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 Amersham plc Grove Centre Local Liaison Committee (LLC) and covers activities associated with the regulation of safety at the site. These reports are distributed quarterly and are available also from the Internet at www.hse.gov.uk/nsd. Site Inspectors of HM Nuclear Installations Inspectorate attend LLC meetings and will be happy to respond to any questions raised there by members. Any other person wishing to enquire about matters covered by this report may contact HSE's Nuclear Directorate Information Centre on 0151-951-4103.
1. NII inspections were made on 17-20 August 2004. (Inspections are also made at Amersham plc's nuclear licensed sites at Cardiff (the Maynard Centre) and Harwell. Where these are relevant to the Grove Centre they are included below. For instance, the sites have many arrangements in common for compliance with the conditions attached to their site licences.)
Inspections are undertaken for the purpose of monitoring compliance with (i) the conditions attached by HSE to the nuclear site licences, and (ii) other relevant provisions of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, including the Ionising Radiations Regulations 1999. In this period routine inspections included:
a. Arrangements for the examination, inspection, maintenance, and
testing of plant. (This was an inspection jointly with the
Environment Agency.)
b. Arrangements and programme for decommissioning.
c. Emergency arrangements.
d. Arrangements for the notification, recording, investigation, and
reporting of incidents on the site.
e. Arrangements for the control of organisational change.
f. Operation of the Nuclear Safety Committee, the body to which the
licensee refers nuclear safety matters for consideration and
advice.
3. Issues arising from these and previous inspections are being pursued.
4. Acquisition by General Electric: Laurence Williams, HM Chief Inspector of Nuclear Installations, met Directors of Amersham plc on 16 September. After explaining the UK's nuclear licensing and regulatory system Mr Williams expressed his concern on two issues arising from the acquisition by General Electric. First, some organisational changes that had been made, or were being proposed, appeared to cast doubt on the premiss that the licensee was the controlling mind for operations on its sites. Second, some organisational changes did not seem to be under control in the way that Licence Condition 36 required.
5. The licensee outlined a programme for addressing these concerns.
6. No statutorily reportable radiological incidents were notified to NII in this quarter.
7 As part of its regulation under the nuclear site licence NII issues formal regulatory documents, which include Consents, Approvals, Directions, and Licence Instruments . No such documents were issued during this quarter.
8. No other issues have arisen that have required formal regulatory action.
1 Licence Instruments are issued: to acknowledge receipt of specified documents, eg proposals for a new or modified plant; to stipulate whether the Inspectorate intends to examine these documents; or to agree to the start of a particular phase of construction, commissioning, modification, or decommissioning.
Published on the HSE web site 03 January 2004