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 GE Healthcare Ltd Grove Centre Local Liaison Committee (LLC) and covers activities associated with the regulation of safety at the site. These reports are distributed quarterly and are available also from the Internet at www.hse.gov.uk/nuclear/llc/index.htm. Site Inspectors of HM Nuclear Installations Inspectorate attend LLC meetings and will be happy to respond to any questions raised there by members. Any other person wishing to enquire about matters covered by this report may contact HSE’s Nuclear Directorate Information Centre on 0151-951-4103.
NII inspections were made on 3–5 and 19–21 April 2006. (Inspections are also made at GE Healthcare Ltd’s nuclear licensed sites at Cardiff (the Maynard Centre) and Harwell. Where these are relevant to the Grove Centre they are included below. For instance, the sites have many arrangements in common for compliance with the conditions attached to their site licences.)
Inspections are undertaken for the purpose of monitoring compliance with (i) the conditions attached by HSE to the nuclear site licences, and (ii) other relevant provisions of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, including the Ionising Radiations Regulations 1999. In this period routine inspections included:
Issues arising from these and previous inspections are being pursued.
Organisational change: As part of its arrangements for compliance with Licence Condition 36, on control of organisational change, GE Healthcare Ltd has produced a Baseline, which is a justification of the current organisational structure, resources and staff competencies available to carry out those functions that may affect safety. In accordance with its most recent commitment to NII, and after approval by its board, the licensee submitted the final version in June.
The licensee’s executive chairman having resigned in April, NII was consulted on proposals for consequent safety-related organisational changes, which included a new board director responsible for safety assurance. NII subsequently agreed to these changes—see below.
Radioactive waste: The site inspector took part in an inspection led by the Environment Agency on the site’s arrangements for complying with its authorisation to dispose of radioactive wastes.
Local Liaison Committee: The site inspector attended the 6-monthly meeting of the Local Liaison Committee.
No statutorily reportable radiological incidents were notified to NII in this quarter.
As part of its regulation under the nuclear site licence NII issues formal regulatory documents, which include Consents, Approvals, Directions, and Licence Instruments 1. In this quarter NII issued: Licence Instrument No 502, acknowledging receipt of safety documentation related to new dispensing facilities for radiopharmaceuticals, thus allowing them to be installed, commissioned, and operated; Licence Instrument No 503, agreeing to safety-related changes to the organisational structure of the licensee that resulted from the departure of the executive chairman.
No other issues have arisen that have required formal regulatory action.
1 Licence Instruments are issued: to acknowledge receipt of specified documents, eg proposals for a new or modified plant; to stipulate whether the Inspectorate intends to examine these documents; or to agree to the start of a particular phase of construction, commissioning, modification, or decommissioning.