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 two visits to Hunterston A during the period October to December these visits were on:
28 - 31 October
8 - 12 December
2 A specialist inspector supported the inspection of 28 to 31 October to assist in assessing the status and permissioning required for the enabling works of Intermediate Level Waste (ILW) store project and for the reactor building recladding project.
3 A number of routine inspections have been completed this quarter in line with the site inspection plan.
4 Inspections completed this quarter under the site inspection plan included ones against Licence Conditions, 8 (Warning Notices), 16 (Site Plans, Designs and Specifications), 26 (Control and Supervision of Operations), and 33 (Disposal of Radioactive Waste). Compliance inspections against Licence Conditions 7 (Incidents on the Site) and 36 (Management of Change) were also completed as part of the routine inspection of operations on the site. The outcome of these inspections was in the main acceptable. The deficiencies identified were of a nature they could be reported to the Licensee for attention. The Licensee's clearance of such deficiencies is monitored and continues to be good.
5 A dialogue has continued 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). This was supported by compliance inspection of decommissioning projects including the sludge recovery and the ILW store projects.
6 Routine inspection of the reactors and the active effluent treatment plant confirmed that conditions in these areas remain satisfactory despite the disruption caused by the installation of a new electrical supply system.
7 The safety performance on site continues to be good. Nevertheless the Inspectorate continues to scrutinise this area closely to ensure that lessons to be learnt from incidents are captured and the work force informed, e.g. via toolbox talks. This is also undertaken in support of the ongoing improvement process, to assist in combating complacency, and ensure that those on site remain fully aware of the correct response to fire and other alarms.
8 Dialogue has continued with the licensee in respect of the intention to make changes to the management and staff structure. The discussions to date have revealed no major issues in respect of the safety implications of the proposals. However, a final conclusion will not be possible until the changes proposed are completed and submitted to the Inspectorate in accordance with the Licensee's arrangements for compliance with Licence Condition 36, Control of Organisational Change.
9 The changes to the site's emergency arrangements arising from the change in relationship with British Energy have been discussed along with the time scales and implementation plans for making the changes. The site are commended on the progress that has been made to establish their own incident response capability and to develop this with the intention of providing a full emergency response by their own staff in 2005.
10 The matters for clarification in respect of the project for recovery of the solid wastes in the bunkers have been resolved. The specialist inspections associated with the reactor recladding project, and the enabling work for the construction of the ILW store, have progressed with a satisfactory outcome.
11 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. No legal documents have been issued under the Licence during this period.
Published on the HSE web site 8 June 2004