The way nuclear regulators do their job could change because of coronavirus with new self-inspection and remote verification methods adopted during the pandemic becoming more common, the UK’s chief nuclear regulator has said.

Mark Foy told a Nuclear Energy Agency virtual meeting on human aspects of nuclear safety that the UK’s Office for Nuclear Regulation had been “regulating from a distance” during the pandemic.

He said the ONR has no resident onsite inspectors but has carried out virtual inspections using site staff to take video and photographs which are then analysed and considered in virtual meetings.

“We will definitely consider doing many things differently once we come out of the pandemic,” Mr Foy said. “Globally there will be a requirement for us all to look at that.”