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 Heysham Power Station available to the public. It is for distribution to members of the Heysham Local Community Liaison Council and covers activities associated with the regulation of safety at Heysham. These reports are distributed quarterly. Site Inspectors of HM Nuclear Installations Inspectorate attend LCLC meetings and will be happy to respond to any questions raised there by members of the LCLC. Any other person wishing to enquire about matters covered by this report should contact the HSE, Nuclear Directorate Information Centre on 0151-951-4103.
The Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII) site inspectors made visits to Heysham on the following dates during this quarter:
Heysham 115, 16, 31 July 2002
22, 28, 29 August 2002
4, 5,10,18,19, 20, 24, 25 September 2002
15, 17, 24-26 July 2002
21, 30 August 2002
5, 11, 12, 18-20, 24 September 2002
Other members of the NII, including specialist inspectors, also visited Heysham site during the period. At Heysham 1, NII inspectors attended a technical meeting to discuss matters associated with the development of the boiler spine safety case. An NII project inspector also completed a review of work carried out by the station against recommendations made in the Periodic Safety Review. At Heysham 2, NII inspectors attended meetings to discuss the forthcoming reactor 7 periodic shutdown and the station's response to the recent gas circulator problems at Torness. An NII Deputy Chief Inspector also visited Heysham 2 on 21 August 2002.
As part of our routine work we inspect for compliance against the requirements of the Stations' 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.
NII Inspectors reviewed progress with Heysham 1 staff on closing out the findings from the Heysham 1 Periodic Safety Review (PSR), as detailed in the public report issued in December 1999. The PSR findings relate to commitments made in the report to implement a number of safety related improvements by December 2002. We found that the licensee was making satisfactory progress with most of work now complete and the safety benefits realised. We completed a sample based inspection to initially confirm the adequacy of completion statements made by the licensee and secondly to ensure the claimed plant modifications had been satisfactorily installed. We raised a number of minor observations that the licensee is addressing. The licensee reaffirmed it's commitment to close out the PSR findings by December 2002. A number of emergent areas of work have developed during the period identified for the implementation of PSR improvements and NII is actively seeking the early completion of these additional tasks.
Work Management Project (WMP) is a major British Energy initiative to further enhance and modernise it's working processes and systems. NII carried out a readiness inspection at Heysham 1 on 18/19 September 2002 to assess the station's plans to implement WMP. We targeted those areas of WMP which might impact on safety, including training, staff responsibilities, system security, operating procedures and arrangements for licence condition compliance. We found that the station had put in place a thorough, well resourced and cautious plan to adopt WMP which was at an advanced stage of completion. We raised a number of issues, associated with test records and key performance indicators that were satisfactorily addressed. Heysham 1 implemented WMP on 30 September 2002, following on from earlier implementation at Heysham 2, Hinkley Point B and BE's two corporate centres.
Meetings were held with station staff to discuss technical matters associated with the periodic shutdown of reactor 7 which commences on 4 October 2002. We are satisfied with the station's programme of work for the shutdown.
Both NII site inspectors attended the Heysham Power Stations Emergency Planning Consultative Committee which took place on 20 September 2002.
Following the introduction of Condition 36 to the Nuclear Site Licence the licensee has developed compliance arrangements for the control of changes to organisational structures and resources which may affect nuclear safety. NII has issued Licence Instruments to both Heysham 1 & 2 specifying that the licensee should submit for approval the high level statements (Preface) to the arrangements. This regulatory approach ensures that once approved no alteration or amendment can be made to the Preface unless NII approval has been granted.
Following British Energy's 5 September announcement to the Stock Exchange that it had entered into talks with the Government on refinancing and restructuring, Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Nuclear Installations, Laurence Williams, stated:
"British Energy's nuclear site licences and the conditions attached to them remain in force. The duties to comply with licence conditions therefore continue, together with the duties to comply with other health and safety legislation. My inspectors will continue to check BE's compliance with their licence conditions and other relevant safety regulations and will not hesitate to take any appropriate action to ensure nuclear safety and the protection of the public is maintained."Site Inspectors for British Energy power stations have since contacted the Station Directors and site Safety Representatives to inform them that NII will continue to inspect the sites' nuclear safety management during this period, to ensure that their focus on nuclear safety is maintained. They have also held joint inspections with their Environment Agency/Scottish Environment Protection Agency counterparts, to ensure that the licensee is appropriately managing any potential safety or environmental issues arising from the announcement.
As part of our planned inspection of the Stations we examine safety related events which have occurred and the Licensee's response to them. From such inspections we are satisfied that the events which have occurred during the period were relatively minor. Responses by the Stations have been appropriate. Also see comments below on Heysham 2 gas circulators and reactor trips.
Following problems earlier this year with gas circulator impellers at Torness BE considered the implications for the reactors at their other AGR stations and provided NII with justifications for continued operation of these reactors. Particular attention is being paid to Heysham 2 because it has the same design of impeller as Torness, although there is no evidence of similar problems. Part of BE's response was to provide a commitment to seek NII agreement prior to carrying out on-load refueling and prior to any restarts following a reactor trip. This commitment was made because at that time it was judged these operations may contribute to impeller failure. The response also included enhancing the existing vibration monitoring arrangements to improve the forewarning of any impending circulator failure, and these were inspected and found to be satisfactory by NII. Subsequently NII agreed to 3 restarts following reactor trips and 1 batch of on-load refueling which has yet to be carried out. BE's investigation into the Torness events is continuing with a programme of ongoing work, and NII will continue to monitor developments. However, based on the available Torness information and the response made by Heysham 2, NII is satisfied that the Heysham 2 reactors can continue to operate safely.
Unusually, Heysham 2 had three reactor trips in September; one on reactor 7 and two on reactor 8. From our inspections we are satisfied with the station's investigations and with the resulting actions being put in place to help avoid a recurrence. We are also satisfied that the events are unrelated to each other.
The following regulatory documentation was issued during the quarter:
(i) Licence Instrument Number 54 was issued on 8 August 2002 for Heysham 1 specifying that the licensee should submit for NII approval the Management of Change Schedule - Preface, HYA/SCH/051 Issue 2.
(ii) Licence Instrument Number 55 was issued on 8 August 2002 for Heysham 2 specifying that the licensee should submit for NII approval the Management of Change Preface, MOC/HYB/001 Addendum 1 Issue 2.
Published on the HSE web site 18 November 2002