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 Amersham plc, Maynard Centre Local Liaison Committee (LLC) and covers activities associated with the regulation of safety at the site. These reports are distributed quarterly. Site Inspectors of HM Nuclear Installations Inspectorate attend LLC meetings and will be happy to respond to questions raised there 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.
Inspection visits were made to the Maynard Centre site on 22 - 24 July 2003.
The main thrust of NII activity during the period of this report has been regulatory compliance and issues related to the plants being developed on site to recycle carbon - 14 and tritium liquid and gaseous wastes.
Routine compliance inspection of plant was carried out to the inspection plan and the site inspector inspected parts of the site during his visit. Particular attention has been paid to the compliance by Amersham with Licence Condition 8 (Warning Notices) and an adequate level of compliance was shown.
Amersham has submitted the Pre-Construction Safety Report (PCSR) for the Carbon - 14 Waste Treatment and Enrichment Plant. One of the main purposes of the PCSR is to demonstrate that the detailed design proposal will meet the safety objectives prior to commencement of construction or installation. NII has issued a Licence Instrument (see paragraph 4 below) informing Amersham of its intention to examine the safety documentation. A further Licence Instrument will be required before construction of the plant can proceed and the issue of this will be dependent on the NII being satisfied that Amersham has properly considered the safety aspects of the plant and following NII consultation with the Environment Agency.
The Maynard Centre Site Annual Emergency Exercise was held on the evening of 23 July 2003 and was witnessed by the NII. The focus of the exercise this year was the adequacy of the control and management of an incident during silent hours. Overall the exercise was judged to provide an adequate demonstration of the out of hours site emergency arrangements. Evidence of good practice was seen during the exercise and a number of areas for improvement were noted.
The new Superintending Inspector covering Amersham sites regulation made a brief familiarisation visit to the site. He met site management and visited manufacturing areas.
No statutory reportable radiological incidents have been notified to the NII during the quarter.
Licence Instrument 8, an acknowledgement of receipt of safety documentation and notice of intent to examine the documentation was issued on 17 September 2003 under arrangements made for the purposes of Licence Condition 19(1). This acknowledgement was in respect of the Pre-Construction Safety Report (PCSR) for the Carbon - 14 Waste Treatment and Enrichment Plant.
Published on the HSE web site 22 December 2003