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 Heysham Power Station available to the public. It is for distribution to members of the Heysham Local Community Liaison Council and covers activities associated with the regulation of safety at Heysham. These reports are distributed quarterly. 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 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/index.htm under ‘Local Liaison Committee reports’.The Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII) site inspectors made visits to Heysham on the following dates during this quarter:
| Heysham 1 | Heysham 2 | |
|---|---|---|
| 14,16 | July 2005 | 18, 22, 27, 28 |
| 30, 31 | August 2005 | 17, 18, 24, 25 |
| 1, 16, 20, 21,22 | September 2005 | 6, 13, 21 28 |
Other members of the NII and specialist inspectors visited the Heysham site during the period, as follows.
The NII Site Inspector, specialist NII Inspectors and Superintending Inspector attended site during the period in relation to matters associated with: planned and reactive inspection activities; the 2005 Periodic Shutdown of Reactor 2; events on the site; and safety case developments.
The NII site inspector and specialist NII Inspectors attended site to carry out routine inspection and inspections associated with matters arising on Heysham 2.
As part of routine work NII inspects for compliance with the requirements of the Health and Safety at Work Act, its Relevant Statutory Provisions, the Nuclear Site Licence Conditions, the arrangements made under the conditions for each station and other safety regulations as appropriate. This includes monitoring licensee’s actions in relation to station events, plant operations, site projects, plant modifications, safety case changes and other matters which may affect safety. Inspections of this type are usually planned in advance of the site inspection visit. Matters of particular note considered during the current period include the following.
The Heysham 1 NII site inspector attended the Emergency Planning Consultative Committee meeting, which took place at Lancaster Police Headquarters on 16 September 2005.
Planned work this quarter covered inspections of a number of licence conditions including: incidents on site (LC7); emergency arrangements (LC 11); modification or experiment on existing plant (LC22); control of organisational change (LC36); and examination, inspection, maintenance and testing (LC28).
In general the arrangements made and implemented by station in response to licence condition requirements were frequently deemed to be adequate in the areas inspected. Where improvements were considered necessary, satisfactory commitments to address the issues were made by station. Other aspects of particular significance of a routine nature are summarised below.
Heysham 1 has adequately addressed all priority issues arising from NII assessment of the activities undertaken during the scheduled shutdown of Reactor 2 and delivered commitments given at the start-up meeting on 16 June. The station requested NII's consent to return the unit to service and this was granted on 29 July 2005.
The Inspectorate has continued to monitor progress with the implementation of the measures for mitigating the consequences of turbine disintegration. The station has enhanced the protection against flooding and fire, which includes securing the essential systems required to protect a shut down unit from the catastrophic failure of the adjacent operating unit's turbine. The Inspectorate is satisfied that station is making good progress with this issue and continues to monitor its commitment to longer term improvements.
The station has recently confirmed its commitment to a programme of reasonably practicable improvements, which aim to enhance protection against the consequences of boiler tube leaks and boiler spine failure. Many of these will be implemented during future scheduled outages and therefore the Inspectorate will continue to monitor the station's commitment to this important programme.
The station continues to progress a programme of work that it committed to deliver when both units returned to service in February 2004 following the failure of the essential cooling water (ECW) main in October 2003. The Inspectorate is satisfied with progress on the ECW main and expects the station to implement a modification in the autumn that will eliminate cast iron components from the low pressure back up cooling system. The Inspectorate will continue to monitor the station's commitment to further improvements.
Planned work this quarter covered inspections of a number of licence conditions including: documents, records, authorities and certificates (LC6); incidents on site (LC7); training (LC10); duly authorised and other suitably qualified and experienced persons (LC12); nuclear safety committee (LC13); safety documentation (LC14); radiological protection (LC18); modification or experiment on existing plant (LC22); operating rules and instructions (LC23&24); operational records (LC25); safety mechanisms, devices and circuits (LC27); examination, inspection, maintenance and testing (LC28); periodic shutdown (LC30) and control of organisational change (LC36).
In general the arrangements made and implemented by station in response to licence condition requirements were frequently deemed to be adequate in the areas inspected. Where remedial action was considered necessary, mainly relating to implementation of arrangements, station has made commitments to address NII areas for improvement. Other routine matters of particular significance are summarised below.
The NII site inspector and a specialist inspector reviewed station progress to complete work deemed necessary to improve the operational performance of the VFC units at Heysham 2. They reported that progress has been made in most areas where work is required, and that as a consequence they consider that operational performance of the equipment has been improved. They confirmed that the VFC units currently meet the requirements of the station safety case. On this basis station progress is deemed adequate, however further work is necessary to complete the full programme of work, and they will make further reports on progress to NII as necessary.
