Health and Safety
Executive / Commission
Nuclear
LLC reports
This report is issued as part of the Health and Safety Executive's commitment to make information about inspection and regulatory activities relating to the above site available to the public. It is for distribution to members of the BAE SYSTEMS Marine Ltd Local Liaison Committee (LLC) and covers activities associated with the regulation of safety at the Barrow nuclear licensed site. These reports are distributed quarterly. Site Inspectors of HM Nuclear Installations Inspectorate normally attend LLC meetings and will be happy to respond to questions raised there or subsequently by members of the LLC. Any other person wishing to inquire about matters covered by this report should contact the HSE, Nuclear Directorate Information Centre on 0151-951-4103.
NII's main objective over the period of this report continues to be to confirm compliance with site licence conditions. There are virtually no nuclear materials on the site, but inspections were part of the regulatory process aiming to allow BAE SYSTEMS Marine Ltd (BAES) to perform nuclear work at Barrow when required and to be ready to receive nuclear fuel for ASTUTE class submarines, currently programmed for 2003.
Visits are made to the site for the purpose of undertaking routine plant and project inspections or meeting site management or safety representatives. Joint inspections with the naval regulator, NNRP, are also undertaken where there are areas of mutual interest. 4 NII inspector-days were spent on the site as follows:
9 April
22 April
13 - 14 May
Additionally, two further days were spent at off-site at meetings directly related to site matters.
2.1 Attendance was made at meetings related to the company's review of the need for the on-site fire service; one of these meetings was with the site senior safety representative. HSE are looking carefully at the implications for safety of the site and the safety of workers and the public as a proposal is developed.
NII carried out an inspection of LC17 Quality Assurance arrangements. BAES have given some priority in the QA area and increased the number of people working there. The company have improved the tracking of quality audit findings and have developed an accessible intranet system for company quality documentation.
An inspection was carried out of the licensee's control of site plans and site boundary marking. Plans have been improved to show activities within buildings on the site. Marking was generally satisfactory although there was a need to give attention to some signs delineating the nuclear licensed from other parts of the shipyard.
Radiation (Emergency Planning and Public Information) Regulations 2001 information provided by BAES Marine is currently being evaluated by HSE.
In conjunction with BAES Marine and NNRP, a series of meetings has been implemented to discuss ongoing issues related to the Astute submarine programme. The intent is to maintain dialogue so that potential problems could be dealt with at a working level. One meeting took place in this quarter; the frequency of meetings will be dependent on the submarine programme and activities on the site.
Nothing to report.
NII issues formal regulatory documents called Consents and Approvals, together with licence instruments where these are called for under conditions attached to the site licence. Directions may also be issued at the discretion of NII. No Licence Instruments were issued in this period.
Published on the HSE web site 9 September 2002