Health and Safety
Executive / Commission
Nuclear
LLC reports
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 Site Stakeholder Group (SSG) 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 SSG meetings and will be happy to respond to questions raised there or subsequently by members of the SSG. 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.
This report will be put onto the HSE website at www.hse.gov.uk/nuclear/llc/2005/index.htm
NII Inspectors (including visits by the site inspector and specialist NII assessment inspectors) made the following visits to Hinkley Point “A” in the period covered by this report:
24 th to 26 th October 2005
28 th to 29 th November 2005
These inspections, aimed at verifying Magnox Electric’s safety arrangements, were:
Licence Condition 11, a repeat of the emergency exercise.
Licence Condition 14, “adequate arrangements for the production and assessment of safety cases consisting of documentation to justify safety during the design, construction, manufacture, commissioning, operation and decommissioning phases of the installation”.
Licence Condition 15, “adequate arrangements for the periodic and systematic review and reassessment of safety cases”.
The repeated emergency demonstration exercise “Adam” successfully demonstrated the site’s emergency arrangements. The emergency staff had retrained and practised on all five shifts and this was evident in a much sharper performance.
NII are assessing the Hinkley Point A Radwaste Safety Case. The removal of reactor fuel from the site has significantly reduced the potential for large off-site releases and this is apparent in the safety case which reflects the changing nature of the hazards on the site. However, decommissioning activities have brought new challenges. Radioactive waste management on site and the protection of the workforce from both radiological and conventional safety hazards are now a priority. NII are in liaison with Magnox Electric Ltd to agree an appropriate safety case methodology. These discussions are important and will set precedents for the other decommissioning reactors.
There have been a number of meetings between EA, SEPA, NII and Magnox Electric Limited (MEL) over recent months regarding proposals to accelerate decommissioning. A number of novel innovations are being proposed, both generically and on a site-by-site basis. To ensure that a consistent regulatory message is promulgated, EA and NII have sent a joint letter identifying the important regulatory issues that MEL must consider as part of its options studies in relation to the retrieval and management of fuel element debris (FED).
NII did not exercise their formal powers in this quarter.
J A Burrows
Hinkley Point A Site Inspector
HM Inspector (Health and Safety)
Health and Safety Executive
HM Nuclear Installations Inspectorate
St Peter’s House
Bootle
Merseyside
L20 3LZ
Feburary 2006