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 Dungeness Power Station Local Community Liaison Council (LCLC) and covers activities associated with the regulation of safety at Dungeness A Nuclear Power Plant. These reports are distributed quarterly. Site Inspectors of HM Nuclear Installations Inspectorate attend LCLC 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. A total of 4 different NII Inspectors visited the Dungeness A site during the quarter. Inspections were made on the following days:
12 - 15 January 2 -5 February 22 - 25 March
2. 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 covered:
a. Provision and assessment of safety cases and compliance with
arrangements made under licence conditions.
b. Management of operations and maintenance.
c. Control and supervision of operations.
d. Emergency Preparedness.
e. Training and authorisation.
f. Incident/event reporting.
g. Control of construction.
h. Warning notices and signs.
3. Follow-up Emergency Exercise: Following shortfalls identified in
the annual demonstration exercise in October 2003 NII observed an
extended shift exercise on Wednesday 4 February. The NII team
focussed on the 4 elements that were previously identified for
further demonstration. In the de-brief NII confirmed that the
performance was significantly improved and thus were satisfied with
the emrgency preparedness arrangements in place.
4. Partial Loss of off-site power. The NII site inspector investigated this event separately (See Q4 2003 report) in January 2004. In February the station provided a full report to NII of its own internal investigations, including recommendations to help prevent a recurrence. The NII is monitoring the implementation of the recommendations. The site inspector has written to the station asking for a review of the site's arrangements for commissioning of safety related plant and equipment, as shortcomings in this area represented a significant contributor to the event.
The licensee's initial INES classification of the event is being discussed further with Magnox Electric.
6. Reactor 1 Periodic Shutdown. A meeting was held on 21 January 2004 between the licensee and NII inspectors to discuss and agree the proposals for work on Reactor 1 during the next outage, due to commence in April 2004. A significant amount of additional work is being undertaken as part of the efforts by the company to either reduce the scope or negate the need for an outage in 2006. Inspection of the preparatory phase for the outage has revealed no safety concerns.
7. As part of its regulation under the nuclear site licences NII
issues formal regulatory documents, which include Consents,
Approvals, Directions, and Licence Instruments 1. For Dungeness A, during the quarter NII
issued two such documents: -
Approval No 19 - Approval of amendments to the Emergency Plan in
the light of the requirements under Radiation Emergency
Prepardeness and Public Information Regulations (REPPIR).
LI No 43 - Agreement to operate Caesium removal equipment in the spent fuel ponds.
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 27 September 2004
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