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 Chapelcross Site Stakeholder Group (SSG) and covers activities associated with the regulation of safety at Chapelcross Power Station. These reports are distributed quarterly and are available also from the Internet at http://www.hse.gov.uk/nuclear/index.htm. Site Inspectors of HM Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (part of the Health and Safety Executive’s Nuclear Directorate) normally attend SSG meetings and will be happy to respond to any questions raised there or subsequently by members of the SSG. Any other person wishing to inquire about matters covered by this report should contact the HSE’s, Nuclear Directorate on 0151-951-3484/3290.
Nuclear Safety Directorate
Health and Safety Executive
Redgrave Court
Merton Road
Bootle
Merseyside
L20 7HS
The HMNII Site Inspector made the following visits during the period:
Routine inspections continued throughout the period to check compliance with the conditions attached to the Nuclear Site Licence.
Once per year the site is required to provide a formal demonstration of its emergency arrangements to NII. A small team from NII witnessed Emergency Exercise Gerda on 23 May 2007. The team concluded that the exercise did not provide an adequate demonstration of the arrangements. NII therefore requires that the site provides a further full demonstration of its arrangements, once it has taken action to remedy the problems that occurred during the exercise.
The management and recording of events that occurred on the station during the period were inspected. Most of the events were relatively minor.
The following routine meetings were attended:
Chapelcross Site Stakeholder Group – 6 June
Modification work continued on the upgrading of the fuel route discharge machines and associated plant, and our assessment work on related matters continued. Inactive commissioning of the systems continued, along with training of staff.
On 7 June, NII undertook a team inspection to determine the state of readiness to start defuelling. The team concluded that the site needs to do further work, particularly in the areas of production and validation of instructions and training of staff, and that a further inspection will be needed to verify the readiness prior to the start of defuelling.
Every 10 years MEL is required to undertake a comprehensive review of safety known as the Periodic Safety Review. The NII decision date for the next review is 31 March 2009, which requires MEL to submit the review by 31 March 2008. NII is therefore monitoring progress on the review.
The Inspectorate has powers under the Nuclear Site Licence to issue regulatory documents collectively termed Licence Instruments. These Licence Instruments are issued under the licence conditions and arrangements and include Consents, Approvals, Directions, Specifications, Notifications and Agreements. No Licence Instruments were issued during the quarter.
Under Health and Safety Legislation the Site Inspector, or other HSE Inspectors, may issue formal notices to secure improvements to safety. Two prohibition notices were served by HSE’s Field Operations Directorate on a .contractor on the site, relating to work on asbestos removal on a heat exchanger.
17 August 2007