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 Dungeness Local Community Liaison Council and covers activities associated with the regulation of safety at Dungeness B Nuclear Power Station. 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 to any questions raised there by members of the LCLC. Any other person wishing to inquire about matters covered by this report should contact the HSE's Nuclear Directorate Information Centre on 0151 951 4103.
1.1. The Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII) Site Inspector and/or his assistant visited Dungeness 'B' on the following dates during the quarter covered by this report:
13 - 16 January
3 - 6 and 12 February, and
3 - 6, 16 - 19 and 31 March.
1.2. Other NII inspectors with specialist technical expertise also visited site during the period so as to support the Site Inspector by performing inspections on licence condition compliance and compliance with the power station's nuclear safety case.
During the visits listed above the Site Inspector, and assistants, carried out planned inspections of the licensee's compliance with:
(i) the conditions attached to the Site Licence;Power station outages result in daily site numbers peaking at around 1000 people. NII asked the site to demonstrate that the muster arrangements could handle large numbers of contractors. Consequently, NII witnessed a specially arranged, un-announced muster on 12 February. The local arrangements just managed to cope with large numbers of contractors. British Energy Generation Limited subsequently decided to modify their arrangements slightly so as to ease the situation at the North Site Muster point during outages. This was fortuitous as on 1 March, due to a flange failure, there was a release of a large quantity of clean Carbon Dioxide gas that necessitated a site muster. The modified arrangements coped well with the large number of contractors that were on site at the time.
At regular intervals NII meets formally with the licensee's Station and Headquarters staff to review the last period of operation, to discuss future plans and to ensure progress on outstanding issues is satisfactory. As part of this ongoing dialogue, the Site Inspector, his Superintending Inspector and other NII colleagues attended a Dungeness B Review Meeting on 6 February 2003.
The Site Inspector attended the EPCC meeting on 6 March 2003.
As part of routine, planned inspections the Site Inspector examined the licensee's arrangements for the recording and investigation of incidents at the power station and, where appropriate, undertook independent investigations to the extent that was warranted by the significance of the incident.
This team inspection took place on 4 and 5 March 2003. A four-person team of inspectors questioned site staff and contractors about their working and travel patterns during the Reactor 21 outage. They were also questioned about fatigue awareness and relevant training received from their employer. It was concluded that BEGL had recognised that worker fatigue could result in safety issues and therefore it had taken reasonable steps to ensure that people on site were not working when fatigued.
Mr L Williams, NII Chief Inspector and HSE Board Member, visited site on 17 March 2003 as part of a rolling programme of visits to all the major nuclear licensed sites in the UK. The station gave Mr Williams a presentation on the issues affecting Dungeness B power station and a tour of the site. He met a large number of people while on site. Mr Williams offered encouragement with regard to the current site enhancement but he also highlighted areas where he wishes to see improvements in the not too distant future.
British Energy has applied for the re-licensing of Hunterston and Torness to bring the whole of its UK nuclear sites under a single licensee, as this will simplify its internal operations. As part of this process, which will take some time, British Energy has proposed, and implemented with NII agreement, reorganisation of some of its central support functions under a unified management structure. This will result in some cross-licensee working for which formal arrangements are in place to ensure that each licensee continues to take proper responsibility for nuclear safety.
4.1 The NII has powers within the standard Nuclear Site Licence Conditions to issue Consents, Approvals and Directions. In addition NII uses Licence Instruments to issue Specifications and Agreements under the conditions attached to the Licence. In accordance with formal regulatory procedures under Site Licence No. 61 the NII issued the following:
was issued on 25 February 2003 agreeing to safety proposals associated with the ring beam to pressure cylinder weld safety case.
was issued on 28 March 2003 agreeing to the establishment of cross-licensee working arrangements.
Published on the HSE web site 17 June 2003