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 Berkeley Power Station and Centre Local Community Liaison Committee, LCLC, and covers activities associated with the regulation of safety at Berkeley Power Station and Centre. These reports are distributed quarterly. Site Inspectors of HM Nuclear Installations Inspectorate attend LCLC meetings and will be happy to respond to questions raised there by members of the LCLC. Any other person wishing to inquire about matters covered by this report should contact the HSE, Nuclear Directorate Information Centre on 0151 - 951 - 4103.
The Site Inspector made four inspection visits to Berkeley Nuclear Licensed site during the period January to March. The visits were on:
8 - 11 January
5 February
14 - 15 February
11 - 13 March
An inspection of conventional safety of the power station and the centre was conducted with one of HSE's Specialist Inspectors on the 14 and 15 February. A Specialist Inspector from HSE completed an inspection of fire safety at the Power Station as part of the March inspection.
Routine inspection has continued; matters arising from the general inspections of the Power Station have decreased in number in recent months. Matters arising during the general inspection of both the Power Station and the Centre have been identified directly to the appropriate members of staff and to the relevant site manager for action. The site's response to these matters continues to be satisfactory.
A presentation was made the Power Station's safety, health and environment committee on the workings of the HSE, and the legal requirements arising from the Health and Safety at Work Act and the Nuclear Installations Act. The findings from recent inspections were briefly discussed and the learning points noted, information on access to HSE advice was also provided.
Licence compliance inspections completed this quarter at the Power Station included: LC7 (Incidents on Site), LC21 (Commissioning), and LC 28 (Maintenance). The arrangements for compliance with LC36 (Control of Organisational Change) at the Centre were inspected as part of the change management process. The outcome of the inspections was generally satisfactory although a number of improvements were identified, e.g. some parts of the procedures for compliance with LC7 at the Power Station are to be rewritten.
Proposals to improve the site's ability to respond to an on site incident or to an on or off site emergency were considered at the annual Exercise Review meeting. The proposal to move to a fixed access / incident control point and to improve the medical and decontamination facilities were welcomed. The facilities and revised procedures are to be in place for the next Level 1 exercise.
There have been a number of incidents on site none required regulatory intervention by HSE. However, personnel access was restricted to a number of areas of the Power Station for a short time in January while fire safety precautions were reviewed and an event involving transfer of the incorrect number of waste drums from the Centre to Drigg is being looked into.
Progress with recovery action arising from the personal contamination event at the centre reported last quarter has been monitored and found satisfactory by inspection.
The inspection of conventional safety matters included topics such as: lifting equipment safety, use of compressed gases, laser safety and compliance with COSHH regulations. The inspection found an acceptable level of compliance with the regulations although a number of possible improvements were identified. There was a very positive response to the findings.
Work on the cooling water structures will involve confined space working and involve a high, for the site, level of traffic movement. This project will be targeted in future inspections.
A specialist inspection of the Power Station fire precautions was completed in March as part of the process of revising and issuing a new fire certificate. The inspection revealed a number shortcomings and the Licensee has been asked to complete a full survey and report the findings by the end of May. A similar specialist inspection of the Centre has been arranged for April.
Progress with decommissioning continues notably the retrievals and electrical sub station projects. Inspection of the Licensee's work to validate the as built state of the solid active waste bunker retrieval and processing facilities were completed. These inspections and the inspections undertaken to confirm the completion of remedial work had a satisfactory outcome.
The Inspectorate has power under the Licence to issue Consents, Approvals and Directions. In addition the Inspectorate uses Licence Instruments to issue Specifications and Agreements under the conditions attached to the Licence. No legal documents have been issued under the Licence during this period.
Published on the HSE web site 3 December 2002