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 Capenhurst Local Stakeholder Group (LSG) and covers activities associated with the regulation of safety at Capenhurst. These reports are distributed quarterly. Site Inspectors of HM Nuclear Installations Inspectorate normally attend LSG meetings and will be happy to respond to questions raised there or subsequently by members of the LSG. Any other person wishing to inquire about matters covered by this report should contact the HSE, Nuclear Directorate Information Centre on 0151 951 4103.
This report will be put onto the HSE website at http://www.hse.gov.uk/nuclear/llc/index.htm under ‘Local Liaison Committee Reports’.
NII inspectors visited the site on the following dates:
2nd, 11th & 19th August,
13th, 20th & 22nd September
Each NII Site Inspector has an inspection programme to inspect compliance of operations on the site with the 36 Nuclear Site Licence Conditions (LCs). Very limited compliance inspection was undertaken during this period, as the site inspector has also been engaged on reactive site inspections at Sellafield during this period. An inspection of licence condition 2 (marking of the site boundary) found some minor shortfalls in the licensee’s arrangements and implementation, which are being rectified. A licence condition 10 (training) inspection found that the licensee had implemented robust arrangements for the training of operators for the HEU material processing facilities.
The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), which assumed ownership of the site on 1 st April 2005, (from British Nuclear Fuels plc, BNFL), required all of the sites which came under their control to compile the long term and short term work plans for the site into two standard documents i.e. Life Cycle Baseline (LCBL) and Near Term Work Plan (NTWP) respectively. The site inspector participates in tripartite quarterly review meetings involving NII, the licensee and NDA, in order to secure improvements to safety.
BNGSL Capenhurst confirmed that the review of the current policy for operating a ‘Hex Deconversion’ plant by 2020 (in order to address the legacy of “Hex Tails”) and the long term uranic storage policy had been included within the current NTWP. NII has participated in these policy reviews, as well as the licensee’s review of the latest Life Cycle Baseline Plan. Most notably, NII has actively pressed the licensee to explore options to bring forward the date for the commencement of processing the “Hex Tails” stored on site. NII expressed disappointment that the policy issued after the recent review had failed to advance the declared start date for the planned deconversion of “Hex Tails” to a more stable form. The licensee is currently actively engaged in reviewing options to address the “Hex Tails”, such as accelerating the processing of the “Hex Tails” to a more stable form prior to 2020. NII will continue to press for timely progress to be made in reducing this remaining site hazard.
The licensee has recently been actively commissioning purpose built facilities for the processing and decontamination of waste materials containing HEU. The licensee required a Licence Instrument from NII, in order to enter ‘full operation’, (including shift working) of these waste processing facilities, (which are addressing a significant legacy hazard on the site). A site inspection was undertaken by NII, in order to sample the licensee’s arrangements for the safe processing of these legacy materials. The inspection confirmed the adequacy of the licensee’s preparations. The licensee had also provided appropriate prior technical information to NII, which enabled NII to issue the Licence Instrument within two days of the licensee’s written request, therefore ensuring the licensee maintained momentum on site decommissioning and hazard reduction.
The site inspector arranged for site safety representatives to join the NII plant inspection of the HEU processing facilities, undertaken as part of NII consideration of the licensee’s application for a Licence Instrument, to permission “full operation”, (following active commissioning), of the HEU material processing facilities. The site inspector continues to consult with the active site safety representatives during most visits to site.
A ‘near miss’ dropped load event occurred on the site in August, during the dismantling of equipment prior to demolition work. No one was injured. The site inspector subsequently ensured that the licensee was appropriately investigating the event, in accordance with the relevant licence condition (7) arrangements.
Regulatory Actions taken during the quarter –
DATE |
DESCRIPTION |
|---|---|
None |
The Inspectorate has powers under the licence to issue Consents, Approvals and Directions. In addition, the Inspectorate uses Licence Instruments to issue Specifications, Acknowledgements and Agreements, under either the conditions attached to the Licence, or arrangements made by British Nuclear Group Sellafield Limited, Capenhurst Works, for complying with those conditions. One such Licence Instrument was issued in this period, thus:
DATE |
TYPE |
No |
DESCRIPTION |
|---|---|---|---|
2 nd September 2005 |
Agreement under Licence Condition 22(1) Arrangements |
502 |
Agreement to ‘full operation’ of the HEU Process Plant and Equipment. |
HM Principal Inspector (Nuclear Installations)
October 2005