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 Heysham Local Community Liaison Council and covers activities associated with the regulation of safety at Heysham Power Stations. These reports are distributed quarterly. Site Inspectors of HM Nuclear Installations Inspectorate, which is part of the HSE Nuclear Directorate, attend LCLC meetings and will respond to any questions raised there by members of the LCLC. Any other person wishing to enquire 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 http://www.hse.gov.uk/nuclear/index.htmVisits
The Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII) site inspectors made visits to Heysham on the following dates during this quarter:
| Heysham 1 | Heysham 2 | |
| 17, 18, 19, 25, 26 | January 2006 | 18, 19, 25, 26 |
| 22, 28 | February 2006 | 13, 15, 20, 28 |
| 1, 2, 3, 16 | March 2006 | 14, 15, 16, 28, 29, 30 |
Other members of the NII and specialist inspectors visited the Heysham site during the period, as follows.
Heysham 1
The NII Site Inspector and specialist NII Inspectors attended site during the period in relation to matters associated with: planned and reactive inspection activities; events on the site; and safety case developments.
Heysham 2
The NII Site Inspector, specialist NII Inspectors and the replacement NII Site Inspector attended site to carry out routine inspection, inspection of fire protection provisions, an inspection as part of the handover of responsibilities to the replacement NII Site Inspector and inspection associated with other matters arising on Heysham 2.
As part of routine work NII inspects for compliance with the requirements of the Health and Safety at Work Act, its Relevant Statutory Provisions, the Nuclear Site Licence Conditions, the arrangements made under the conditions for each station and other safety regulations as appropriate. This includes monitoring licensee’s actions in relation to station events, plant operations, site projects, plant modifications, safety case changes and other matters which may affect safety. Inspections of this type are usually planned in advance of the site inspection visit. Matters of particular note considered during the current period include the following.
Heysham 1 and Heysham 2
The Heysham 1 NII site inspector attended the 37th meeting of the Heysham Emergency Planning Consultative Committee, which took place at Heysham on 3 March 2006.
Heysham 1
Planned work this quarter covered inspections of a number of licence conditions including: incidents on site (LC7); training (LC10); emergency arrangements (LC11); duly authorised persons and suitably qualified personnel (LC12); operating rules and instructions (LC23&24), control and supervision (LC 26), modification or experiment on existing plant (LC22); examination, inspection, maintenance and testing (LC28) and leakage of radioactive material and radioactive waste (LC34).
In general the arrangements made and implemented by station in response to licence condition requirements were deemed to be adequate overall in the areas inspected. Where improvements were considered necessary, satisfactory commitments to address the issues were made by station and the site inspector will inspect progress during future visits. Other aspects of particular significance of a routine nature are summarised below.
Joint Environment Agency/Nuclear Installations Inspectorate Inspection
The NII Site Inspector and EA nuclear regulator undertook a joint inspection of the station's Environmental Improvement Programme and its preparations for complying with the new Radioactive Substances Act. single site discharge authorisation, which is scheduled for introduction in 2007. The inspection included: the training, qualifications and competence of environmental personnel; the operation of environmental plant; maintenance of plant; records of environmental data; and a tour of the plant. The regulators were struck by the professionalism and enthusiasm of the station's environmental personnel. During a post inspection debrief the station was informed that the regulators had observed many good practices but also identified several aspects of its environmental arrangements that will benefit from improvement. The NII Site Inspector subsequently wrote to station requesting its strategy and programme for sustaining improvements to the active effluent treatment plant.
Heysham 2
Planned work this quarter covered inspections of a number of licence conditions including: incidents on site (LC7); training (LC10); emergency arrangements (LC11); duly authorised and other suitably qualified and experienced persons (LC12); modification or experiment on existing plant (LC22); operating rules and instructions (LC23&24); control and supervision of operations (LC26); examination, inspection, maintenance and testing (LC28); periodic shutdown (LC30) and control of organisational change (LC36).
In general the arrangements made and implemented by station in response to licence condition requirements were deemed to be adequate overall in the areas inspected. Where improvements were considered necessary, satisfactory commitments to address the issues were made by station and the site inspector will inspect progress during future visits. Other aspects of particular significance of a routine nature are summarised below.
Joint Environment Agency/Nuclear Installations Inspectorate Inspection
The NII Site Inspector and EA nuclear regulators undertook a joint inspection of the station's Environmental Improvement Programme and its preparations for complying with the new Radioactive Substances Act. single site discharge authorisation, which is scheduled for introduction in 2007. The inspection reviewed the station readiness to address the requirements of the revised authorisation and its associated conditions. A closing meeting was held at which the preliminary findings from the inspection were presented to the station management, and included recognition of the fact that preparations were being made to ensure compliance with the new authorisation but that areas for improvement were identified. The leading EA Site Inspector will be writing to station to confirm the outcome from the inspection.NII site inspectors consider non-routine matters and events that have occurred on the site and examine the Licensee’s response to them. Licensees are required to have arrangements to respond to such matters and NII inspectors judge the adequacy of their response in taking appropriate remedial action and implementing necessary improvements. Matters of particular note considered during the current period include the following.
