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 Hinkley Point Site Stakeholder Group and covers activities associated with the regulation of safety at Hinkley Point B Power Station. These reports are distributed quarterly and are also available on the HSE’s web site. Site Inspectors of HM Nuclear Installations Inspectorate normally attend Site Stakeholder Group meetings and will respond to any questions raised there or subsequently by members of the Site Stakeholder Group. 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 placed on the HSE website at http://www.hse.gov.uk/nuclear/llc/index.htm.
Routine inspections continued in accordance with the NII annual plan. The HMNII Site Inspector made the following planned visits during the period:
In addition, separate visits by 3 HMNII Specialist Inspectors took place during this period to inspect various aspects of the Reactor 3 periodic shutdown. The topics covered were: conventional safety, quality assurance, civil/structural engineering and control & instrumentation.
Routine and reactive inspections have continued throughout the period to confirm that the site is operating in compliance with the conditions attached to the Nuclear Site Licence. These included inspections of Licence Conditions 7, 15, 22, 24, 26, and 30. In addition, compliance inspections were undertaken against the Ionising Radiations Regulations 1999 and the Pressure Systems Safety Regulations 2000. In general the arrangements on site were found to be satisfactory. In areas where opportunities for improvement were identified, remedial work has been agreed with station management, with the intention of achieving improvements to current station arrangements in those areas.
The management and recording of some events that occurred on the station during the period were inspected. Most of these were relatively minor and those of concern to the HMNII Site Inspector were discussed with the appropriate company staff. HMNII was generally satisfied with the actions taken.
During the period of this report there has been one unplanned automatic trip of Reactor 4 during preparations to shutdown. Five other non-nuclear safety related incidents were reported during the period, mainly associated with the Reactor 3 outage work.
Reactor 3 has been on periodic shutdown during the whole of this reporting period. The Licensee has conducted maintenance activities in accordance with the Station Maintenance Schedule, undertaken inspections to support the station safety case and to comply with statutory requirements, and implemented modifications. Where the inspection work has revealed deterioration in plant condition, the Licensee has assessed the results in accordance with their arrangements and where necessary has carried out remedial work.
Start-up of Reactor 3 has been delayed following the discovery of a larger number of boiler tube defects than were expected. Reactor 4 has also been shutdown to enable a parallel programme of inspection and repair to be completed. The defects in the boiler tubes are a consequence of operation over a lengthy period of time at high temperature. A safety case for return to service of both reactors has been produced by the Licensee and submitted for assessment by HMNII. HMNII permission is required before either reactor can start-up. Key features of the proposed safety case include more frequent boiler tube inspections and operation at reduced power.
HMNII work in liaison with the Environment Agency Inspector on matters where there is a joint interest. A joint unannounced, out of hours inspection was undertaken on 12th October 2006. A number of issues were identified and drawn to the attention of site management, which were subsequently addressed.
Under Health and Safety legislation the Site Inspector, or other HSE Inspectors, may issue formal notices to secure improvements to safety. No such notices were issued during the reporting period.
The Inspectorate has powers under the Licence to issue Consents, Approvals and Directions. In addition the Inspectorate uses Licence Instruments to issue Specifications and Agreements under the conditions of the Licence. These are all called Licence Instruments. No Licence Instruments were issued during the quarter.
HM Nuclear Installations Inspectorate
Redgrave Court, Merton Road, Bootle, Merseyside L20 7HS