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 URENCO (Capenhurst) Ltd Local Liaison Committee and covers activities associated with the regulation of safety at Capenhurst. These reports are distributed quarterly. Site Inspectors of HM Nuclear Installations Inspectorate normally attend LLC meetings and will be happy to respond to questions raised there or subsequently by members of the LLC. 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 - www.hse.gov.uk/nuclear/llc/2005/index.htmThe site was visited by NII inspectors on :-
October 6th, 18th
November 28th, 30th
December 1st, 6th & 13th
Each NII Site Inspector has an inspection programme to inspect compliance of operations on the site with the 36 Nuclear Site Licence Conditions (LCs). During this quarter particular attention has been paid to compliance by the licensee to licence conditions :-
No issues were raised from the compliance inspections undertaken during this period which required formal regulatory action to be taken.
A team of NII inspectors witnessed the UCL Level 1 Demonstration Emergency Exercise “Ibis”. The scenario was based on a criticality occurrence during operations at the Liquid Sampling Rig in A3. Overall it was considered that the exercise was completed satisfactorily although, as normal for such exercises, a number of issues and comments were raised which needed further consideration and action by UCL. These issues have been formally forwarded to UCL and the resolution of the actions will be progressed within the future NII/UCL programme of meetings on Emergency Arrangements.
The second UCL AROS meeting was attended. Representatives of the UCL HS&E, Production, Production Services, Quality/Audit departments and UCL Safety Representatives made presentations. The UCL Managing Director outlined the achievements of the past year and outlined the extensive programme of work being embarked upon by the Urenco Group, and at UCL, over the next few years. NII commented that , over the last year, NII had not raised any significant issues/concerns with regard to operations at UCL which required formal regulatory action to be taken. However a number of areas had been identified for further improvement and UCL had taken actions to address the concerns raised. Both NII & UCL recognise that the various new projects currently being embarked upon by UCL will require significant regulator consideration/interaction.
E23 Plant Alarm Management - Initial discussions were held with UCL regarding alarm management at E23. UCL stated they are embarking on a review of the alarms across the E23 facility as they consider there is a need to identify and review the key alarms across the plant such that an improved alarm management system can be developed. NII subsequently forwarded to UCL the HSE guidance documents on alarm management guidance, which the NII team had been utilising during the team inspections on alarm management at BNGSL Sellafield.
Tails Management Facility Project - COMAH & Other Regulatory Requirements – A meeting between UCL and representatives of various regulator organisations has been held to discuss the potential future regulatory interactions on the Tails Management Facility (TMF) Project. UCL confirmed that the site would become a COMAH top tier site and HSE HID outlined that two safety justifications will be required to address the COMAH Regs requirement. UCL agreed to produce a timeline programme for the TMF project indicating the various anticipated regulatory hold points/interactions.
Local Liaison Committee Meeting - The latest meeting of the UCL Local Liaison Committee held on 30.11.05 was attended.
Safety Representatives Seminar - The latest UCL Site Safety Representatives Seminar was attended. A presentation was given by NII on the Regulatory Framework under which NII operates.
E23 Facility Expansion proposals – Initial discussions on the UCL proposals to expand the E23 facility to create further enrichment capacity within E23 have been held.
During the period a number of miscellaneous topics were discussed with UCL including the –
UCL outlined to NII the tests that had been carried out to investigate some minor deviations in the bulk product assays from the E22 facility Unit B cascades. UCL stated that the investigations had determined that the anomalies were restricted to three of the eight cascades within Unit B. The NII/UCL discussions reviewed the UCL plans to put back 5 unaffected cascades into production under a regime of increased surveillance and monitoring following the temporary precautionary initial shutdown of Unit B by UCL. NII also indicated that it wished to see UCL subject the restart proposals for the other three cascades to peer review scrutiny before operations restart. UCL also indicated that further investigations may have yielded an useful insight into the cause of the problem in the three cascades. Investigations are ongoing and UCL agreed to keep NII informed of any developments.
Discussions have been held with UCL regarding the event where a number of the centrifuge machines in E23 Plant Cascade 2D crashed. UCL confirmed that no material was released as a result of the event. UCL stated that an air operated release valve, the prime function of which was to protect asset investment, had stuck closed when required to open resulting in the crashes. UCL also outlined that an electrical supply failure in the Unit 2D control systems had initiated the actuation of the valve system. UCL stated that they hoped to have completed the recovery work by the end of December. NII requested UCL to provide to NII confirmation that there was no significant impact on safety systems from this type of event and to provide to NII details of a review of the impact on safety systems from electrical power failures and control system failures.
A meeting has been held to discuss the UCL investigation into the recent event associated with UCL belatedly ascertaining that the assumed amount of liquors sentenced to the BNGSL Capenhurst effluent system from the E22 Effluent Tank had been incorrect. UCL has now ascertained that this was due to the bottom level indicator being placed at a lower tank stub position than the drawing indicated. The Environment Agency is currently reviewing their regulatory position with respect to the event. UCL stated that they had already carried out a review of all other effluent tanks on site and found no other similar problems. NII requested a copy of the UCL investigation report into this event. NII indicated that it would be seeking UCL to include a recommendation for E22 to carry out a more comprehensive review of plant and equipment to ascertain if the “as built” plant was consistent with plant drawings.
Regulatory Actions taken during the quarter –
None
The Inspectorate has powers under the licence to issue Consents, Approvals and Directions. In addition, the Inspectorate uses Licence Instruments to issue Specifications, Acknowledgements and Agreements under either the conditions attached to the Licence, or arrangements made by UCL for complying with those conditions. The Consents/Approvals/Directions and Licence Instruments issued during the quarter were –
None
HM Principal Inspector (Nuclear Installations)