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 Harwell Local Liaison Committee (LLC) and covers activities associated with the regulation of safety at Harwell. 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 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 events relating to a release of radioactive material into a laboratory in B 220 have required further effort by the site inspector and colleagues. In addition as part of NII's process of moving site inspectors, inspections were arranged to facilitate a smooth transfer to the new site inspector who took up the post on 1 April.
The Site Inspector visited Harwell on the following days:
| 9 January | - | 10 January | Site Inspection | ||
| 28 January | - | 31 January | Site inspection | ||
| 4 March | - | 6 March | Site Inspection | ||
| 27 March | - | 28 March | Site Inspection LLC |
The site inspector and colleagues spent a total of 25 man-days on site.
Regulatory work has also been undertaken corporately at Risley and two meetings to discuss a UKAEA project proposal involving possible Private Finance Initiative funding have been held at Birmingham. Use continues to be made of video conferencing facilities, particularly in respect of the periodic safety review project.
The annual review of safety took place in March using a similar format to previous years with presentations from the key departments and a review of key safety features and progress. Tenant representatives were present, as part of NII's desire to ensure that safety is reviewed as a site wide function. For the future it was agreed that there needed to be an increased emphasis of the use of lessons from the previous 12 months to look forward and to examine the implications for future operations. In this respect the PSR (Periodic Safety Review) is a significant project. This submission will be made to NII in June and by the next annual review of safety NII would have started to provide comments and to discuss the review findings and associated programmes of work.
A review of the B200 exit plan was conducted as part of NII's examination of control and supervision arrangements. It was evident that a good project plan was in place with regular monitoring by UKAEA. Controls are in place to control key changes that affect safety and steps have been taken to ensure that there is no shortfall in manning safety related posts. The timescale for sale of part of AEAT Nuclear Science business has slipped.
A presentation on NII's inspection plan and internal processes was undertaken to key UKAEA staff. This formed part of NII's desire to be open about its inspection process to help future interactions with the licensee. For future annual reviews of safety it was evident that it would be helpful if NII provided a more structured review of its overall findings using the plan as a baseline. It is intended to carry out similar presentations at other UKAEA sites.
Regular project reviews have been undertaken and NII have appointed a project officer as part of planning our resources to assess the PSR when it is submitted in June. There is a clear understanding on both sides that this is a review across the site not a standalone safety case. The resource requirements are recognised and that improvements identified will have to be prioritised.
Key issues continue to be discussed with the EA inspector. NII were informed that the revised authorisation was due to be issued and prior to its issue we confirmed that we were content with format and content. The revised authorisation has now been issued.
Currently NII is looking at the quality of the unusual occurrence (UNOR) process across all UKAEA sites.
On 25-26th March, a visit was made to Harwell to gather information on the unusual occurrence process. This is the first in a series of inspections to be carried out across the UKAEA licensed sites. On the whole, the UNOR arrangements in place on Harwell site are adequate. However, the quality of UNOR reporting by UKAEA is generally better than those undertaken by tenants. Harwell should implement a new database for dealing with the UNORs and to carry out trend analysis of root causes.
NII continued its follow up of the events associated with the release into GB11/12. This included a more detailed examination of the ventilation system in the laboratory and its relationship with adjoining areas. As a result of these investigations and discussions with UKAEA a letter was sent setting out a series of regulatory requirements. UKAEA responded promptly and a review meeting was held during March. Local improvements and changes to procedures were completed by the end of the quarter. The site wide engineering substantiation programme has also been adjusted to bring forward the planned work for B 220. NII will continue to monitor this work as part of follow up to the event and as part of the site wide Periodic Safety Review. Particular attention will be paid to engineering principles in terms of the future work in laboratories throughout B 220.
UKAEA indicated to NII that it wished to examine the possibility of a Private Finance Initiative (PFI) as part of its consideration of the plants that will be required for conditioning of retrieved waste. Constructive dialogue has taken place that enabled both sides to highlight and understand the areas of concern within the regulatory framework of licensing. PFI could have implications at other sites and it was agreed that this it is a generic issue and hence UKAEA needed to develop a corporate proposal. UKAEA are now considering the way ahead and intend to put proposals on options to its Board. Once this has occurred there will be further dialogue with NII.
During the period of the report, no Approvals or Directions under conditions attached to the Site Licence were issued. The following Consents were issued;
Consent No 89. Lease of land for barrel storage adjacent to B401.8 to AEAT, dated 20 January 2003. Consent No 93. Lease of B580, Harwell to Reviss Services (UK) Ltd, dated 3 February 2003.The following Licence Instrument was issued;
Licence Instrument No 65. Acknowledgement of receipt of a category B modification under the arrangements made for LC22 replacement of ANUMAP nuclear materials accountancy system by ATOM, dated 19 March 2003.Published on the HSE web site 1 July 2003