Table A1-3.7 in ONR TAG 030 (Ref. 1), IAEA’s SSG-3 (Ref. 3) and other
relevant guidance / standards identified by the TSC. The assessment should
identify whether the relevant expectations are fully, partially or not met and
provide the basis for this assignment.

Objective 2: Carry out an assessment of the Level 2 PSA against Table A1-3
in ONR TAG 030 (Ref. 1), IAEA’s SSG-4 (Ref. 2) and other relevant guidance
/ standards identified by the TSC. The assessment should identify whether
the relevant expectations in TAG 030 are fully, partially or not met and
provide the basis for this assignment.
The required outcome of this work is:

a report (or 2 reports) that address the objectives above.
TENDER SUBMISSIONS
9)
In addition to generic requirements established in the ONR Technical Support
Contract framework, a proposal is required providing the following:
a) A description of how the TSC has the appropriate experience to undertake
this work.
b) CVs of the staff proposed for this work. It is anticipated that the work will
principally undertaken by a single experienced individual, with appropriate
management oversight and quality assurance applied.
c) A price for the whole task, assuming an August 2014 start date.
d) The names and contact details of the project and contract managers
proposed for this task.
EVALUATION
10) Any contract which may be awarded as a result of this invitation to tender will be
awarded based on best value for money.
11) Tenders will be evaluated against the following criteria: adherence to the
specification, understanding of ONR’s requirements, the proposed methodology,
the quality and experience of the individuals proposed, delivery and price.
PROPOSED TIMETABLE
12) Upon receipt, the proposal will be reviewed by the ONR project officer. If the
decision is made to proceed, it will be subject to further internal review by the
relevant Head of Specialism and then a Resource Review Panel made up of
ONR senior management. This process is estimated to take approximately one
month.
13) The overall timescale is estimated as:

Tenders to be received by ONR by Tuesday 1 July.

Successful TSC to be informed by Friday 25 July.

It is proposed that assessment work should take no more than 2 weeks (10
days) and should be completed at NGL’s Barnwood office in late August 2014
Office for Nuclear Regulation
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
Draft report to be provided to ONR by Friday 19 September 2014
ENQUIRIES
14) Any enquiries in relation to clarification of this invitation to tender should be
addressed to ONR, Redgrave Court, Merton Road, Bootle, L20 7HS,
References
1. ONR, Technical Assessment Guide Probabilistic Safety Analysis, TAG 030,
www.onr.org.uk/operational/tech_asst_guides/ns-tast-gd-030.pdf
2. IAEA, Specific Safety Guide, SSG-4, Development and Application of Level 2
Probabilistic Safety Assessment for Nuclear Power Plants,
www-pub.iaea.org/mtcd/publications/pdf/pub1443_web.pdf
3. IAEA, Specific Safety Guide, SSG-3, Development and Application of Level 1
Probabilistic Safety Assessment for Nuclear Power Plants,
www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/publications/PDF/Pub1430_web.pdf
Office for Nuclear Regulation
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