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 Clyde Local Liaison Committee (LLC) and covers activities associated with the regulation of nuclear safety at HM Naval Base Clyde. These reports are distributed quarterly and are also available on HSE’s web site at: http//www.hse.gov.uk/nuclear/llc/index.htm
Site Inspectors of HM Nuclear Installations Inspectorate usually attend LLC meetings and will 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’s Nuclear Directorate Information Centre on 0151-951-3484/3290.
Nuclear Directorate
Health and Safety Executive
Redgrave Court
Merton Road
Bootle
Merseyside
L20 7HS
The majority of sites inspected by HM Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII) a part of the Health and Safety Executive are licensed by NII under the Nuclear Installations Act 1965 (as amended). HM Naval Base Clyde is not a licensed site although it operates under Authorisation from the Ministry of Defence (MoD) Defence Nuclear Safety Regulator (DNSR). The site comprises the Faslane and Coulport facilities and is regulated by NII through other legislation as noted below. This report summarises the inspection and regulatory activities associated with HM Naval Base Clyde which are coordinated with inspections by DNSR. The focus for HM Naval Base Clyde is safe and timely servicing of the UK’s Nuclear submarine fleet. This is being progressed through provision of facilities on the site which are being upgraded to meet the continued operational requirements of the Base.
The Nuclear Installations Site Inspector made inspection visits to the sites on the following dates during the quarter: -
Inspections on site are undertaken are taken as part of monitoring compliance with:
This entails monitoring operator’s actions on the site in relation to incidents, operations, maintenance, projects, modifications, safety case changes and any other matters which may affect safety. The operators are required to make and implement adequate arrangements in order to ensure legal compliance. Inspections seek to judge both the adequacy of these arrangements and their implementation. In this period all inspections of HM Naval Base Clyde were undertaken jointly with DNSR and covered:
In general the arrangements made and implemented by HM Naval Base Clyde in response to IRR99 were deemed to be adequate in the areas and for the regulations inspected. Where improvements were considered necessary, these were brought to the attention of HM Naval base during the inspection and the Site Inspector will monitor progress during future visits.
A meeting was held to discuss progress on improvements to the site’s nuclear accident response. These followed from matters arising in demonstration exercises and communicated to the Naval Base following those exercises. NII were not content that the response from the site fully addressed those matters. HM Naval Base Clyde has now written to the regulators indicating an improved response and this will be discussed with HM Naval Base during the next quarter.
Where necessary, formal regulatory enforcement action will be taken to ensure that appropriate remedial measures are implemented to reasonably practicable timescales.
Operators are required to have arrangements to respond to non-routine matters and events. NII Inspectors judge the adequacy of the operator’s response including actions taken to implement any necessary improvements.
There were no items of particular note during the current reporting period.
Under Health and Safety legislation NII Site Inspectors, and other HSE Inspectors, may issue enforcement (Crown) notices to secure improvements to safety.
No enforcement (Crown) notices were issued during the quarter.