Nuclear Safety Committee
MINUTES
Date:	4 November 2016	
Time:	10:00 am to 04:00 pm	
Location:	Wattle Room, Level 3, Miranda 	
Secretariat:	Mr John Ward, Continuous Improvement Section, Regulatory Services Branch.	
Scribe:	Mr Chris Nickel, Continuous Improvement Section, Regulatory Services Branch	
Members:	Dr Tamie Weaver (Chair); Dr Carl-Magnus Larsson (CEO ARPANSA); Mr Christopher Tola; Dr Peter Karamoskos; Mr Tony Irwin, Mr Donald Macnab; Mr Ian Drinnan, Dr Robert Lee, Mr Robert Lyon, and Mr Peter Wilkinson	
Invitees:	Ms Tone Doyle, Ms Kathryn Scully, Mr Jim Scott; Dr Samir Sarkar; Mr Vaz Mottl, Ms Francesca Wigney	
Apologies:	Ms Kerrie-Anne Christian	

1.		Opening of Meeting		
The Chair, Dr Tamie Weaver, opened the meeting on 4 November at 10:00am at the ARPANSA Miranda Office.
Item 1.1.		Meeting Dates	
The following meeting dates were confirmed out of session and reviewed at the meeting:
•	10 March 2017
•	 12 May 2017 
•	Next meeting to be confirmed out of session

Item 1.2.		Conflicts of interest	
Members were asked to identify any new or previously undisclosed interests that could conflict, or be perceived to conflict, with their duties as a member of the Committee.  
Dr Carl-Magnus Larsson (CEO ARPANSA) declared a potential conflict of interest with the review of the Regulatory Performance Framework (item 2.1) due to his role as Approving Authority for this report. The committee agreed that that Dr Larsson would not be part of the discussion or review of the report.
Item 1.3.		Minutes	
The minutes from the June 2016 NSC meeting were noted to have been confirmed out of session.  

Item 1.4.		Actions	

Action 	Status	
Action 1: Correspondence to be sent to the ARPANSA CEO outlining concerns regarding resourcing of the communication strategy and plan for the NRWMF – On NSC Chair. 	Completed at this meeting	
Action 2 – Results of the Focused Self-Assessment to be provided to the NSC for the November 2016 Meeting – On ARPANSA Secretariat. 	Completed See Agenda Item 2.2	

Item 1.5.		Correspondence	
The Council noted a letter from ARPANSA CEO to NSC Chair requesting review of the ARPANSA Self-Assessment Review.
Item 1.6.		Safety/Security Moment	
The concept of the safety and security moment was introduced. Peter Wilkinson volunteered to present on the characteristics of a good safety moment at the next meeting. 
2.		Main Items for Discussion		

Item 2.1.		Regulatory Branch Self-Assessment – NSC External Review	

Dr Larsson provided an overview of Government Regulatory Performance Framework (RPF) and the requirement to conduct self-assessment reviews to evaluate the effectiveness of regulatory bodies across government. The review must present a measurement of regulatory performance and efficiency against Key Performance Indicators (KPI) contained in the RPF. Dr Larsson then recused himself from this agenda item. 

Mr John Ward, who led the self-assessment team, then provided an overview of the report and its findings. 

Overall the Committee was comfortable with the approach and the methodology, and considered the use of stakeholders as part of the review team a positive initiative. However, the Committee considered that the scope of the report was too restrictive as it focussed on the fixed performance indicators only, and thereby did not comprehensively reflect on a number of ARPANSA initiatives. This may have resulted in ARPANSA not being as highly rated against the KPIs as a more complete analysis would reveal. 

The NSC requested that some revisions be made which highlight these initiatives since this was the first time an annual review against the KPIs had been conducted, and to contextualise performance by including a more complete picture of ARPANSA initiatives which support the KPIs. 

ACTION: The Committee agreed to review the report and provide NSC validation out of session, once revisions had been made.

Dr Larsson returned to the room at 12:20 on the conclusion of discussion of this item.

Item 2.2.		National Radioactive Waste Management Facility update	

The Committee was provided with an update on recent activities including a site visit to Hawker, Barndioota, and two fact sheets which have been published outlining the NRWMF licensing process.  ARPANSA is also drafting two additional fact sheets on transport and the safety case that will be needed to support licensing. Two documents have been prepared providing detailed information to applicants and to support public consultation. These are the ‘Applying for a licence for a radioactive waste storage or disposal facility’ Regulatory Guide and the ‘Radioactive Waste Storage and Disposal Facilities’ Information for Stakeholder. The committee was provided with a copy of these guides and invited to provide comments. The Committee was generally supportive of the new documents and provided some minor comments at the meeting. Committee members were encouraged to provide further comments before the consultation closes on 9 December.

Action: Committee members to provide comment on the two guides to the secretariat or directly to Dr Samir Sarkar before 9 December 2016.

3.		Update on major Controlled Facilities and Inspections		

Item 3.1.		ANSTO OPAL	

The Committee was given an overview of the ANSTO OPAL reactor regulatory performance since the last NSC meeting in June 2016. The overview did not raise any significant issues or concerns among Committee members.

Item 3.2.		Update on ANSTO Nuclear Medicine (ANM) project	

The Committee was provided with an update on AMN project at ANSTO. No significant issues were raised. 
Item 3.3.		ANSTO Health	

The Committee was given an overview of the ANSTO Health regulatory performance since the last NSC meeting in July 2016. The overview did not raise any significant concerns.

Item 3.4.		HIFAR	

The Committee was provided with an update on the shutdown High Flux Australian Reactor (HIFAR) including recent characterisation work and regulatory performance. No significant issues were raised.

4.		Reports		

Item 4.1.		ARPANSA Activities	

The Committee was briefed on ARPANSA activities since the June 2016 meeting, including an update on the IRRS mission planning. 

Item 4.2.		Radiation Health Committee	

The Committee was updated on the activities of the Radiation Health Committee (RHC) which met on the 15 June 2016. Topics covered included an update on the development of the Medical, Planned, Existing and Emergency Exposure codes and guides, analyses of events from the Australian Radiation Incidents Register and the work of the intense pulsed light and laser working group. 

Item 4.3.		ARPANSA Performance Indicators (PIs)  Year to Date	
The Committee was briefed on the status of the KPIs for the Regulatory Services Branch since the June 2016 meeting. The Branch is tracking generally well against the KPIs.

10.	Other Business		
None
11	Closure and Next Meeting		

The meeting closed at 4pm. The next meeting is scheduled for the 10 March 2017.