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, Site Stakeholder Group 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 SSG meetings and will be happy to respond to questions raised there by members of the SSG. 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 the heading: Local Liaison Committee ReportsThree site inspections were conducted this quarter:
11th to 14th October 2005
21st to 25th November 2005
7th December 2005
These inspections, aimed at verifying Magnox Electric’s safety arrangements, were:
The inspections concentrated on the overall site, the construction of the Intermediate Level Waste Store, the ponds area and plant currently undergoing decommissioning.
HSE remain committed to ensuring high standards of conventional health and safety on site. In particular during this reporting period HSE has focused on the construction sector and falls from height. To these ends an Inspector from HSE’s construction Division (Glasgow Office) visited the Intermediate Level Waste Store construction project on 25th November. The inspection concluded that the housekeeping had room for improvement and the cement dust should be better controlled.
During the three inspections HSE became aware of that the Site’s core resource of suitably qualified and experienced personnel was stretched. In view of the anticipated upturn in activity and Magnox Electric Ltd’s declared intent to reorganise into three new separate companies, HSE asked the site to review it’s core manning levels. The site responded positively and have since enhanced training of existing staff and started to recruit additional staff.
HSE investigated the failure of the site to test the sand bed filter as required by the Maintenance Schedule. Failure to perform the test on time put the site outside their authorised operational regime and the event therefore classified on the International Nuclear Event Scale (INES) as an “INES 1” event (defined as an anomaly). Although this did not directly challenge the safety of the site, HSE consider it symptomatic of suitably qualified and experienced staff being over-stretched. The site have since responded with remedial measures.
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 throughout MEL, SEPA 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 disposal of fuel element debris (FED).
NII did not exercise their formal powers in this quarter.
HM Nuclear Installations Inspectorate
St Peter’s House
Stanley Precinct
Bootle
Merseyside
L20 3LZ