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 Site Stakeholder Group (SSG) and covers activities associated with the regulation of safety at Hunterston B Nuclear Power Station. These reports are distributed quarterly and are also available on the HSE’s web site . Site Inspectors of HM Nuclear Installations Inspectorate attend SSG meetings and will 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 on 0151-951-3484/3290
This report will be put onto the HSE Website under ‘Local Liaison Committee Reports’ at www.hse.gov.uk/nuclear/llc/index.htm
Nuclear DirectorateThe site inspector has spent the period covered by this report on largely routine planned inspection work.
The Site Inspector was joined by the Superintending Inspector and three other inspectors to witness Exercise ‘Skomer’, the annual NII level 1 demonstration emergency exercise (see below).
Inspections are undertaken for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the conditions attached by HSE to the nuclear site licences, and other relevant provisions of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, including the Ionising Radiations Regulations 1999.
The routine inspections for this quarter, covering a range of aspects of plant operation, maintenance, and management were completed. Reactive inspection has also been carried out, with the more significant items reported below. In areas where opportunities for improvement were identified, remedial work has been agreed with station management, with the intention of achieving improvements to current station arrangements.
NII observed the Hunterston B annual demonstration emergency exercise ‘Skomer’ on 17th November 2005. This was considered to be an adequate demonstration of the station’s emergency arrangements.
NII judged the new Access Control Point (ACP) to be a step change in the emergency arrangements of the site, representing a significant improvement on the old facilities; however, areas for further improvements were identified.
HNB was requested to provide NII with a programme for the completion of work to enable the full utilization of the new ACP facility, to include completion of equipment installation, training of staff and procedures for its use.
NII observed the Hunterston B annual demonstration emergency exercise ‘Skomer’ on 17th November 2005. This was considered to be an adequate demonstration of the station’s emergency arrangements.
NII judged the new Access Control Point (ACP) to be a step change in the emergency arrangements of the site, representing a significant improvement on the old facilities; however, areas for further improvements were identified.
HNB was requested to provide NII with a programme for the completion of work to enable the full utilization of the new ACP facility, to include completion of equipment installation, training of staff and procedures for its use.
NII responds to non-routine events that may affect safety. As part of inspection activities at the site, we investigate safety related events that occur and follow-up those which are perceived initially to have the potential to be more significant. In particular, we examine the licensee’s response to such events. From our inspections in this quarter we were satisfied that the response by the station has been in accordance with appropriate arrangements.
There were three events rated level 1 on the International Nuclear Event Scale (INES) during the reporting period, viz.
The event related to the discovery that rectification work to remove a small cross connection between the two independent cooling water circuits on reactor 4 had not been completed.
The station’s technical specifications identify the requirement for complete segregation between the circuits; therefore, a justification for continued operation of the reactor was produced. The station carried out a thorough review of the pipework systems to ensure that there were no other cross connections.
Formal safety documentation on the station’s proposals to remove the cross connection, or put in place other suitable control arrangements, has yet to be provided to NII.
The Safety Circuit Access Card (SCAC) system is intended to fulfil a number of safety circuit control functions and forms a significant aspect in maintaining nuclear safety. The event related to the station’s discovery, during an audit, that there were a number of live SCACs dating back nearly five months. The SCACs were subsequently closed after the appropriate checks had been carried out.
The significance of this event was that nuclear safety related equipment was in service when it had not been declared available, which also included multiple channels within the same safety control group.
Although NII considered that the licensee’s investigation to this event was adequate; we recommended an improvement in the station’s implementation of the control arrangements for SCACs.
55Te Flask Handling Crane
It was revealed that the functional test of the interlock system on the 55Te flask handling crane, which was required to be carried out on an annual basis, had not been carried out since 1999. This was contrary to the requirements of the plant maintenance schedule which is approved by the NII.
NII noted that the station placed an immediate embargo on the use of the crane until a satisfactory position has been achieved with respect to outstanding maintenance. A copy of HNB’s formal investigation into this event will be provided to NII.
Under Health and Safety legislation the Site Inspector, or other HSE Inspectors, may issue formal notices to secure improvements to safety. As part of its regulation under nuclear site licences NII issues regulatory documents, collectively termed Licence Instruments. 2
No licence instruments were issued during this quarter.
HM Nuclear Installations Inspectorate January 20062 Licence Instruments are formal documents issued under the licence conditions and arrangements, including Consents, Approvals, Directions, Specifications, Notifications, Agreements and Acknowledgements.