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 Local Community Liaison Council and covers activities associated with the regulation of safety at Dungeness B Nuclear Power Station. These reports are distributed quarterly and are available on the HSE web site (hse.gov.uk/nuclear/llc/2004/index.htm). Site Inspectors of HM Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (part of the Health and Safety Executive's Nuclear Directorate) attend LCLC meetings and will be happy to respond to any questions raised there by members of the LCLC. Any other person wishing to inquire about matters covered by this report should contact the HSE's Nuclear Directorate Information Centre on 0151 951 4103.
1. The Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII) Site Inspector
and/or his assistant visited Dungeness 'B' on the following
dates during the quarter covered by this report:
27 - 29 April,
11 - 13 May
2 - 3 June
21 - 24 June.
2. Other NII inspectors with specialist technical expertise also
visited British Energy establishments during the period so as to
support the Site Inspector by performing inspections on the
Licensee's nuclear safety case.
3. Compliance Inspections: Routine planned inspections are carried out throughout the year and enable NII to judge whether a licensee is complying with the conditions attached to the Nuclear Site Licence, the Ionising Radiations Regulations, and other relevant statutory provisions on a sampling basis. NII was generally satisfied that Dungeness B had shown satisfactory compliance.
4. Emergency Arrangements: An NII team supported the Site
Inspector in witnessing the station's annual "Level
1" demonstration emergency exercise on 23 June. This was
judged by NII to provide, in general, an adequate demonstration of
the station's emergency arrangements. However, the site
inspector is to witness a further demonstration of one particular
aspect where further improvements were considered
appropriate.
5. Incidents on Site: As part of routine, planned inspections the Site Inspector examined the licensee's arrangements for the recording and investigation of incidents at the power station and, where appropriate, undertook independent investigations to the extent that was warranted by the significance of the incident.
6. Pressure Test Failure: Following preliminary investigation of
a pressure test failure on 20 May 2004, the site inspector
considered that the arrangements for pneumatic pressure testing at
Dungeness B at that time did not ensure, so far as is reasonably
practicable, the health and safety at work of British Energy
employees and others. The site inspector therefore issued a
Prohibition Notice to ban pneumatic pressure testing of plant and
equipment at Dungeness B. This applies until the Licensee has
ensured that, where pneumatic pressure tests are necessary, they
are carried out under a safe system of work. This reinforced the
Licensee's own self-imposed suspension of such tests.
Following further specialist investigation, an Improvement Notice
was issued (after the reporting period) to require the Licensee to
improve the arrangements for ensuring, so far as is reasonably
practicable, that suitable and sufficient risk assessments are made
and that preventive and protective measures are subject to
appropriate control.
7. Change in Staff Structure: British Energy (BE) has announced
changes in the station structure in order to improve operational
focus and the management of work, and to allow system engineers to
focus more effectively on the performance of the systems on the
plant. Many of the changes are in response to findings from the
activities of WANO (World Association of Nuclear Operators).
Further changes are expected as BE rolls out its new Performance
Improvement Project. The changes potentially have a beneficial
effect on safety on the stations. NII will continue to monitor the
implementation of the changes so as to be satisfied that BE is
correctly managing nuclear safety related aspects.
8. The NII has powers within the standard Nuclear Site Licence Conditions to issue Consents, Approvals and Directions. In addition NII uses Licence Instruments to issue Specifications and Agreements under the conditions attached to the Licence.
In accordance with formal regulatory procedure, NII issued the
following document under Site Licence No. 61 during the reporting
period:
As discussed in the previous report, these amendments followed HSE's agreement enabling Dungeness B to move to a three year interval between major outages, rather than the previous two year interval. This brings Dungeness B into line with the rest of BE's fleet of Advanced Gas-Cooled Reactors.
9. Under Health and Safety legislation the Site Inspector, or other HSE Inspectors, may issue formal notices in the interest of safety. Following the preliminary investigation described in paragraph 6 a Prohibition Notice was issued:
Prohibition Notice P/2004/nuclear/CET/01 was issued on 9 June 2004 as the site inspector was of the opinion that there had been a failure to carry out a suitable and sufficient risk assessment and failure to make and give effect to appropriate health and safety arrangements to ensure a safe system of work for pneumatic pressure testing of plant and equipment. He was of the opinion that there had been a contravention of Regulations 3(1) and 5(1) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 and Sections 2(1) and 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.
Published on the HSE web site 2 November 2004
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