Project Assurance at Sellafield Ltd, Michael Magee, Malcolm Risely, APM Assurance Specific Interest Group, Integrated Assurance - how to achieve it real organisations conference

1. Project Assurance at Sellafield Ltd
Michael Magee & Malcolm Risely
APM Integrated Assurance Conference
London
17th May 2016

2. Who is Sellafield Ltd?
Sellafield Ltd is responsible for safely delivering the
decommissioning of the UK’s nuclear legacy as well as fuel
recycling and the management of low, high and intermediate
level nuclear waste activities on behalf of the Nuclear
Decommissioning Authority.
Sellafield Ltd has a site at Sellafield in West Cumbria with the
engineering, design and functional support capability provided
by employees based at the Risley office, near Warrington.
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3. Sellafield Ltd – our business
Sellafield site footprint, just two square miles and over
10,000 employees
• Annual budget £2 billion
• Operate over 100 buildings
• Annual project expenditure £800 million - 150 new
projects
• Decommission buildings too hazardous to allow
human entry
• Demolish buildings to make room for new facilities
• Retrieve nuclear waste from historic buildings and
repackage it for safe long-term storage
• Receive, treat and store all levels of nuclear waste
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4. Sellafield has more than 60 years of history
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1940s/50s
• Nuclear build
begins
• Initially a
military
• programme
• Later civil
programme
begins
1960s/70s
• Waste stored
safely – pending
treatment
• Storage capacity
extended
incrementally
• Coarse
segregation of
waste arising from
process
• Magnox
reprocessing starts
1980s
• Main expansion of
site
• Major waste
treatment focus
• Environmental
impact substantially
reduced
• Decommissioning
programme started
1990s
• True commercialisation
of reprocessing—Thorp
online
• Waste arising from
processes treated in
‘real time’
• Product waste forms
compatible with disposal
concepts
• Health and safety
executive reports
• Decommissioning
gathering pace
• Sellafield landscape
changing forever
• NDA formed
• NMP become PBO
2000s

5. 5
This decade……..
Sellafield has more than
60 years of history . . .
1940s/50s
• Nuclear build
begins
• Initially a military
• programme
• Later civil
programme
begins
1960s/70s
• Waste stored safely –
pending treatment
• Storage capacity
extended
incrementally
• Coarse segregation
of waste arising from
process
• Magnox reprocessing
starts
1980s
• Main expansion of site
• Major waste treatment
focus
• Environmental impact
• substantially reduced
• Decommissioning
• programme started
1990s
• True commercialisation of
reprocessing—Thorp online
• Waste arising from
processes treated in ‘real
time’
• Product waste forms
compatible with disposal
concepts
• Health and safety executive
reports
• Decommissioning
gathering pace
• Sellafield landscape
changing forever
• NDA formed
• NMP become PBO
2000s
2010s
High hazards
significantly
reduced/eliminated

6. Sellafield Ltd approach to assurance
Evolved through:
• Our own experience
• Learning from partner organisations
• Learning from supply chain and
• Learning from Parent Body Organisation.
Integrated Assurance at key stages ….. but flexible approach
taken during project life cycle.
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7. Sellafield Ltd approach to assurance
• Project Assurance teams are populated with SQEP’d
colleagues mainly from “front line delivery”
• Clear and agreed Terms of Reference for all types of
reviews
• Extensive training and coaching provided
• Engagement with Sponsors to promote their
accountabilities with Project Assurance
• Enhanced Project Assurance feedback to the
project sanctioning authority
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8. How is Assurance undertaken?
• An established set of procedures
• Collaboration with Sponsor to confirm assurance
requirements are specified for each project
• Specify a project’s assurance requirements thro’
IAAP & review regularly based on risk
• Provide a view on project out-turn following the
MPA criteria
• Enhanced Project Assurance feedback to Financial
Committee
8

9. Project Assurance Activities
9
1
Make
plans
2
Train
people
3
Do
assessments
4
Report
results
5
Take
action

10. Responsibilities
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11. Project Assurance “Tool Kit”
• Mandatory assurance at key stages
• Mid-point Reviews
• Contract Readiness Reviews
• Tier 1 Project Delivery Themes
• Tier 2 Annual Report
• Functional Specific Reviews
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12. Project Delivery Tier 1s
• Theme 1 Scope Definition
• Theme 2 Execution Planning
• Theme 3 Management of Change – (part of Theme 8)
• Theme 4 Cost, Schedule and Risk
• Theme 5 Construction, EH&S
• Theme 6 Nuclear Safety and Quality
• Theme 7 Project Governance, Sanction and Validation
• Theme 8 Project Resources
• Theme 9 Commercial and Contract Management
• Theme 10 Engineering Configuration Management
• Theme 11 LFE
• Theme 12 Legal Requirements
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13. Project Review Approach
The approach to be followed
during the review must avoid......
Sitting on the outside just
delivering a grilling to
colleagues
A fresh sets of eyes which
sheds more light on where
the project actually is against
their goals
..and provide !

13
5/23/2016

14. Sellafield Project Assurance
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15. Our assurance and the 6 APM principles
1. Independence
2. Accountability
3. Planning and coordination
4. Proportionate
5. Risk based
6. Impact, follow-up and escalation
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16. #1 Independence
• Level of independence based on risk &
financial value with procedural guidance
• Assessors carefully chosen for each review
• Sponsor approves Terms of Reference,
project readiness & confirms Review Team
composition
• Output direct to Sponsor & Investment
Review Panel (Stakeholders)
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17. #2 Accountability
• Established Project Assurance Department
• Process Owner for assurance
• Projects nominate individual with
assurance responsibility
• Assurance output valued by organisation.
• Output presented to Sponsor &
Stakeholders
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18. #3 Planning & Co-ordination
• Projects specify assurance through
Integrated Assurance & Approvals Plans
(IAAPs) which are regularly reviewed
• Established process embedded in project
life-cycle
• Assurance funded by projects.
• Flexible & proportionate approach
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19. #4 Proportionate
• Based on “risks” associated with project
• Regular review of IAAP against potential
risks & amended as appropriate
• Evaluate data from variety of sources &
adjust assurance plans as necessary
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20. #5 Risk Based
• Based on risks to specific project
• Utilises data from variety of sources
associated with project
• Utilises LFE from similar projects &
benchmarking
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21. #6 Impact, follow up & escalation
• Five category output
• Action plan developed by project & agreed
by assurance team
• Learning from Experience extracted &
shared
• Improvement plans compiled
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22. Impact of assurance on Sellafield Ltd’s
business
• Paused projects that aren’t sufficiently mature to
proceed
• Identified project weaknesses; subsequently
remedied
• Used LFE to improve future project delivery
• Improved stakeholder confidence inside the
business and externally
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23. Our Journey
• Assurance is comprehensively valued by the
business
• Assurance is seen as supporting the business
• Assurance is not catching people out but finding
any gaps to ensure right project output
• Assurance output through LFE is shared
throughout the business
• Expand external support to Assurance.
• Increasing the value of the business.
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24. Your questions?
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Your questions

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