Utility Week

12 | 31ST AUGUST - 6TH SEPTEMBER 2018 | UTILITY WEEK Policy & Regulation This week Prosecutions follow Hinkley B incident Regulator to prosecute EDF Energy and Doosan Babcock after non-radiological incident at plant The Office for Nuclear Regula- tion (ONR) has notified EDF Energy and Doosan Babcock of its intention to prosecute both companies over a safety incident at Hinkley Point B. The charges relate to the injury of a Doosan Babcock employee at the nuclear plant in Somerset on 12 April 2017. The ONR said the incident was a conventional health and safety matter and there was "no radiological risk to workers or the public". EDF Energy Nuclear Generation will be prosecuted for offences under the 1974 Health and Safety at Work Act and Doosan Babcock for offences under the 2005 Work at Height Regulations. The decision follows an ONR investigation. Proceedings are scheduled to start at Bath Magistrates Court on 12 September. Doosan Babcock said: "We take our responsibilities with regards to this extremely seriously… Following an industrial safety incident involving a fall from height of a Doosan Babcock colleague at Hinkley Point B in April 2017, we have cared for our employee and have co-oper- ated fully with the ONR throughout the investigation and we now acknowledge their intention to prosecute. "As legal proceedings are pending we will not make any further comment at this stage." An EDF Energy spokesperson said: "We are review- ing the charges against us and considering our response. As we would in any industrial safety incident of this nature, we have and will continue to co-operate fully with the ONR". TG ENERGY Nuclear plans for a 'no-deal' Brexit The government has outlined plans for the civil nuclear sec- tor to prepare for a scenario in which the UK leaves the EU with no deal. It has published two papers looking at the key issues of regu- lations and research for nuclear, setting out rules on the owner- ship of nuclear material, supply contracts and nuclear import and export licences. All operators in the UK civil nuclear sector will have to com- ply with a new domestic safe- guards regime, which will come into force aer 29 March 2019. The UK has already passed new legislation so the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) can oversee domestic safeguards instead of the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom). Agreements have been signed by the government and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to replace the existing trilateral agreements between the IAEA, Euratom and the UK. BEIS says Euratom ownership of special fissure material in the UK will end and operators will have full ownership aer Brexit. Energy UK said the docu- ments contain "some important clarifications" but the trade body expects the second batch of papers to provide "more clarity". ENERGY Collective switching proves popular More than one in five custom- ers who took part in a collective switching trial run by Ofgem changed their energy deal, the regulator has revealed. The figure is eight times higher than the switching rate of similar customers in the trial who received no information. The trial ran from February to April and involved 50,000 disengaged customers from a "large supplier" who had been on a standard variable tariff for three years or more. Ofgem has since confirmed the supplier was Scottish Power. ENERGY BEIS to transfer EU energy laws The government has announced plans for an upcoming statutory instrument (SI) to amend several pieces of EU energy legislation that will become "retained direct EU law" aer Brexit. Energy minister Claire Perry has outlined dra plans to transfer "limited energy-related legislative functions" from the European Commission. This SI relates to the transfer of network codes, Remit [Regula- tion on wholesale Energy Market Integrity and Transparency] and the security of gas supply regulation functions. Doosan Babcock employee fell at Hinkley Point B Political Agenda David Blackman "Papers issued so far cover only the civil nuclear sector" It seems that you can't get away from Brexit. Flicking through the channels on Portugese ter- restrial TV last week, Dominic Raab's face loomed into view. The Brexit secretary had secured his five minutes of Continental fame, perhaps ironically, for a speech outlining the UK govern- ment's plans to withdraw from the EU without a deal. The speech had been prompted by the publication of the first tranche of government technical notices outlining the rounding the IEM and the EU Emissions Trading System, which sets the carbon price. The EU's negotiator Michel Barnier has said an agreement is unlikely before the EU lead- ers' summit in mid-October, and the prime minister will face pressure to maintain a robust line on Brexit at the Conservative party conference in early October. The industry needs answers fast but wider political pressures mean it is unlikely to get them. arrangements for different sec- tors of the economy if no Brexit deal can be concluded. However, the energy papers issued so far cover only the civil nuclear sector. This means the industry is still in the dark about the impact that "no deal" will have in areas like the internal energy market (IEM), which gov- erns trade through the gas and electricity interconnectors. And the clock is ticking. As Energy UK has pointed out, electricity producers must set the price for their winter 2020/21 contracts to supply smaller retailers by this October. These contracts will be underpinned by the future framework sur-

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