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 Hartlepool Local Community Liaison Council and covers activities associated with the regulation of safety at Hartlepool Power Station. These reports are distributed quarterly. Site Inspectors of HM Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (part of the Health and Safety Executive's Nuclear Directorate) attend LCLC meetings and will be happy to respond there to questions raised by members of the LCLC. Any person wishing to inquire about matters covered by this report should contact the HSE, Nuclear Directorate Information Centre on 0151 951 4103.
I visited the site on five occasions during the quarter:
1st to 3rd October27th to 28th November
14th to 18th October
2nd to 5th December
4th to 8th November
Specialist NII inspectors also visited the site during the period to inspect arrangements for work management, radioactive waste, fire safety and instrumentation upgrades. The radioactive waste inspection included a colleague from the Belgian regulator as part of a joint working initiative.
As part of our routine work NII inspectors inspect for compliance against the requirements of the Station's Nuclear Site Licence, the Health and Safety at Work Act and other relevant safety legislation. We monitor events, plant operations, projects, modifications and safety case changes which are important to safety. Topics covered during the quarter included the station's arrangements for emergency arrangements, safety documentation, maintenance, radwaste and Work Management Project. I also held a routine meeting with safety representatives.
In general the station's arrangements were found to be satisfactory, with a commitment to remedy matters where that was not the case.
Together with a specialist colleague, I inspected the station's progress with the implementation of WMP during the early part of the period. Although progress in some areas was good there appeared to be a significant backlog of work in other areas and I considered the status of the formal licence condition submissions (LC 22 and 36) to be inappropriate for the stage the project had reached. As a result I formally required the station to obtain agreement from NII before "going live" with the project (now successfully completed in January 2003).
Under their arrangements for modifications the station plan to replace much of the analogue data processing system with modern digital equivalents. As a result of concerns expressed by my specialist colleagues, regarding the demonstration of reliability of such digital systems, the modification has been specified under the station's LC 22 arrangements such that a formal agreement is required from NII before the modification is implemented.
Following the introduction of Condition 36 to the Nuclear Site Licence the licensee has developed compliance arrangements for the control of changes to the organisational structure and resources which may affect nuclear safety. Following its assessment process NII has issued a Licence Instrument approving high level statements in the Preface to the arrangements. This ensures that future alteration or amendment of the Preface is prevented unless a further NII approval has been granted.
The station's arrangements were scrutinised in detail during a team inspection early in the period and were found to be generally robust.
Together with a team of inspectors I observed the station's demonstration exercise Wagtail in November. The NII team judged it to be an adequate demonstration.
As part of my planned inspection I examine safety related events that have occurred and the Licensee's response to them. Generally the Licensee's internal system for following up events is robust and the appropriate actions are implemented. Activities which I consider to be significant are summarised below.
I have continued to monitor the situation at site carefully to determine whether the uncertainty in BE's financial situation might have any adverse effect on the station's capability in safety related areas, such as supplies and contractors. To date I have found no evidence of any impairment of safety related facilities, stocks or services.
I have continued to monitor the station's contingency for coping with fire-fighter's industrial action during the reporting period. The station have operated in line with their risk assessment and I am satisfied that adequate additional precautions have been applied whenever relevant.
Together with specialist inspectors I reviewed in detail the station's arrangements for dealing with flask E107, which contained leaking irradiated fuel. I also discussed the station's plans with the Environment Agency inspector. NII concluded that all reasonable precautions had been identified and the flask was successfully processed and removed from site during the period.
Because it implied a release of activity off the site, I investigated this event in detail over the course of several site visits. On 21st November 2002 part of the Emergency Plume Gamma Monitoring System indicated radiation levels slightly above normal background, persisting for about an hour. At no time did they remotely approach levels which would be of concern for safety.
The event was very local, with only one of fourteen monitoring stations around the perimeter showing a significant effect, and two adjacent ones indicating a much smaller increase. The location of the enhanced levels and the prevailing wind direction were such that any airborne activity would be from off site. I was unable to conclude definitively the cause of the event. The most likely explanation is a natural event, such as local release of radon, occurring outside the site boundary.
The Inspectorate has powers under the Nuclear Site 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 Site Licence. The following regulatory documentation was issued during the reporting period:
(i) Licence instrument no 44 was issued on 23 December 2002, requiring the station to seek formal NII agreement before implementing the proposed replacement of analogue scanners.(ii) Approval number 12 was granted on 23 December 2002 providing NII approval of the Hartlepool Preface to the Management of Change Schedule HAR/MOCS/PREF Issue 1.
Published on the HSE web site 1 July 2003