Under nuclear energy legislation, the responsibility for nuclear safety lies with the operator of a nuclear installation. ENSI checks whether the operator fulfils this responsibility. It orders all necessary and reasonable measures aimed at preserving nuclear safety. ENSI’s targets mean that its regulatory activities are aimed at ensuring the nuclear installations are safe. To achieve this, a nuclear installation must be comprehensively assessed, and its safety positively influenced through regulatory actions.

However, the safety of a nuclear installation is not only dependent on its technical design. Just as important is the behaviour of the people who operate the installation. The employees of a nuclear installation are part of an organisation whose culture significantly influences their work and thus also the safety of the nuclear installation.

In summary, integrated oversight fulfils three key requirements:

• Traceability: ENSI has a consistent, integrated regulatory concept and set of regulations and standards. It follows a consistent decision-making process based on clear criteria. The measures mandated by it are transparent and comprehensible.
• Balance: ENSI considers the safety aspects of an installation comprehensively. Alongside the results from deterministic and probabilistic safety analyses, this also includes knowledge of the operation and maintenance as well as organisational workflows. The deployment of resources is prioritised based on the safety relevance of the objects been monitored. Safety requirements and the nature and intensity of monitoring are periodically scrutinised, analysed and, where necessary, adapted.
• Effectiveness: ENSI implements decisions consistently and reviews their impact. If necessary, additional actions are taken.