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 Dounreay Site Stakeholder Group (DSSG) and covers activities associated with the regulation of safety at Dounreay. 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 attend Dounreay SSG meetings and will respond to questions raised there by members of the Dounreay SSG. Any other person wishing to inquire about matters covered by this report should contact the HSE’s Nuclear Directorate on 0151-951-3484.
Nuclear Directorate
Health and Safety Executive
Redgrave Court
Merton Road
Bootle
Merseyside
L20 7HS
NII Site Inspectors and Specialist Inspectors visited Dounreay on the following dates:-
Compliance inspection activities were carried out against a number of Site Licence Conditions and the Ionising Radiations Regulations 1999 during this reporting period.
An Inspection of LC 8 (Warning Notices) at the Dounreay Fast Reactor (DFR) identified some deficiencies which DSRL have resolved.
The Dounreay Annual Review of Safety Meeting was held on 12th November where the DSRL safety performance was discussed. One of the major regulatory activities during the year was the relicensing of Dounreay. This culminated in the granting of a new Site Licence to DSRL that came into effect on 1st April 2008. It is the NII view that the transition from UKAEA to DSRL was successfully managed.
NII expressed the view that there continues to be good progress made with hazard reduction activities on the site. NII welcomed the resumption of waste encapsulation operations at the cementation plant and also the removal of bulk sodium at PFR. In addition, good progress has been made with decommissioning activities including building D8550 and the demolition of building D1202.
During the year, NII carried out two team inspections, one dealing with Licence Condition 23 (Operating Rules) as part of a nation wide benchmarking exercise. The other Inspection dealing with Licence Condition 7 (Incidents on the Site) and Operating Experience Feedback. NII identified no major issues during these inspections and a number of positive comments were made by the inspection teams on the arrangements at Dounreay.
Whilst NII was pleased with the DSRL commitment to improve safety at Dounreay, concerns had been raised during the year regarding the accumulation of a number of events and issues including, the leaks at the DFR ion exchange plant, the quality of safety documentation and the potential intakes of radioactive material by a small group of workers on the site (which were subsequently shown to result in extremely low doses).
At the meeting NII stated that key issues for the future would be addressing the current concerns and ensuring that focus on safe delivery is maintained during the forthcoming NDA competition process.
The active commissioning programme of the NaK Disposal Plant was interrupted following leaks of active liquor from the ion exchange clean-up part of the plant. No release of activity to the environment occurred and there was no radiation exposure of personnel. These incidents were investigated and a letter written to DSRL requiring plant improvements prior to the recommencement of the active commissioning programme. These improvements are underway and are being monitored by NII Inspectors.
Inspectors from HSE’s Field Operations Directorate (FOD) visited Dounreay in November to discuss the arrangements for regulating conventional safety on nuclear sites. From February 2009 HSE’s FOD will be responsible for regulating conventional safety across all nuclear sites.
NII agreed to the start of routine operation of the new Import Export Facility (IEF) at Dounreay. The IEF facilitates the transfer of radioactive waste from existing older waste stores on the site to the new store. These operations will allow the emptying of the old stores to commence and facilitate their eventual decommissioning.
In November, NII gave agreement to the transfer of liquid waste from D1234 to D1208.
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 DSRL for complying with those conditions.
The following Licence Instruments (LI’s) were issued during the 4th quarter of 2008.