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 URENCO (Capenhurst) Ltd Local Liaison Committee and covers activities associated with the regulation of safety at the URENCO (Capenhurst) Ltd Nuclear Licensed Site. 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 atThe site was visited by NII inspectors on :-
January 24 th
February 16th
March 1st, 20th & 21st
Compliance with Conditions Attached to the Nuclear Site Licence
Each NII Site Inspector has an inspection programme to inspect compliance of operations on the site with the 36 Nuclear Site Licence Conditions (LCs). During this quarter particular attention has been paid to compliance by the licensee to licence conditions :-
LC 13 Nuclear Safety Committee
LC 22 Modifications or Experiment on Existing Plant
No issues were raised from the compliance inspections undertaken during this period that required formal regulatory action.
LC22 (Modifications or Experiment on Existing Plant) Arrangements Discussions
Discussions were held with UCL regarding the UCL site arrangements for the control of modifications (or experiment) on existing plant. Overall NII considered that UCL arrangements appeared adequate and contain procedures covering all the required elements of the control of modification processes. Elements of the UCL arrangements that were considered “good” were the detailed Control of Safety & Environmental Implications (CSEI) proforma and the requirement to attach supporting documentation as an appendix to the CSEI proforma to assist the deliberation by the CSEI approver and peer reviewer. The implementation of the arrangements was reviewed in a series of plant inspections. Generally the operational plants were able to demonstrate that the arrangements were being implemented adequately. The inspections however raised a few issues relating to the management of the close out of outstanding CSEI actions and delays in updating instructions and drawings. Further inspections of other aspects of the implementation of LC22 arrangements are planned for future site visits.
Nuclear Safety Committee Terms of Reference Approval
The UCL submission seeking NII Approval of the Terms of Reference (TOR) of the UCL Nuclear Safety Committee (NSC) and the arrangements for consideration of urgent safety proposals (USP) has been discussed with UCL. NII informed UCL that the submission, as presented, needed to be revised before NII would approve the arrangements. UCL accepted the NII comments and agreed to revise their USP arrangements prior to them being resubmitted to NII for approval.
Fire & Rescue Teams Arrangements Change Proposals
Discussions have been held relating to the UCL proposals to integrate the UCL Fire & Rescue Service (F&RS) staff into the UCL Flexible Working Agreement and the transfer of 5 F&RS personnel into Shift Production teams to act as Auxiliary Firefighters. Overall NII did not raise any significant issues with the changes outlined in the Phase I Management of Change (MoC) proposals. The Emergency Response Team arrangements and minimum manning levels will remain largely unchanged from the existing arrangements. However NII indicated that it may perhaps have concerns with the Phase II changes, which will be subject to a future additional MoC documents. The Phase II changes include proposals to reduce the immediate response team by 1, with one of the existing team members being reassigned as an Auxiliary Firefighter. UCL is also considering a range of options which may utilise the F&RS teams for operational tasks including hex cylinder movements and handling. NII indicated to NII that it would require further discussions on the Phase II proposals.
Delicensing of B806 area Discussions
Discussions were held regarding the UCL proposals to de-license an area of the UCL site around Building B806. NII outlined to UCL the latest NII guidance on delicensing and provided advice on the information required to be gathered by UCL as evidence for the delicensing submission. The area that UCL wish to delicense was visited. The area includes the ground that is currently being developed to provide the new site entrance roadways and Site Reception facilities. The visit allowed the NII Specialist Inspector an opportunity to evaluate the scope of the monitoring that HSE will be commissioning as part of the HSE consideration of the de-licensing submission.
E23H/J Project Discussions
The proposals to extend the E23 facility were discussed with UCL. When the extensions are constructed the E23 building will be very near to the site boundary and the railway. NII confirmed that it would be seeking UCL to demonstrate that all reasonably practicable measures are incorporated in the design of the extensions to prevent and mitigate the consequence of any criticality event. UCL accepted the need to evaluate such measures including the extent of concrete shielding and/or external groundworks within their initial safety justifications.
