The UK has 19 civil nuclear sites under the NDA — a £3bn annual programme across Sellafield, Dounreay, the Magnox fleet and legacy research assets. Every site operates under an ONR Site Licence with 36 numbered Licence Conditions covering everything from maintenance (LC28) to records (LC6). Non-safety-classified maintenance work still needs traceable, evidenced rigour because the same inspectors read the same records. Oxmaint provides a maintenance workflow platform for the operational maintenance layer at nuclear sites — sitting alongside safety-case systems, not replacing them. Book a demo to see nuclear maintenance workflows in action.
CRITICAL SCOPE NOTE
Oxmaint is a maintenance workflow platform — not a nuclear safety-case system
Safety-critical asset management, safety case documentation and safety-classified system controls remain with the site's validated nuclear-grade systems. Oxmaint supports the operational maintenance layer around these — planned work, inspection scheduling, work order execution, records retention, contractor management, and evidence packs for LC compliance.
19
UK civil nuclear sites in the NDA estate
£3bn
Annual NDA programme spend across operations, decommissioning and remediation
36
Numbered ONR Licence Conditions applicable per site licence
The ONR Licence Conditions Most Directly Touching Maintenance
Every licensed nuclear site operates under a standard set of ONR-issued Licence Conditions. Not all 36 concern maintenance directly, but several — LC10, LC11, LC12, LC15, LC17, LC23, LC24, LC27 and above all LC28 — depend on the operational maintenance layer functioning with documented, traceable rigour. Understanding which LCs touch which maintenance activity is how site licensees prepare for planned inspections.
LC 6
Documents, records, authorities & certificates
Adequate records of every activity affecting safety — retained per approved retention schedule.
LC 10
Training
Suitably trained personnel for every safety-affecting task — evidenced competence records.
LC 28
Examination, inspection, maintenance & testing
Adequate arrangements for maintenance, inspection and testing of any plant that may affect safety — the core maintenance-programme LC.
LC 15
Periodic review
Structured periodic safety review — the maintenance record trail is a primary evidence input.
LC 17
Management systems
Adequate management system across the licensable activities — maintenance workflow evidenced within it.
LC 23
Operating rules
Compliance with safety-case-derived operating rules — maintenance interventions must respect these.
LC 27
Safety mechanisms, devices & circuits
Safety-classified equipment maintained per approved schedule — records of every intervention retained.
The LC28 Evidence Chain — What Inspectors Actually Ask For
ONR planned compliance inspections against LC28 follow a consistent pattern — inspectors select a plant item, follow the audit trail through the maintenance programme, and ask for every supporting record. Broken or missing links in the chain don't just produce findings — they can trigger enforcement action. The evidence chain below is what a properly-configured maintenance workflow needs to reproduce for any single asset in seconds.
1
Asset classification
Safety category from the safety case — determines PM interval, competence level, evidence retention.
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2
Written scheme
Approved maintenance scheme derived from safety case requirements. Version-controlled, change-controlled.
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3
Work order & permit
Work order raised per scheme, competence checked, permit-to-work issued where applicable.
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4
Execution record
Task performed, findings captured, non-conformances flagged, materials traceable to certificates.
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5
Retained record
Complete evidence pack retained per LC6 schedule — retrievable in seconds during ONR intervention.
Every node in this chain has been the subject of documented ONR findings across the NDA estate. The value of a well-configured maintenance workflow platform is that the chain is complete by default rather than reconstructed by exception.
Reconstructing a broken evidence chain during an active ONR intervention is nobody's idea of a good week. Sign up free to keep the LC28 chain complete by default.
See Nuclear-Grade Maintenance Workflows Live
Walk through LC28-aligned work order flows, LC6-compliant records retention, competence-checked task assignment, permit-to-work integration, and audit-ready evidence packs — configured against the operational maintenance layer at your nuclear site. Thirty minutes with the Oxmaint team.
Decommissioning vs Operational Maintenance — Different Discipline, Same Rigour
UK nuclear sites operate across a spectrum from active reprocessing (Sellafield) through defueled reactor decommissioning (Magnox fleet) to long-term care and maintenance (some legacy sites). Each phase has fundamentally different maintenance characteristics but the same evidencing standard. Decommissioning maintenance is characterised by shifting hazard profiles as removals progress, high contractor involvement, and evolving safety cases that trigger frequent scheme revisions. A well-configured maintenance workflow platform tracks the scheme-version-in-force at the moment each work order was executed — which is exactly what inspectors look for.
01 · ACTIVE OPS
Operational Facilities
Reprocessing, waste treatment, fuel handling. Stable safety cases, mature schemes, high-frequency PM.
02 · DECOMMISSIONING
Active Decommissioning
Fuel/waste removal in progress. Shifting hazards, evolving schemes, heavy contractor involvement.
03 · CARE & MAINT
C&M Phase
Post-decommissioning surveillance. Long-duration record retention, periodic inspection focus.
Expert Perspective — Why Nuclear Maintenance Records Live Longer Than Most Careers
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A maintenance record raised on a plant item at Sellafield today may need to be produced for an ONR intervention in 2050. It may need to inform a safety case revision in 2075. It may still exist in the site archive at the end of the century when the last decommissioning phase completes. Nuclear maintenance data has a lifespan measured in generations, not years. That's why the discipline around records — who did what, under which scheme, to which competence standard, with which materials — matters far more here than in any other industry. The maintenance system you choose isn't a facilities decision; it's a records-retention commitment stretching decades into the future. The right platform makes that commitment feel invisible. The wrong one creates a backlog of reconstructed evidence that inspectors immediately notice.
01
Scheme-version tracking
Every work order carries the maintenance scheme version in force at execution. Change history preserved.
