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 Barrow-in-Furness Local Liaison committee (LLC) and covers activities associated with the regulation of nuclear safety at BAE SYSTEMS Marine Limited (BAESM). 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 or subsequently 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 majority of sites inspected by HM Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII) a part of the Health and Safety Executive, are licensed by NII under the Nuclear Installations Act 1965 (as amended). This report summarises the inspection and regulatory activities associated with the Barrow-in-Furness licensed site. In accordance with the HSE commitments to open government, this report will also be placed on the Internet.
Visits are made to the sites for the purpose of undertaking routine plant and project inspections or attending formal meetings with site management or safety representatives. Routine inspections by NII are undertaken primarily to check compliance with licence conditions made under the Nuclear Installations Act, but are also made against provisions of the Health & Safety at Work Act 1974, and regulations made under that Act such as the Ionising Radiations Regulations 1999. The site inspector visited site on:
3-5 February 2004
23-27 February 2004
9-11 March 2004
In addition, the Chief Inspector Nuclear Installations visited the site on 25 March 2004, and other NII inspectors on 23-27 February and 9-10 March 2004.
Matters covered in this section are those being pursued with the site as part of ongoing site inspection activity and dialogue including project work and any generic or topical work relevant to all licensees.
As part of the routine inspection programme for the sites NII check compliance with licence conditions made under the Nuclear Installations Act and other Regulations such as the Ionising Radiation Regulations 1999.
BAESM is in the process of amending its arrangements made to comply with the licence conditions to reflect current thinking and industry good practice, and to reflect the recent reorganisation within the Company. No significant issues in relation to compliance and the licensed site facilities were raised during the quarter.
Matters involving NII's response to incidents/events and to non-routine issues arising from operation of the sites are reported in this section together with the outcome of any special/team inspections, investigations or audits.
As a result of concerns expressed by BAESM about the demonstrable quality of submarine reactor components, and the quality assurance arrangements employed by the supplier of these, NII carried out inspections at BAESM and its principal supplier to confirm that the root causes of these deficits have been identified, and that appropriate actions have been, or are being, taken to correct them and to prevent a recurrence. The inspections were carried out by the site inspector assisted by NII Quality Assurance specialist inspectors, and joined by a representative from the Naval Nuclear Regulatory Panel. On completion of the inspections, the inspectors concluded that BAESM had identified the root causes of the problems experienced and, in close cooperation with its supplier, it had identified the actions necessary to correct them, and was making good progress with the programme to complete them.
NII issues formal regulatory documents called Consents and Approvals, together with licence instruments where these are called for under conditions attached to the site licence. Directions may also be issued at the discretion of NII.
Regulatory activity during the quarter was limited to the reported inspection activities and no formal regulatory documents were issued by NII for the Barrow-in-Furness site.
Mr Williams, the Chief Inspectors Nuclear Installations, visited the site on 25 March 2004, during which he toured the nuclear related facilities and held discussions with BAESM senior management.
Published on the HSE web site 8 July 2004