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 Hunterston A Power Station Local Liaison Committee and covers activities associated with the regulation of safety at Hunterston A Power Station. These reports are distributed quarterly. Site Inspectors of HM Nuclear Installations Inspectorate attend LLC meetings and will be happy to respond to questions raised there 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.
1 The Site Inspector made three visits to Hunterston A during the period January to March these visits were on:
6 - 9 January
24 - 27 February
30 March - 2 April
2 The site's Superintending Inspector carried out an inspection of site on the 8th and attended the annual review meeting on the 9th of January.
3 A team of four inspectors witnessed the level 1 emergency exercise, demonstrating Licence Condition 11 compliance, on the 26th February. The same team, including the site's Superintending Inspector and designate Nominated Site Inspector, also observed the site's proposed new arrangements using the same emergency scenario on 27th February.
4 A number of routine inspections have been completed this quarter.
5 Inspections completed this quarter under the site inspection plan included ones against Licence Conditions, 14 (Safety Documentation), 11 (Emergency Arrangements), and 32 (Accumulation of Radioactive Waste). Compliance inspections against Licence Conditions 7 (Incidents on the Site) and 36 (Management of Change) were also completed as part of the routine inspection of operations on the site. The outcome of these inspections was in the main acceptable, the deficiencies were reported to the Licensee for attention.
6 The dialogue with the Licensee in respect of making improvements to the arrangements for compliance with Licence Conditions 35 (Decommissioning) and 19 & 20 (New Build & Control of Design) has come to an end. The changes to the arrangements introduced by the Licensee have allowed an acceptable, but not ideal, situation to be achieved.
7 Routine inspection of the site found the general conditions and housekeeping continue to improve despite the increased level of decommissioning activity. The role of the area control engineers and the support provided by project and site staff in achieving this is noteworthy.
8 Dialogue has continued with the licensee in respect of the intention to make changes to the management and staff structure. The proposed content of the Licence Condition 36, Control of Organisational Change, change justification to be provided to the Inspectorate has been discussed along with the implementation plan. These appear satisfactory; however, a final conclusion will not be possible until the justification has been made available and assessed by the Inspectorate.
9 The demonstration of the site's emergency arrangements witnessed by the Inspectorate was judged to be adequate. The satisfactory outcome of the demonstration reflected the hard work undertaken to successfully improve the response and to overcome the deficiencies, e.g. speed of casualty recovery, that have been reported to the Local Community Council following previous demonstration exercises.
10 The site's team, training to take over the emergency response, completed the same exercise in the presence of the Inspectorate. Their performance was commendable, casualty handling and contamination control being particularly effective, giving confidence that they will be able to take on emergency response role in 2005 as proposed.
11 An inspection of all major projects was completed with the Nominated Site Inspector designate as part of the hand over.
12 The inspection of the Solid Active Waste Bunkers (SAWB) and assessment of the safety case have been completed with a satisfactory outcome. The changes to the fire suppression provision for the SAWB will be permissioned by issue of an Agreement.
13 The site's arrangements for the management and for the control and supervision of the site construction activities for the ILW store project have been reviewed at length. The system that is being put in place whereby the licensee retains control through the project engineer is judged acceptable. The inspection and assessment of the store enabling work has been completed and the position is satisfactory. The site manager has been informed, by letter, that the construction of the store can commence.
14 The highlights from the annual review of the site's performance are recorded here. The safety performance continues to be good, the Inspectorate noted the continued need for vigilance by all staff as indicated by the dropped load incidents. The site's attention was drawn to the industrial safety hazards from working at height and the increase in work place traffic due to the upcoming projects.
15 The improvement to decommissioning progress, removal of radiological hazard, and adherence to the milestone programme declared to the Inspectorate are praiseworthy, particularly given restrictions on lifting operations during the period. This consolidates the decommissioning successes of the previous year and gives confidence that the site will be decommissioned in accordance with the revised programme.
16 The site engaged the Inspectorate during the preparation of the Near Term Work Plan for the Liabilities Management Unit (LMU). The dialogue was constructive and most issues were resolved. The extension of the programme remains a disappointment and out with the Inspectorate's Specification on time scale for clearance of waste in the SAWB. However, the work is welcomed as it represents a major step forwards placing decommissioning on a sound basis as confirmed by the high rating given to the LMU.
17 The Inspectorate has power under the Licence to issue Consents, Approvals and Directions. In addition the Inspectorate uses Licence Instruments to issue Specifications and Agreements under the conditions attached to the Licence. No legal documents have been issued under the Licence during this period.
Published on the HSE web site 14 June 2004