NII site inspectors consider non-routine matters and events that have occurred on the site and examine the Licensee’s response to them. Licensees are required to have arrangements to respond to such matters and NII inspectors judge the adequacy of their response in taking appropriate remedial action and implementing necessary improvements. Matters of particular note considered during the current period include the following.
Scheduled inspections of Reactor 2's boiler closure units (BCUs) during the Periodic Shutdown, revealed standing water in a primary hold down stud guide tube. This condition was not anticipated by the existing safety case and therefore station reported the discovery to NII. British Energy immediately examined the implications of this for the other operating reactor at Heysham and its sister station at Hartlepool. The station undertook additional inspections of the shut down reactor and prepared a safety case, which considered the potential threat to nuclear safety from the presence of the water. This interim case supported continued operation of the at-power Reactor 1 and return to service of Reactor 2 with a commitment to additional inspections during the autumn refuel outages. On 9 September inspection of a BCU stud guide tube at Hartlepool revealed a small volume of an acidic aqueous solution. The interim safety cases do not address this condition and therefore BE took the decision to shut down all operating reactors at Heysham 1 and Hartlepool. Heysham 1 is currently implementing a programme of inspections that will inform a safety case for return to service of the reactors. The Inspectorate is satisfied that BE's immediate response to the discovery at Hartlepool was appropriate. The NII is monitoring developments and has specified that the station will not resume operation until it has obtained a Licence Instrument from the inspectorate agreeing to implementation of the case for return to service.
On 2 August station encountered problems with the final assembly of a new fuel stringer. During subsequent operations to recover the situation, the fuel assembly dropped a distance exceeding 1m resulting in damage to the lower elements of the stringer. The Inspectorate is satisfied that the station took immediate action to secure the safety of personnel and establish that the event did not pose a risk to the public. After stabilising the fuel the station embargoed all fuel route related procedures pending investigation of the event. The damaged fuel is packaged and stored pending dispatch off site. Station has implemented a programme of recovery, which included a thorough review of the procedures and a controlled resumption of fuel route activities. The Inspectorate is satisfied that the station has taken appropriate action to ensure that the new fuel is placed in a safe condition and implemented corrective measures before resuming work on the fuel route.
Station recorded that the DPS system for reactor 8 was lost on two occasions during June 2005. On both occasions corrective actions required by the Technical Specifications Limiting Conditions for Operation were undertaken and completed within a shift period. Following discussions between station and NII it has been agreed that in the future LCO entries completed within a shift will be entered in the station Action Tracking Log. This amendment is considered to improve the arrangements for making operational records at Heysham 2.
Station notified NII of an event where surveillance requirements required to demonstrate compliance with a Limiting Condition for Operation set within the Technical Specifications were not carried out, and consequential actions were not undertaken as required. When the circumstances were discovered they took action to restore compliance with the arrangements, and completed the surveillance requirement successfully. However, the event constituted a failure to comply with the station Operating Rules within the allocated time. In response to this, they have agreed to implement corrective actions identified from their investigation to make improvements to the arrangements for Licence Condition 23. NII has deemed remedial action appropriate, and will continue to monitor compliance with this licence condition.
Station notified NII of an event where a contractor working on the Heysham 2 licensed nuclear site injured his hand while operating a machine tool. The worker received first aid at the site, was taken to hospital and was subsequently treated in hospital for his injuries. Station, in conjunction with representatives of the worker’s employer, has carried out an investigation into the event and has identified corrective actions to help prevent a recurrence. Station has provided an assurance that the necessary corrective actions arising from their investigation will be implemented to improve the arrangements to control such work. The worker’s employer has received advice from the NII conventional safety specialist on the requirement to implement adequate measures to protect employees undertaking activities at work.
Following an increase in the number of events involving radiological protection reported to NII during the Annual Review of Safety Meeting in June 2005, NII has reviewed station action to address potential deficiencies in this area and to seek improvements. The outcome from the inspection is that station action to improve performance and help prevent recurrence was already planned or in train. NII will continue to monitor station compliance with the requirements of licence conditions and the Ionising Radiation Regulations 1999.
Under Health and Safety legislation NII Site Inspectors, and other HSE Inspectors, may issue formal notices to secure improvements to safety. The following formal notices have been issued this quarter in respect of Heysham.
The NII has secured improvements to arrangements for conducting work on the station without the need to issue formal notices during the reporting period.
The NII has secured improvements to arrangements for conducting work on the station without the need to issue formal notices during the reporting period.
As part of the licensing regime enforced by HSE/ND the Inspectorate may issue Agreements, Approvals, Consents, Directions, Notifications and Specifications as appropriate under the Site Licence Conditions, to permission licensees’ activities. The following licence instruments have been issued this quarter in respect of Heysham.
The NII issued three Licence Instruments during the reporting period.
The NII issued no Licence Instruments during the reporting period