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 Barrow-in-Furness Local Liaison committee (LLC) and covers activities associated with the regulation of nuclear safety at BAE SYSTEMS Marine Limited (BAESM). 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 http://www.hse.gov.uk/nuclear/index.htm.The majority of sites inspected by HM Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII), a part of the Health and Safety Executive, are licensed by NII under the Nuclear Installations Act 1965 (as amended). This report summarises the inspection and regulatory activities associated with the Barrow-in-Furness licensed site. In accordance with the HSE commitments to open government, this report will also be placed on the HSE Website.
Visits are made to the site for the purpose of undertaking routine plant and project inspections or attending formal meetings with site management or safety representatives. Routine inspections by NII are undertaken primarily to check compliance with licence conditions made under the Nuclear Installations Act, but are also made against provisions of the Health & Safety at Work Act 1974, and regulations made under that Act such as the Ionising Radiations Regulations 1999. The site inspector visited site on:
5-6 April 2006
10-11 April 2006
9 May 2006
22-25 May 2006
30 May 2006
13-14 June 2006
23 June 2006
In addition, the NII Deputy Chief Inspector visited the site on 9 May 2006, and the NII Superintending Inspector on 9 and 30 May 2006.
Matters covered in this section are those being pursued with the site as part of ongoing site inspection activity and dialogue including project work and any generic or topical work relevant to all licensees.
As part of the routine inspection programme for the sites NII inspectors check compliance with licence conditions made under the Nuclear Installations Act and other Regulations such as the Ionising Radiation Regulations 1999.
The site inspector shadowed and observed an inspection by BAESM’s own site inspectors from its Nuclear & Radiation Safety Department during their inspection of the Company’s readiness to receive nuclear fuel later this year. The inspector considered that the scope of the BAESM team’s inspection was appropriate and the inspectors’ approach was professional, targeted correctly and suitably searching. He also considered their findings and observations were accurate and their proposed actions appropriate. This was a valuable exercise as it demonstrated that the NRSD inspection team provide a valid and effective internal regulatory function.
The NII Deputy Chief Inspector and the Defence Nuclear Safety Regulator Director visited site on 9 May 2006 for a joint regulatory review of nuclear safety at Barrow. Although compliance was broadly acceptable for contemporary activities on the site, several opportunities for long-term improvement were identified, particularly in the areas of learning from experience, control of work and organisational change. BAESM has already recognised this and has instigated strategic programmes of work to achieve the desired improvements. On conclusion of the visit, the regulatory strategy for the site was affirmed as being appropriately targeted and proportionate to the current and future risks on the site.
Matters involving NII’s response to incidents/events and to non-routine issues arising from operation of the site are covered in this section together with the outcome of any special/team inspections, investigations or audits.
The site inspector was joined by an inspector from the Defence Nuclear Safety Regulator during initial enquiries into an event involving unauthorised work by contractors in Astute’s reactor compartment. On completion of their enquiries, the inspectors concluded that BAESM’s response to the event had been entirely appropriate and its investigation to date had been most thorough. After confirming that the unauthorised work had not compromised the integrity of the reactor plant and consulting the HSE Enforcement Management Model 1 , it was initially judged that to pursue the enquiries would not be a proportionate response at the time. However, it was decided to allow BAESM to complete its investigation and to report its findings to NII formally before reaching a final enforcement decision.
The site inspector accompanied a specialist radiation safety inspector from HSE’s Field Operations Directorate in an inspection to determine BAESM’s progress with completing the programme of remedial actions to help prevent a reoccurrence following several radiography-associated events that occurred during the last six months of 2005. Satisfactory progress had been made, with all short-term actions having been completed within the required timescales, and appropriate forward action plans had been put in place for those actions that were longer-term.
HMNII issues formal regulatory documents called licence instruments where these are called for under conditions attached to the nuclear site licence. Regulatory responsibility for authorising discharges and disposal of radioactive wastes from the sites lies with the Environment Agency.
No formal regulatory documents were issued by NII for the Barrow site during the quarter.
Barrow-in-Furness Site Inspector
HM Nuclear Installations Inspectorate