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GE Healthcare Ltd, Maynard Centre Site, Cardiff

Quarterly report for 1 July–30 September 2008

 

Contents


Foreword

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 GE Healthcare Ltd Maynards Centre Local Liaison Committee (LLC) and covers activities associated with the regulation of safety at the site.  These reports are distributed quarterly and are available also from the Internet at http://www.hse.gov.uk/nuclear/llc/index.htm.  Site Inspectors of HM Nuclear Installations Inspectorate attend some LLC meetings and will be happy to respond to any questions raised there by members.  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


Inspections

1.    NII inspections at the Maynard Centre were made on 10-11 July 2008, and 4 September 2008.  Inspections are also made at GE Healthcare Ltd’s nuclear licensed sites at Amersham (the Grove Centre) and Harwell.  Where these are relevant to the Maynard Centre they are included below.  For instance, the sites have many arrangements in common for compliance with the conditions attached to their site licences. This quarter the Annual Review of Safety (ARoS) for all GE Healthcare Sites took place at the Grove Centre Amersham on 25 September 2008. Safety and regulatory issues affecting the Maynard Centre were discussed during this meeting.


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Routine matters

2.   Inspections at Site. Inspections are undertaken at site as part of the process for monitoring compliance with:

  1. The conditions attached by HSE/NII to the nuclear site Licence;
  2. the Health and Safety at Work etc Act (HSWA) 1974 and
  3. regulations made under the HSWA for example the Ionising Radiations Regulations 1999 and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999.

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 Site Licence in order to ensure legal compliance. Inspections seek to judge both the adequacy of these arrangements and their implementation. During this period routine inspections of site covered:

  1. Meetings were held on site to discuss liabilities Management and EHS&Q performance on site especially IRRs at the Maynards Centre Cardiff.
  2. Inspections of operations including Tritium and Carbon 14 laboratories, and Waste handling were carried out.

 

3.     Issues arising from these and previous inspections are being pursued.


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Non-routine matters

4. Licensees are required to have arrangements to respond to non-routine matters and events. NII inspectors judge the adequacy of the licensee’s/operators response including actions taken to implement any necessary improvements. There are no items of particular note during the current reporting period

Corporate

5.     The Annual Review of Safety (ARoS) meeting for all GE Healthcare UK sites is held at the Maynards Centre and Grove Centre on alternate years. This year the ARoS was held at the Grove Centre Amersham. Issues associated with the Maynards Centre were discussed at this meeting.

Maynard Centre

6. The revised emergency arrangements for the Maynards Centre are being assessed by the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate.  A new approval will be issued in 2009.

7. Close cooperation continues between the NII and Environment Agency inspectors.


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Regulatory activities

        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 (LIs).1 In addition inspectors may issue enforcement notices to secure improvements to safety. No such documents were issued in this quarter.

         (There is an outstanding Approval request for the Maynard Centre Emergency Plan.)

9.     No other issues have arisen that have required formal regulatory action.