02
Competence-gated tasks
Task types linked to required competence. Assignment blocked without valid evidenced qualification.
03
Retention per LC6
Records retained per approved schedule — decades where required. Metadata preserved indefinitely.
04
Audit trail from asset
Full history retrievable per asset in seconds — every WO, permit, competence, material certificate.
Who Uses Oxmaint Across the UK Nuclear Estate
The platform is used by the specific operational maintenance roles that own the day-to-day evidence trail on UK nuclear sites: maintenance managers running PM programmes on operational and decommissioning facilities, engineering managers coordinating scheme revisions against safety case changes, contractor managers managing SQEP-verified third-party maintenance workforces, quality managers producing LC6/LC28 evidence packs for planned interventions, decommissioning project managers tracking hazard-shifting workflows through fuel/waste removal campaigns, competence managers linking task assignment to evidenced qualification records, and audit teams producing retrospective evidence chains during ONR interventions. Oxmaint sits alongside site validated safety-critical systems — never replacing them, always supporting the operational maintenance layer. Sign up free to explore nuclear-appropriate workflows.
Where a Maintenance Workflow Platform Adds Real Value
The value proposition for a nuclear operational maintenance platform is not "replaces your safety-critical systems" — no CMMS should make that claim, and Oxmaint doesn't. The value is in the operational maintenance layer around those systems: consistent scheme-execution across mixed workforces, reliable records retention for LC6 compliance, competence-gated task assignment, contractor management under CDM 2015 alongside SQEP verification, permit-to-work integration, and evidence pack generation for LC28 inspections. Every one of these is a workflow discipline that most sites currently manage across a mix of spreadsheets, legacy CMMS installations and paper systems — and each of those gaps is a documented ONR finding waiting to happen. Sign up free to strengthen the operational maintenance layer.
Getting Nuclear Maintenance Workflows Live
Deployment on nuclear sites follows a deliberately measured path. Scoping begins with a defined subset of non-safety-classified operational maintenance — typically balance-of-plant, ancillary systems, general facility maintenance — before extending to any workflow supporting safety-related plant. Configuration aligns to site-specific maintenance schemes, competence frameworks and LC6 retention schedules. Integration with existing site systems (safety case platforms, ERP, permit-to-work systems) is scoped per site rather than assumed. Deployment includes IT security review appropriate to the site's data classification requirements. Most sites see initial workflow coverage on scoped operational maintenance within one to two quarters, with staged extension thereafter. Book a walkthrough to explore a scoped nuclear deployment path.
Strengthen the Operational Maintenance Layer
Oxmaint provides UK nuclear sites with a maintenance workflow platform for the operational layer — LC28-aligned execution, LC6-compliant retention, competence-gated assignment and audit-ready evidence packs — sitting alongside validated safety-critical systems, never replacing them.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can Oxmaint be used on nuclear sites?
Oxmaint is a maintenance workflow platform suitable for the operational maintenance layer at UK nuclear sites — planned work management, inspection scheduling, work order execution, competence-gated task assignment, contractor management and records retention aligned to LC6 and LC28 requirements. Oxmaint does not replace validated safety-critical systems, safety case documentation platforms, or safety-classified control systems — these remain with the site's dedicated nuclear-grade systems. What Oxmaint provides is the operational workflow layer that surrounds these systems and produces the evidence trail ONR inspectors typically request during planned interventions.
How does Oxmaint support ONR Licence Condition compliance?
Several ONR Licence Conditions depend on operational maintenance evidence — LC6 (records), LC10 (training/competence), LC15 (periodic review inputs), LC17 (management systems), LC23 (operating rules), LC27 (safety mechanisms), LC28 (examination, inspection, maintenance and testing). Oxmaint's workflows are configurable to produce the evidence chain each of these LCs typically requires: scheme-version tracking on every work order, competence-gated assignment, retention per approved schedule, audit trail retrievable per asset in seconds. What Oxmaint produces is evidence-ready workflow output — the site's regulatory compliance decisions themselves remain with the licensee.
What is LC28 and why does it matter for maintenance?
Licence Condition 28 requires nuclear site licensees to make and implement adequate arrangements for the regular examination, inspection, maintenance and testing of any plant which may affect safety. It's the core maintenance-programme LC — every planned intervention on safety-related plant traces back to it. ONR planned compliance inspections against LC28 follow a consistent pattern: inspectors select a plant item and follow the audit trail through classification → approved scheme → work order → execution record → retained evidence. Missing or broken links in that chain produce findings. A properly-configured maintenance workflow platform makes the chain complete by default rather than reconstructed by exception.
How does Oxmaint handle contractor and SQEP management on nuclear sites?
Oxmaint's contractor management workflow tracks credential expiry (SSIP, insurance, competence certificates), site inductions, RAMS submission and approval, permit-to-work issuance, and job card completion with asset linkage — all aligned with CDM 2015 principal contractor duties. For nuclear sites specifically, task types can be gated to require verified SQEP (Suitably Qualified and Experienced Person) status before assignment. Competence records tie to task categories, so any attempt to assign work to an inadequately qualified individual is blocked structurally. The full contractor evidence chain — from pre-mobilisation through work completion — remains retrievable per contractor and per asset.
What records retention does Oxmaint support?
Oxmaint supports the long-duration records retention that LC6 compliance requires on UK nuclear sites — schedules configurable per record type, retention periods extending decades where required, and metadata preservation ensuring records remain retrievable through system upgrades, personnel turnover and site phase transitions from active operations through decommissioning to care and maintenance. Data retention is aligned to the site's approved schedule rather than the platform's default. Sites planning multi-generational retention should combine platform-level retention with the site's own long-term archive strategy — no maintenance platform should be positioned as the sole custodian of records with 50-year-plus retention requirements.
