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 Dungeness Power Stations’ Site Stakeholder Group (SSG) and covers activities associated with the regulation of safety at Dungeness A Nuclear Power Station. Site Inspectors of HM Nuclear Installations Inspectorate attend SSG meetings and will respond to questions raised there 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 0151-951-4382.
These reports are distributed quarterly and are available also from the Internet at http://www.hse.gov.uk/nuclear/index.htm.
Nuclear Safety Directorate
Health and Safety Executive
Redgrave Court
Merton Road
Bootle
Merseyside
L20 7HS
The Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII) Site Inspector visited Dungeness A during the quarter. Inspections were made on the following days:
Routine inspections are undertaken for the purpose of monitoring compliance with (i) the conditions attached by HSE to the nuclear site licences, and (ii) other relevant provisions of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, including the Ionising Radiations Regulations 1999.
In this period routine inspections covered:
Following cessation of generation the decay heat from the reactors has reduced sufficiently to render most of the cooling and reactor protection systems redundant. Following detailed and exhaustive examination, HSE have accepted the of the Licensee’s safety arguments (the Post Operational Defuelling Safety Case) and permitted the majority of the Station’s reactor protection systems to be “retired” and Operating Rules to be withdrawn.
As a consequence of the site entering the second, post generation phase, the organisation of personnel on site has undergone significant change. Following an in depth review, HSE are satisfied with the Station’s new staffing structure and the qualifications and experience of their personnel.
Magnox have also proposed to divide the company into a Northern and a Southern region with a view to creating two new operating companies. HSE have taken considerable interest in this and are planning inspections jointly with the Environment Agency to determine their readiness for separate working. The key issues here are the shared corporate centre resources and whether they will be sufficient after they are divided.
HSE have been consulted and are in liaison with Dungeness A regarding potential hazards.
HSE still await further work on this. The issues are connected with the long term reliability of the installed instrumentation.
HSE’s specialist fire surveyor has undertaken an inspection of the Station’s facilities against the latest 2006 regulations. No significant issues were uncovered.
As part of its regulation under nuclear site licences, NII issues regulatory documents, collectively termed Licence Instruments.
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.