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 Hunterston A Power Station Local Liaison Committee and covers activities associated with the regulation of safety at Hunterston A Power Station. 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.
1 The Site Inspector made three visits to Hunterston A during the period July to September these visits were on:
21 - 23 July
11 - 15 August
2 A specialist inspector supported the inspection of 21 to 23 July to assist in assessing progress in respect of the improvement notice on lifting and to complete specialist inspections of facilities to be associated with the recovery of solid active waste from the bunkers.
3 A number of routine inspections have been completed this quarter although the work completed fell short of that planned.
4 Inspections completed this quarter under the site inspection plan included ones against Licence Conditions, 11 (Emergency Arrangements), 14 (Safety Documentation), 21 (Commissioning), 22 (Modifications), 28 (Examination, Test and Maintenance) and 35 (Decommissioning). The outcome of these inspections was in the main acceptable. While, some deficiencies were identified and reported to the Licensee for attention compliance with the arrangement in other cases was found to be very good.
5 A dialogue has started with the Licensee in respect of making improvements to the arrangements for compliance with Licence Conditions 35 (Decommissioning) and 19 & 20 (New Build & Control of Design). The completion of changes and improvements to these arrangements is becoming a matter of urgency.
6 Routine inspection of two plant areas, ponds and solid active waste building were completed. Considerable progress has been made in improving the general conditions in the pond building. There has also been an improvement in the general safety of the facilities used to undertake active operations; e.g. recovery and disposal of furniture from the ponds. The conditions in the solid active waste building were adequate; however, a number of safety improvements were discussed with and promptly implemented by the Licensee.
7 The licensee has advised the Inspectorate of its intention to make changes to the management and staff structure and some early discussions have been held regarding the safety implications of these proposals. The changes proposed will be made in accordance with the Licensee's arrangements for compliance with Licence Condition 36, Control of Organisational Change.
8 The work undertaken by the site to comply with the improvement notice, issued as a result of the investigation into the dropped load event, reported last quarter, has been monitored. Following inspection it was concluded that the Licensee had complied to meet the requirements of the improvement notice. It is reported here that the Licensee has, as part of the improvement exercise, undertaken work in addition to that required by the improvement notice to enhance the control and safety of lifting operation on the site.
9 Inspections of the sludge retrieval project have continued; progress of other decommissioning projects has been monitored. Inspections have been completed of the existing facilities to be used in respect of the project for recovery of the solid wastes in the bunkers. While the project is at an early stage the inspection at site and examination of the supporting documentation have not given rise to any major issues. A number of matters for clarification have been raised with the Licensee.
10 The Inspectorate has power under the 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 Licence.
11 Approval No. 8 was issued in respect of changes to the site Emergency Plan during the period; the plan has thereby been maintained consistent with that in place at the adjacent B station.
Published on the HSE web site 22 January 2004