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 Capenhurst Local Stakeholder Group (LSG) and covers activities associated with the regulation of safety at the Capenhurst Works. It is for distribution to members of the Capenhurst Local Stakeholder Group (LSG) and covers activities associated with the regulation of safety at the Capenhurst Works. Any other person wishing to inquire about matters covered by this report should contact the HSE’s Nuclear Directorate on 0151-951-4382.
These reports are distributed quarterly and are available also from the Internet at http://www.hse.gov.uk/nuclear/index.htm.
Inspectors from NII visited the site on the following dates:
A meeting was also held at the NII office at Bootle on 10th September, with the licensee’s senior staff.
Each NII site inspector has an inspection programme, to inspect the licensee’s compliance against the 36 nuclear site licence conditions, over a period of time.
With regard to the licensee’s compliance with licence condition 36, (for the control of organisational change) discussions continue to be held and regulatory advice provided, regarding the need for the licensee to retain adequate “core competence” and “intelligent customer” capabilities, in connection with the emerging proposals for the significant reduction in the size of the site workforce, which the licensee is proposing. These proposed changes will follow the completion of the short term decommissioning projects. Specialist NII inspectors provided regulatory advice to the licensee, supporting the site inspector during these site meetings.
NII became concerned that the licensee had not effectively demonstrated the expected application of the licensee’s arrangements to NII, so a meeting was arranged with the Head of Site and others, at the NII office in Bootle, on 10th September, to give the licensee the opportunity to provide further evidence of compliance to NII. The licensee acknowledged the NII regulatory concern and responded positively, providing additional safety documentation at this meeting, which is now being assessed by NII.
NII aims to agree appropriate organisational change regulatory review and hold points, in accordance with licence condition 36 arrangements, in the latter quarter of 2007.
It had previously been understood that the ‘down blended’ uranic residues were only to remain on the Capenhurst site for a limited period, pending further processing and recycling at another licensed site. The licensee is now proposing to store these materials at Capenhurst for an increased length of time, to permit contractual issues to be addressed with regard to the subsequent processing at another licensed site. The site inspector is pressing the licensee for improvements to the storage arrangements, to minimise the time for interim storage and to develop the interim storage safety case, in order to provide an improved demonstration of the safety of storage of these materials.
Two NII inspectors observed a planned evening shift emergency exercise, in July, to inspect compliance with the licensee’s LC 11 emergency arrangements. The licensee adequately demonstrated the on site ‘silent hours’ emergency arrangements. Good co-operation was demonstrated between the two Capenhurst licensees. A number of minor learning points arose, promptly communicated by NII, which are to be addressed by the Capenhurst licensees.
The site inspector continues to participate in the regulatory review meetings, involving NII, the Environment Agency, the licensee and NDA, reviewing the Lifetime Plan, most recently in July.
NII continues to actively press the licensee to develop the options to bring forward the date for the commencement of processing or disposing of the legacy “Hex Tails”, uranic and other materials currently stored on site, taking account of wider developments. The licensee has provided the site inspector with visibility of the ongoing work to review acceleration options. NII was encouraged that the licensee was now actively engaged in reviewing the options to address the “Hex Tails” legacy, with a view to reducing the potential hazard, earlier than currently programmed in the 2007 Lifetime Plan. NII will continue to press for progress to be made by the licensee in the timely reduction of this medium term site hazard.
The site inspector continues to press for the timely disposal of solid low level and very low level radioactive wastes from the site by the licensee and for the timely despatch of uranic residues to another licensed site.
Very low level solid waste disposals were reinstated in July, but no low level solid waste disposals have been made since the start of this financial year in April, partly due to the approval of a modified transport package still being awaited from the Department for Transport. Plans are awaited from the licensee for the despatch of the uranic residues.
There continue to be effective working relationships between the regulators, the licensee and the NDA at the Sellafield Limited Capenhurst site, which serve the interests of each party.
The site inspector continues to consult with the active site safety representatives during site inspections, including participating in the safety representatives’ meeting in August.
None.
No regulatory enforcement action was necessary in this quarter.
The Inspectorate has powers under the site licence to issue Consents, Approvals and Directions. In addition, the Inspectorate may use Licence Instruments to issue Specifications, Acknowledgements and Agreements, under either the conditions attached to the Licence, or arrangements made by Sellafield Limited - Capenhurst Works for complying with those conditions.
No Licence Instruments were issued in this period.
Sellafield Limited (Capenhurst Works) NII Site Inspector.
HM Nuclear Installations Inspectorate.