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 Hartlepool Local Community Liaison Council and covers activities associated with the regulation of safety at Hartlepool Power Station. These reports are distributed quarterly. 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 there to questions raised by members of the LCLC. Any person wishing to inquire about matters covered by this report should contact the HSE, Nuclear Directorate Information Centre on 0151 951 4103.
The site inspector visited the site on four occasions during the quarter:
14th to 17th October
17th to 21st November
3rd to 5th December
8th to 11th December
The site inspector also attended a Cleveland Local Emergency Centre training day on 7th October. Specialist NII inspectors visited the site during the period to assist with inspections related to their expertise - radwaste and chemistry, quality assurance and conventional fire safety.
As part of their routine work NII inspectors inspect for compliance against the requirements of the Station's Nuclear Site Licence, the Health and Safety at Work Act and other relevant safety legislation. They monitor events, plant operations, projects, modifications and safety case changes and any other matters which are important to safety. Planned inspections during the quarter included the station's arrangements for the use of suitably qualified and experienced staff for fuel route maintenance (LC 12), radiological protection (LC 18), management of change (LC 36), radioactive radwaste (LCs 32 and 34, jointly with EA), decommissioning (LC 35), site plans (LC 16), modifications (LC 22), emergency arrangements (LC 11) and conventional fire safety (together with the HSE specialist).
In general the station's arrangements were found to be satisfactory, with a commitment to accommodate the improvements identified. However there were a number of issues resulting from the inspections of conventional fire safety and radwaste which have been confirmed in writing which will require longer term follow up.
During the quarter a failure of a cast iron seawater cooling pipe at Hartlepool's sister station, Heysham 1, underlined the potential for challenges to the safety case from this cause. The equivalent pipework at Hartlepool appears to be degrading at a slower rate than at Heysham. Nevertheless the Inspectorate requested Hartlepool to provide a justification for continued operation. On the basis of the JCO the current position is judged to be adequate but an accelerated programme of pipework replacement is appropriate. The Inspectorate will continue to pro-actively monitor this aspect of the safety case.
The site inspector has continued to encourage the station to improve resources to implement the WMP processes effectively and generally there appears to be a significant improvement. One of the processes more directly related to safety is the so called Total Exposure Module and the site inspector has monitored the initiatives to improve this aspect in particular detail. Consequently he wrote to the station in December requesting them to confirm their position on several specific points. He will continue to pursue these aspects.
An initiative to provide a simulator for Hartlepool (the only station in the BE fleet without its own dedicated local facility) has been in progress for some time. The site inspector wrote to the station during December to confirm the Inspectorate's view that development of such a facility is essential to enable them to continue improving several aspects of their performance.
Together with a team of inspectors the site inspector observed the station's demonstration exercise Xsara in December. The NII team judged it to be an adequate demonstration.
As part of their planned inspection site inspectors examine safety related events that have occurred and the Licensee's response to them. Generally the Licensee's internal system for following up events is robust and the appropriate actions are implemented. The site inspector investigated several events in detail, including the continuing problem with the R6 tower HVAC duct (summarised in previous reports) and the position with respect to cast iron pipework summarised above. There is one additional event summarised below.
The station reported that a small number of welds had not been inspected in line with their safety case requirements. Although these were only a few out of many thousands it is considered important that the licensee's systems should be sufficiently robust to ensure that the chance of safety related inspections being missed is minimal. The inspectorate intends to follow up the site inspector's investigation by inspecting the appropriate corporate systems at the Barnwood headquarters.
The Inspectorate has powers under the Nuclear Site Licence to issue Consents, Approvals and Directions. In addition, the Inspectorate uses Licence Instruments to issue Specifications and Agreements under the conditions attached to the Site Licence. During the reporting period there was one Approval issued:
Approval 15, allowing the station to amend the maintenance schedule to enable rationalisation of some maintenance work with the shift system, under licence condition 28(5).
Published on the HSE web site 26.08.2004