Health and Safety
Executive / Commission
Nuclear
LLC reports
Introduction
Inspections
Routine Matters
Non Routine Matters
Regulatory Activity
Change of Site Inspector
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 Barrow-in-Furness Local Liaison committee (LLC) and covers activities associated with the regulation of nuclear safety at BAE SYSTEMS Marine Limited (BAESM). 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.
The majority of sites inspected by HM Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII) a part of the Health and Safety Executive, are licensed by NII under the Nuclear Installations Act 1965 (as amended). This report summarises the inspection and regulatory activities associated with the Barrow-in-Furness licensed site. In accordance with the HSE commitments to open government, this report will also be placed on the Internet.
Visits are made to the sites for the purpose of undertaking routine plant and project inspections or attending formal meetings with site management or safety representatives. Routine inspections by NII are undertaken primarily to check compliance with licence conditions made under the Nuclear Installations Act, but are also made against provisions of the Health & Safety at Work Act 1974, and regulations made under that Act such as the Ionising Radiations Regulations 1999. The site inspector visited site on:
8-10 April 2003In addition, other NII inspectors visited the site on 8 May 2003.
Matters covered in this section are those being pursued with the site as part of ongoing site inspection activity and dialogue including project work and any generic or topical work relevant to all licensees.
Routine matters addressed in the quarter were:
As part of the routine inspection programme for the sites NII check compliance with licence conditions made under the Nuclear Installations Act and other Regulations such as the Ionising Radiation Regulations 1999.
BAESM is in the process of amending its arrangements made to comply with the licence conditions to reflect current thinking and industry good practice, and no new significant issues were raised during the quarter.
The requirements for the Periodic Safety Review (PSR) of the activities and facilities at Barrow were discussed on a number of occasions during the quarter. The purpose of a PSR is to determine, by means of a comprehensive assessment against modern standards, whether the plants, processes, management, operations and facilities covered by a safety case are safe, and that ageing and other time-related phenomena will not render them unsafe before the next PSR. Where modern standards are not met the PSR should assess the significance of the shortfalls, and identify reasonably practicable improvements. It is NII's policy that licensees carry out such a PSR, as required by licence condition15, at least every ten years.
The need to establish a baseline organisational structure that reflects the changes to the BAESM organisation following the decision to transfer all surface ship work to the Clyde, and to concentrate on submarines only at Barrow, was discussed.
Matters involving NII's response to incidents/events and to non-routine issues arising from operation of the sites are reported in this section together with the outcome of any special/team inspections, investigations or audits.
There is nothing to report in this section for the quarter.
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.
Regulatory activity during the quarter was limited to the reported inspection activities and no formal regulatory documents were issued by NII for the Barrow-in-Furness site.
It is NII policy to change its site inspectors at appropriate intervals. A change of the NII site inspector for the BAESM licensed site took place on 1 April 2003.
Published on the HSE web site 15 September 2003