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 Dungeness A site available to the public. It is for distribution to members of the Dungeness Power Stations’ Local Community Liaison Council (LCLC) and covers activities associated with the regulation of safety at the Dungeness A Nuclear Power Plant. These reports are distributed quarterly and are also available from HSE’s Internet website. Site Inspectors of HM Nuclear Installations Inspectorate attend LCLC meetings and will respond to any questions raised there by members of the LCLC. Any other person wishing to enquire about matters covered by this report may contact HSE’s Nuclear Directorate Information Centre on 0151 951 4103.
http://www.hse.gov.uk/nuclear/index.htm
The site inspector and two other inspectors visited the Dungeness A site during the quarter. Inspections were made on the following days:
10 - 13 January
21 - 24 February
7- 10 March
Inspections are undertaken for the purpose of monitoring compliance with (i) the conditions attached by HSE to the nuclear site licences, and (ii) other relevant provisions of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, including the Ionising Radiations Regulations 1999. In this period routine inspections covered:
Unplanned Reactor Shutdowns: There were two unplanned shutdowns in February. The first on reactor 2 when maintenance work was being undertaken on the reactor control rods; a faulty switch led to a group of control rods being partially inserted into the core thus leading to the reactor safely shutting itself down. The second a couple of days later was as a result of planned inspections of the turbines. A small cooling water leak was discovered and as a prudent measure the operators decided to shut reactor 1 down manually. Extensive inspections of all four turbines revealed some localised corrosion on all of them. These areas were repaired and both reactors returned to power sequentially. The licensee’s response to these events has been monitored and judged to be satisfactory.
Nuclear Decommissioning Authority Plans: Regular interactions have taken place between the licensee and NII in the lead up to the NDA taking over responsibility for the site on 1 April 2005. As part of the plans being submitted to the NDA a separate schedule of regulatory activities has been produced. The aim of this schedule is to give some visibility to key regulatory hold points and interactions between the licensee and the NII.
As part of its regulation under nuclear site licences NII issues regulatory documents, collectively termed Licence Instruments (LI). Two were issued for Dungeness A during the quarter: -
Approval No. 500 – Approval of amendments to 11 of the station’s operating rules – 24 January 2005.
Consent No. 501 – Giving regulatory permission to amend the lease for the DAMAL analytical labs on site – 30 March 2005.
HM Nuclear Installations Inspectorate
St Peter’s House
Bootle
Merseyside
L20 3LZ
Licence Instruments are formal documents issued under the licence conditions and arrangements, including Consents, Approvals, Directions, Specifications, Notifications, Agreements and Acknowledgements.