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 Urenco UK Ltd Local Liaison Committee (LLC) and covers activities associated with the regulation of safety at the Urenco UK Ltd nuclear licensed site. 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 usually attend LLC meetings and will respond to questions raised there by members of the LLC. 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 Directorate
Health and Safety Executive
Redgrave Court
Merton Road
Bootle
Merseyside
L20 7HS
The site was visited by NII inspectors on:-
Each NII site inspector has an inspection programme, informed by planned regulatory interventions. There are three key regulatory interventions for this site.
The first is to permission the licensee’s commercial activities, whilst ensuring continued site licence compliance. The second is to ensure that the structure and resources available to the licensee remain adequate to ensure nuclear site licence compliance. The third relates to the permissioning of the arrangements for the safe storage and timely ‘deconversion’ of the uranium hexafluoride “Hex Tails” into the more stable, less hazardous oxide form of uranium.
No issues arose from the compliance inspections undertaken during this period that required formal regulatory action.
The registered name of the licensee was changed from Urenco (Capenhurst) Limited to Urenco UK Limited on 2nd June 2008. The licensee has been reminded of the consequent need to update the marking of the site boundary in a timely manner.
A team of NII inspectors observed a Level Two emergency exercise, (exercise “Alder”), on 17th April 2008. NII observed at the site emergency control centre and at the ‘off site centre’ at Winsford Police Headquarters. Overall, NII concluded that the exercise was an adequate demonstration of relevant aspects of the licensee’s licence condition 11 emergency arrangements. A shortfall observed at the site related to the adequacy of the licensee’s record keeping during this exercise, (also observed by NII during the Level One ‘on site’ emergency exercise on 27th November 2007) to which the site inspector has written to the licensee, requesting a response by the end of June 2008. The topic was subsequently discussed during observation of a site exercise on 13th May and at a site meeting on 23rd June. The licensee has been tardy in providing an adequate written response.
The licensee provided NII with a Pre-Commencement Safety Report and the Safety Commissioning Schedules safety documentation, for an extension to an enrichment facility. The potential radiological impact of the plant extension was assessed by an NII specialist inspector and an unannounced plant inspection was made of the installed criticality shielding by the site inspector, prior to NII permissioning of the active commissioning of this enrichment plant extension. The licensee demonstrated an adequate safety case for the enrichment plant extension, for which NII issued two licence instruments, to permission active commissioning of the plant extension, on 9th May 2008.
Discussions have continued with the licensee regarding the commissioning of additional raft storage areas for uranium hexafluoride cylinders on the site. NII accepted the licensee’s proposal to commission the storage raft with a limited number of uranium hexafluoride cylinders, in stages, after each of which the radiological impact would be reassessed by the licensee and reported to NII, before further uranium hexafluoride cylinders were placed on to the new storage raft. NII accepted the licensee’s latest proposal to extend the storage capacity of cylinders on the latest storage raft by issuing a letter accepting the next increase in storage capacity on 12th May 2008.
Two inspections were conducted in January and February 2008, by the site inspector, an NII specialist inspector and the Environment Agency site inspector. The inspections involved the reorganisation of the Health, Safety & Environment Department and the Management Systems and Business Improvement Department into a Compliance Department, under a new departmental head. The licensee had provided the associated “Management of Change” safety documentation, in accordance with the site licence condition 36 arrangements, for assessment by NII, prior to implementation of this organisational change. Following subsequent regulatory discussions, the Managing Director implemented additional organisational change arrangements, to improve the new organisation’s ability to demonstrate an appropriate level of safety management. It was agreed that the effects of the organisational change would be formally reviewed by both the licensee and NII over the next twelve months. Since then, the licensee has announced the intention to significantly reduce the size of the licensee’s workforce at the site. The implementation of the licence condition 36 management of organisational change arrangements will therefore continue to receive regulatory attention, as the licensee’s workforce reduction proposals are clarified in the latter half of 2008.
Sellafield Limited – Capenhurst Works has submitted to NII, (on 22nd July 2008) a request for a suite of six Consents, relating to proposals to lease to Urenco UK Limited, six small areas of land which are currently owned by NDA and licensed to Sellafield Limited - Capenhurst. The proposals cover areas of the site associated mainly with electrical distribution and fire fighting water supply facilities. The plan is to eventually reconfigure the boundary between the two licensed sites, for which a relicensing request is anticipated to be made in the latter half of 2008.
A plant is proposed to be constructed on the licensed site to ‘deconvert’ the uranium hexafluoride “Hex Tails” to the more stable, less hazardous oxide form of uranium. Discussions have been held between the licensee and the regulators since April 2008 regarding the development of the associated safety case and other regulatory permissioning requirements for this new facility. Whilst current storage arrangements remain adequately safe, NII is supportive of the timely construction and operation of the Tails Management Facility, as this should lead to the medium term reduction of the hazard associated with the storage of uranium hexafluoride on the licensed site.
Two NII specialist safety case assessment inspectors held a meeting with the licensee on 30th April, to inspect and provide regulatory advice on the licensee’s application of the NII Safety Assessment Principles to the licensee’s safety case production process, with a broadly acceptable outcome. A plant inspection was also made of an enrichment facility, which identified some minor operational shortfalls, which were promptly rectified by the licensee. A further NII inspection of the licensee’s safety case production process is planned prior to the end of 2008.
The site inspector continues to consult with the active safety representatives during site inspections. A meeting was held with the team of active safety representatives on 23rd June, the site inspector explaining NII’s inspection, assessment and permissioning activities in the first half of 2008.
None.
No regulatory enforcement action was necessary in this quarter.
The Inspectorate has powers under the licence to issue Consents, Approvals and Directions. In addition, the Inspectorate uses Licence Instruments to issue Specifications, Acknowledgements and Agreements, under either the conditions attached to the Licence, or arrangements made by Urenco UK Limited for complying with those conditions. The two Licence Instruments issued during this quarter were –
| Date | Type | No. | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9 May 2008 | Acknowledgement | 512 | Acknowledgement of Pre-Commencement Safety Report for an extension to an enrichment facility. |
| 9 May 2008 | Acknowledgement | 513 | Acknowledgement of Safety Commissioning Schedules for an extension to an enrichment facility. |