Health and Safety
Executive / Commission
Nuclear
LLC reports
The 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 Hinkley Point A Power Station's Local Community Liaison Council (LCLC) and covers activities associated with the regulation of safety at Hinkley Point A Power Station. These reports are distributed quarterly. Site Inspectors of HM Nuclear Installations Inspectorate normally attend LCLC meetings and will be happy to respond to questions raised there or subsequently by members of the LCLC. Alternatively, any other person wishing to enquire about matters covered by this report should contact the HSE, Nuclear Directorate Information Centre on 0151 951 4103.
The Site Inspector made the following visits to Hinkley Point "A" in the period covered by this report: 27th to 29th July 2004. 20th to 22nd September 2004. The site inspector also held meetings with the licensee on 5th August and 8th September 2004.
Compliance inspections. The site inspector's main priorities for the rest of 2004/2005 and possibly into the next year are the Life Cycle Baseline Plans & Near Term Work Plans and BNFL Restructuring. As a result of this, fewer compliance inspections will be undertaken. During this quarter, an inspection was made of the licensee's process for planning decommissioning work, in accordance with licence condition 35 arrangements and funding proposals from the shareholder's Liabilities Management Unit, (the precursor to the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, NDA). Site inspections of both reactor ponds were undertaken in this quarter. A site inspection of reactor pile cap operations was also undertaken. The licensee updated an electronic system, which was used to control safety and environmental compliance maintenance work across the site. The licensee's readiness to update the electronic system had been inspected by NII at the end of the previous quarter, with a positive outcome. The licensee demonstrated strong evidence of having effectively project managed the system upgrade. A Licence Instrument, to enable the change to be implemented, was issued by NII on 1st July 2004 and the update has since been promptly implemented. Licensee's corporate reorganisation. The licensee's (Magnox Electric plc) parent company (BNFL) is continuing to undergo considerable corporate reorganisation. NII currently has a team of specialist inspectors assessing the adequacy of the developing organisational changes within BNFL, in particular, addressing the safety related aspects of these changes, to guard against any adverse impacts on the licensed sites. The proposed organisational structures for the sites are still being developed by the licensee and these are being assessed by NII. Two Licence Instruments were issued in this quarter relating to the reorganisation, one agreeing to the formation of the 'reactor sites organisation' and one agreeing to the corresponding formation of the 'project services organisation.' Emergency arrangements. The site is undertaking a series of changes to the emergency arrangements. In this quarter, an approval of new emergency arrangements was issued by NII, following assessment and inspection by an NII team of a "silent hours" emergency exercise on the evening of 28th July 2004. This enabled the licensee to implement 'model defuelling emergency arrangements', based on a minimum shift strength of seven, commensurate with the reducing site hazard. The licensee further demonstrated these arrangements to a team of NII inspectors during the annual site Level One emergency exercise, conducted on the evening of 21st September and the morning of 22nd September, again with an acceptable outcome. The licensee is currently developing further proposed amendments to the approved emergency arrangements, to reflect the reduced hazard from the site after defuelling has been completed. In accordance with the nuclear site licence arrangements, the proposed further change will be assessed beforehand by NII and a demonstration "silent hours" emergency exercise will be undertaken and observed by NII, in order to rigorously test the licensee's plans, prior to issuing any approval of these proposed changes.
None arising during this quarter.
Site Licence: The Inspectorate has powers under the Nuclear Site Licence to issue Consents, Approvals and Directions. In addition, the Inspectorate uses Licence Instruments (LI) to issue Specifications and Agreements under the conditions attached to the Site Licence. An Approval was issued on 17th September 2004, (Number 30), under Licence Condition 11, which enabled the licensee to implement the model defuelling emergency plan and arrangements on 20th September 2004. Three Licence Instruments were issued in this period, the first (Number 45), on 1st July 2004, being an Agreement in compliance with arrangements made under licence condition 22. The Agreement enabled the licensee to implement PassPort Version 9, (the updated electronic system, used to control safety and environmental compliance maintenance work across the site). The second Licence Instrument, (Number G 9), on 29th September, being a generic agreement, in compliance with arrangements made under licence condition 36. This enabled the licensee to establish the 'reactor sites organisation.' The third Licence Instrument, (Number G 10), also on 29th September 2004, being a generic agreement, in compliance with arrangements made under licence condition 36. This enabled the licensee to establish the corresponding ' project services organisation.'
Published on the HSE web site 23 November 2004 Back to Local Liaison Committee reports index page