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 Site Stakeholder Group and covers activities associated with the regulation of safety at Hinkley Point B Power Station. These reports are distributed quarterly and are also available on the HSE’s web site at http://www.hse.gov.uk/nuclear/llc/index.htm. Site inspectors of HM Nuclear Installations Inspectorate usually attend Site Stakeholder Group meetings and will respond to questions raised there by members of the Site Stakeholder Group. Any other person wishing to enquire about matters covered by this report may 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 Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII) Site Inspector made inspections on the following dates during the quarter: -
Hinkley Point B
1, 2, 3, 4 October 2007
13, 14, 15, 16 November 2007
10, 11, 12, 13 December 2007
The NII team inspections were carried out at Hinkley Point B during the quarter:
2, 3, 4 October 2007 – Safety case visibility
11, 12 December 2007 – Training
12, 13 December – Pressure systems
Dr Mike Weightman, NII Chief Inspector visited Hinkley Point B on 1 October 2007.
Inspections are undertaken at site as part of the process for monitoring compliance with:
This entails monitoring licensee’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 licensees/operators are required to make and implement adequate arrangements under the conditions attached to the licence in order to ensure legal compliance. Inspections seek to judge both the adequacy of these arrangements and their implementation. In this period routine inspections of Hinkley Point B covered:
Examination, Maintenance, Inspection and Testing.
Management of operations including control and supervision.
Staff training, qualifications and experience.
Modifications to plant, equipment and safety cases.
Radioactive waste management.
Periodic safety review.
Industrial safety.
Safety case.
In general the arrangements made and implemented by the site in response to safety requirements were deemed to be adequate in the areas inspected. However, where improvements were considered necessary, satisfactory commitments to address the issues were made by or are being sought from the licensee, and the site inspector will monitor progress during future visits. Where necessary, formal regulatory enforcement action will be taken to ensure that appropriate remedial measures are implemented to reasonably practicable timescales.
Licensees are required to have arrangements to respond to non-routine matters and events. NII inspectors judge the adequacy of the licensee’s response including actions taken to implement any necessary improvements. Matters of particular note considered during the current period include the following.
A team of 5 NII inspectors visited Hinkley Point B between 2 and 4 October 2007 to review the implementation of a project to improve the visibility of the site safety case. This was the culmination of a major piece of work to improve the clarity, accessibility and currency of the safety case. The findings from the inspection were generally positive, with some relatively minor areas for improvement being identified.
The inspection programme also included a joint inspection with the Environment Agency of arrangements for the control of radioactive waste. In general the arrangements on site were found to be satisfactory.
Under Health and Safety legislation NII Site Inspectors, and other HSE Inspectors, may issue formal documents to ensure compliance with regulatory requirements. Under nuclear site licence conditions HSE/NII issues regulatory documents, which either permission an activity or requires some form of action to be taken; these are collectively termed Licence Instruments (LI). In addition inspectors may issue enforcement notices to secure improvements to safety.
1 LI was issued to the licensee during the quarter: -
LI 518 was issued on 21 December 2007 and specifies a requirement to provide HSE with records of radioactive material which is subject to the High-Activity Sealed Radioactive Sources and Orphan Sources Regulations 2005.