New Raft Storage Areas Proposals
Discussions have been held regarding UCL proposals to build new storage rafts near the E22 facility. UCL stated that by 2007 raft storage availability would at a premium on the UCL site until the Tails Management Facility starts to deal with the Hex tails legacy/arisings. UCL are proposing to build a large raft in six sections. UCL hope to start construction before the end of the summer and informed NII that the Preliminary Safety Report for the rafts will be submitted to NII for consideration in April/May. NII stated that it would be interested in the radiological impact study for the project and UCL agreed to forward the report as soon as it is available.
Other meetings
Review & Planning of Site Emergency Exercises Meeting – In order to bring UCL in line with the NII practice with other licensees discussions have been held regarding the setting up of quarterly meetings to cover the review and planning of site emergency exercises. UCL agreed to organise future meetings which will include BNGSL Capenhurst Representatives. The next meeting in June/July will review the NII observed UCL Shift exercise planned for April and discuss the planning of the November Level 1 Demonstration Exercise.
Capenhurst Emergency Planning Consultative Committee (EPCC) - The latest meeting of the Capenhurst EPCC was attended. Items discussed included the transfer of the ownership of the Emergency Plan covering the handling and shipment of the Hex cylinders by the Manchester Ship Canal Company, the status of the outstanding actions arising from the 2005 Level 2 Emergency Exercise “Eagle” and the impact of the Tails Management Facility on the UCL Emergency plans.
BNGSL- UCL Land Transfers - Discussions were undertaken with UCL and BNGSL to obtain an update on the proposals to transfer areas of the site from BNGSL to UCL. Potential issues relating to the lease of the electrical substations to UCL were outlined and discussed. UCL stated that a number of the other proposed BNGSL-UCL land transfers previously discussed with NII have been deferred until the transfer of the electrical substations has been completed.
UCL Safety Case topics Discussions - A number of topics relating to various safety case aspects were discussed with UCL including the UCL Continued Operations Safety & Environment Report (COSER) Implementation arrangements, future UCL COSER Programme, the current Safety Case documentation position in relation to existing plants and the overall future UCL Safety Case Programme. UCL indicated that the future safety case programme for the UCL site was becoming quite extensive and contains a significant number of submissions for consideration by NII.
UCL Licence Condition 19 arrangements discussions - Discussions were held with UCL to clarify the NII understanding of the UCL arrangements for LC19 (Construction or Installation of New Plant). The discussions were considered useful in deciding the NII regulatory interactions for the projects requiring immediate consideration by NII eg Tails Management Facility. However it was agreed that further discussions were required to cover revisions to the UCL LC19 arrangements.
Miscellaneous Plant Visits -
Laundry & Waste Management Area Visit - A visit was undertaken around the UCL Site laundry facility. The laundry is operated by an AMEC Facilities Management team under the overall control of an UCL Supervising Officer. The facility undertakes laundry services for both the UCL & BNGSL sites. Overall no significant issues arose from the visit to the facility.
E23G Commissioning Visit - A visit was undertaken to the E23G facility to observe the ongoing commissioning work. UCL outlined that some of the cascades were now fully operational with the run up of machines going better than expected. UCL stated that the future programme is for the remaining cascades to be brought on line at approx. 6 week intervals with the completion of E23G commissioning planned for Nov-Dec 06. No significant issues arose from the visit
Miscellaneous Matters
During the report period a number of miscellaneous topics were discussed with UCL including the –
E22 Plant -Unit B Operational problems update
A meeting has been held to update NII on the tests that had been carried out by UCL to investigate some minor deviations in the bulk product assays from the E22 facility Unit B cascades. UCL outlined to NII the findings of the UCL investigations which have provide useful information that has been utilised to develop new monitoring regimes for future E22 operations.
Regulatory Actions taken during the quarter –
None
The Inspectorate has powers under the licence to issue Consents, Approvals and Directions. In addition, the Inspectorate uses Licence Instruments to issue Specifications, Acknowledgements and Agreements under either the conditions attached to the Licence, or arrangements made by UCL for complying with those conditions. The Consents/Approvals/Directions and Licence Instruments issued during the quarter were –
DATE |
TYPE |
No |
DESCRIPTION |
|---|---|---|---|
| None |
HM Principal Inspector (Nuclear Installations)