Heysham 1
Boiler Closure Unit (BCU) Integrity
The station has sought and obtained NII's agreement to extend the validity of the interim safety case for the integrity of the boiler closure units (BCUs) until October 2006. The station continues to implement the programme of inspections and modification that addresses the unexpected discovery of standing water in a BCU primary hold down stud guide tube. This programme, which will be completed during the planned refuel outages in May and August 2006, aims to enhance the existing integrity arguments and thus permit station to seek NII's agreement to implement the medium term safety case justifying continued operation pending submission of the consolidated safety case for the BCUs.
Maintenance of Fuelling Machine
After completing routine maintenance the fuelling machine was undergoing initial pressurisation with clean CO2 when personnel reported hearing a loud bang. Subsequent investigation revealed that a pressure vessel plug, that provides access to inspect a hoist chain, had been ejected from its aperture. Although the incident did not result in injury to, or the contamination of, personnel, the station recognised that the potential consequences of the incident are very serious. The Plant Manager placed an immediate embargo on all fuel route operations pending the outcome of an investigation and also appointed an Event Recovery Officer. The investigation revealed that the plug had been removed to permit inspection of the hoist chain but that a key pressure retaining component had been omitted during refitting of the plug. The NII Site Inspector has discussed the event with the author of the investigation report, the Event Recovery Officer and the Plant Manager. The dropped fuel stringer event in August 2005 had already identified deficiencies in fuel route procedures and station had recognised the need to implement a Fuel Route Improvement Programme. Following this latest incident the Plant Manager has appointed a full time manager to develop the programme and implement the improvements. The inspector is satisfied that: the station's immediate response to the event was appropriate; that a thorough investigation has identified the causes of the incident and proposed a prioritised programme of corrective actions; and that the station implemented a comprehensive event recovery programme before resuming fuel route operations. The site inspector will continue to monitor the station's implementation of the Fuel Route Improvement Programme.
Case Iron replacement Programme
The station has sought and obtained NII's agreement to its proposal to replace cast iron components within the Low Pressure Back Up Cooling System (LPBUCS). NII specialist inspectors will attend station to inspect the arrangements for implementing this important improvement to a safety critical system.
Heysham 2
Inspection by HSE Fire Surveyors
Two HSE fire surveyors carried out an inspection of fire protection provisions to confirm the adequacy of the arrangements deployed within the station turbine hall. A number of areas for improvement were identified, and station has since confirmed that appropriate measures are being put in place to address the findings from the inspection.
Handover of Responsibilities to Replacement NII Site Inspector
As part of the process of handover of responsibilities to the replacement NII Site Inspector a joint inspection was carried out in March 2006. During the inspection meetings were held with station management and the safety representatives, notable incidents on the site were reviewed and a plant inspection was carried out. A number of areas for improvement were reported to Station following the inspection and they undertook to take appropriate corrective action.
Package Despatched Without Appropriate Paperwork
Station notified NII that a package containing a contaminated article was despatched to another nuclear licensed site without the appropriate documentation, although it had been correctly prepared. They reported that the item was appropriately packaged and labelled, and no loss of control or containment of contaminated material resulted. However, the station arrangements require transport of such packages to be accompanied by relevant documentation, which was absent on this occasion. Station has investigated the matter within the licence compliance arrangements, and has taken action to help prevent a recurrence. The regulatory aspects relating to transport of the package are dealt with by another regulatory authority who Station confirmed were also notified of this event.
Formal Notices
Under Health and Safety legislation NII Site Inspectors, and other HSE Inspectors, may issue formal notices to secure improvements to safety. The following formal notices have been issued this quarter in respect of Heysham.
Heysham 1
The NII has secured improvements to arrangements for conducting work on the station without the need to issue formal notices during the reporting period.
Heysham 2
The NII has secured improvements to arrangements for conducting work on the station without the need to issue formal notices during the reporting period.
Licence Instruments
As part of the licensing regime enforced by HSE/ND the Inspectorate may issue Agreements, Approvals, Consents, Directions, Notifications and Specifications under the Site Licence Conditions, to permission licensees’ activities as appropriate. The following licence instruments have been issued this quarter in respect of Heysham.
Heysham 1
NII issued two Licence Instruments during the reporting period:
1. LI No: 515 Agreement, under LC 221(1), to implementation of EC318712: Replacement of all known items of Cast iron Pipework within the LPBUCS.
2. LI No: 516 Agreement, under LC 22(1), to implementation of NP/SC 7427 Add. 1: Hartlepool & Heysham Stage 1 Interim Safety Case for the Return to Power of Hartlepool and Heysham Stage 1 Reactors following the Observation of Acidic Aqueous Environment in a BCU Stud Guide Tube on Hartlepool Reactor 2. Heysham Stage 1 Reactors - Addendum 1: Justification for Extending the Timescales for Completion of the Engineering Substantiation Work on the Heysham Stage 1 Reactors.
Heysham 2
NII issued no Licence Instruments during the reporting period.