Case study: Engaging early, reducing risk

Background

British Energy was being sold by the UK Government and the issue meant that a total of four reactors at two of its older power stations, Hartlepool and its sister station, Heysham 1 would be out of action for a significant period of time.

Issue

When it became apparent that there was a serious issue with the ‘boiler closure unit’, a critical component in the reactors at British Energy’s Hartlepool and Heysham 1 nuclear power stations, it couldn’t have come at a worse time for the licensee.

"It was a massive problem for them and the nature of the fault was incredibly complex and not immediately fully understood," said the then-site inspector for Hartlepool, John Donald. "They had done the right thing in taking the reactors off-line, but the uncertainty was clearly a serious issue that had the potential to affect the sale of the British Energy fleet.

What we did

"First and foremost, HSE Nuclear Directorate is a regulator of safety and security of nuclear facilities," explained John. "However, as a modern regulator, we can recognise and take account of the commercial environment that our licensees operate within, because this helps us to achieve our aim of safe operation of civil nuclear power in the UK.

"So, with Hartlepool and Heysham 1, we chose to engage early and fully with the licensee, de-risking as far as possible the regulatory aspect of what for the licensee was a difficult and uncertain situation that was going to involve a lot of cost and time."

HSE Nuclear Directorate inspectors and assessors worked on assessing the repair programme from the outset and giving direction on the regulatory acceptability of the options for recovery at planning stage, rather than waiting until the end of the project, when time and resources had been spent.

Outcomes/benefits

"In addition to giving the licensee confidence that they were pursuing an acceptable plan, this engagement gave us a lot of confidence that the outcome would be the safe return to service of these reactors," added John.

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