Improvement of information management in Nuclear Safety Cases

The Nuclear Safety Case is the body of evidence that justifies and demonstrates that nuclear hazards are adequately managed, that operations are safe and that associated risks are reduced to As Low As Reasonably Practicable (ALARP). All related documents are subject to constant ongoing revision. There are no live links between these documents, which exist in a variety of formats.

A solution is sought that accurately and efficiently manages the transfer of information within these Nuclear Safety Cases and associated documentation, as well as providing a verifiable audit trail for the changes it proposes.

CHALLENGE AIMS

This challenge will seek solutions for one Nuclear Safety Case with the key challenge aims being:

• To improve the accuracy and visibility of the audit trail (golden thread) through Nuclear Safety Cases from the top level down to the plant operational and maintenance documents.
• To reduce the time and cost required for the development, implementation, and maintenance of a Nuclear Safety Case, which will enable risks to be reduced more quickly.
• To provide an automated solution. Nuclear Safety Cases are developed with stakeholders across plant that spend a lot of time and resource checking the Nuclear Safety Case documents and updates. An automated solution would help to free up this resource.
• To improve change control for Nuclear Safety Cases, with reliable and accurate flagging of the cascade of changes required within all associated documents, when a single change is made to a single document. The ultimate aim would be to achieve automatic flagging once confidence levels have been met.
• The greatest benefit will be gained if the solution can be backfitted to existing Nuclear Safety Cases, and so the solution is able to manage the Nuclear Safety Case documents which exist in a variety of formats.

The challenge forms part of a package of work to improve the development and management of Nuclear Safety Cases at Sellafield. The aim is to deliver these improvements by:

• Reducing the amount of manual work to develop and Quality Assurance (QA) the various documents that form the Nuclear Safety Case.
• Improving the consistency of the data format across all documents within the Nuclear Safety Case.
• Reducing the amount of time taken to develop and manage Nuclear Safety Cases to better enable the Sellafield Ltd mission.

Sellafield Ltd will consider a commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) proposal, or may invest in the development of a solution. Either approach will require the oversight and approval of Sellafield Ltd’s Information Services Organisation (ISO).

FIND OUT MORE

Please download the challenge statement for full details of this opportunity.

You can watch a webinar and Q&A session with the challenge owners for more information and details of how to apply.

The deadline for applications for this challenge is 3pm (UK time) on Thursday 19 September 2024.

ASSESSMENT OF APPLICATIONS

Applications are reviewed against set criteria by a panel of challenge owners, prospective end‐users from our partner organisations, and Game Changers project staff. Brief summary feedback will be provided if your project is not awarded feasibility funding.

Application forms and posters will be assessed consistently and transparently using the following criteria:

1. How well does the application align with the challenge aims?
2. Is the proposed solution credible from the perspective of deployment?
3. What potential does the proposed solution have to transform practice in your area?
4. Do you feel the applicant is well placed to deliver a feasibility project?
5. Would the solution proposed in the application benefit from feasibility funding?
6. Does the application meet the scope of the challenge?