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 on 0151 951 3484/3290.
This report will be put onto the HSE Website at www.hse.gov.uk/nuclear/llc/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:
In addition, the NII Deputy Chief Inspector visited the site on 16 November 2006, and the NII Superintending Inspector on 13 and 16 November 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 site, NII inspectors check compliance with licence conditions made under the Nuclear Installations Act and other regulations such as the Ionising Radiation Regulations 1999.
Inspectors from NII and the Defence Nuclear Safety Regulator jointly inspected BAE Systems’ arrangements for:
Programmes of existing work to rationalise, modernise and improve the arrangements were examined and progress confirmed as satisfactory. Any new opportunities for improvement identified during the inspections, and the actions necessary to achieve them, were discussed and agreed with BAE Systems.
The NII Deputy Chief Inspector and the Defence Nuclear Safety Regulator Director visited site on 16 November 2006 for a joint regulatory review of nuclear safety at Barrow. Compliance was broadly acceptable for contemporary activities on the site and BAE Systems continues to implement its longer-term improvement programmes covering learning from experience, safety management systems, behavioural safety and organisational change. On conclusion of the visit, the proposed 2007 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.
Following an event on site involving an overheating brake on a crane hoist, NII wrote to inform BAE Systems that we considered the Company’s actions following the event were overly simplistic and conducted with unseemly haste, which was contrary the good practice we have come to expect. We have therefore placed a requirement on BAE Systems to submit a report of its investigation of the event for regulatory review. We have also advised BAE Systems that, if we are not content with findings and outcomes from its investigation, the HSE Enforcement Management Model will require consideration of further regulatory action.
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.
The following regulatory document was issued by NII for the Barrow site on 9 October 2006:
Licence Instrument No. 503: Agreement to Release the Astute Phase 3.C Hold Point.