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 H M 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 HSE/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 HSE/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 HSE/NII Site Inspector made inspection visits to the site on the following dates during the quarter: -
The HSE/NII Superintending Inspector for the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Programme also visited the site on 7th to 9th May 2008. HSE/NII’s Human Factors Specialist Inspector visited on 17th April.
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, there was a change in the Site Inspector responsible for HM Naval Base Clyde, so a number of handover and familiarisation discussions and facility visits were made. In addition, the new Site Inspector attended the Local Liaison Committee Meeting. Discussions were also held concerning training of those involved in nuclear accident response.
In conjunction with DNSR, HSE/NII undertook an assessment of the nuclear accident response demonstration emergency exercise Evening Star 2008. It was considered that this was an adequate demonstration of HMNB Clyde’s Nuclear Accident Response arrangements in the context of the on-going Nuclear Accident Response improvement programme. We also inspected the arrangements made to comply with the operator’s REPPIR plan for Loch Goil and B4 anchorage and considered them to be appropriate when considered in conjunction with the Clyde plans tested elsewhere.
Where improvements were considered necessary, satisfactory commitments to address the issues were made by or are being sought from the Naval Base, 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.
As reported previously, submissions under REPPIR for Faslane, Coulport, Loch Goil and B4 Anchorage have been received by HSE/NII. Assessment of these submissions is ongoing, following which HSE/NII is required by REPPIR to make a determination of the Detailed Emergency Planning Zone (DEPZ) for each of the four locations. This determination is now programmed to be issued by the end of 2008. Until a revised determination has been issued, the Clyde sites and Local Authority have been advised to base their plans on the current DEPZ determination.
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.