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HM NUCLEAR INSTALLATIONS INSPECTORATE

MAGNOX ELECTRIC PLC HINKLEY POINT "A" POWER STATION LOCAL COMMUNITY LIAISON COUNCIL

Quarterly report for 1 OCTOBER TO 31 DECEMBER 2004

CONTENTS

FOREWORD

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.

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INSPECTIONS

The Site Inspector made the following visits to Hinkley Point "A" in the period covered by this report: 7th, 8th, 11th & 12th October 2004. 17th to 19th November 2004. 13th to 15th December 2004. The site inspector also held a meeting with the licensee at Risley on 30th November 2004.

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ROUTINE MATTERS

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, to be established on 1st April 2005). A site inspection of Reactor Two ponds was undertaken, together with a site inspection of Reactor One pile cap operations, as part of an assessment of the licensee's reactor defuelling verification process. Following these inspections, NII was able to support the licensee's conclusion that both reactor vessels have now been defuelled. The licensee is currently undertaking inspections of the reactor ponds, following which, a final fuel shipment from the site of a few old fuel elements, recently found within a pond during part of the verification process, will be made in early 2005. A plant inspection of a pipework removal decommissioning project was undertaken, accompanied by a safety representative.

Licensee's corporate reorganisation.

The licensee's (Magnox Electric plc) parent company (BNFL) is continuing to undergo considerable corporate reorganisation. NII currently continues to have 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.

Emergency arrangements.

The site has implemented changes to the emergency arrangements, commensurate with the reduced site hazard, now that the reactor vessels have been defuelled. The licensee is currently developing further proposed amendments to the approved emergency arrangements, to reflect the reduced hazard from the site, after all the fuel has been removed from the site. 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.

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NON-ROUTINE MATTERS

None arising during this quarter.

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REGULATORY ACTIVITY

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. No Licence Instruments have been issued in this period.

Published on the HSE web site 24 January 2005 Back to Local Liaison Committee reports index page