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 Hartlepool Power Station Local Community Liaison Council and covers activities associated with the regulation of safety at Hartlepool 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 LCLC meetings and will respond to questions raised there by members of the LCLC. Any other person wishing to enquire about matters covered by this report may contact the HSE’s Nuclear Directorate on 0151-951-3484.
Nuclear Safety Directorate
Health and Safety Executive
Redgrave Court
Merton Road
Bootle
Merseyside
L20 7HS
The Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII) Site Inspector made inspections at Hartlepool Power Station on the following dates during the quarter:
On the 1st October a new NII Site Inspector was appointed to Hartlepool. There was a hand over visit between the out going and incoming NII Site Inspectors on 14 – 17 October. On 15 October Hartlepool hosted the quarterly Level 2 meeting between the NII and British Energy senior management teams and carried out joint inspection of the plant. On 3 December the Site Inspector, Project Inspector and Superintending Inspector attended the start up meeting in preparation for Reactor 1 returning to power following the modifications to the Boiler Closure Units. In addition, a number of specialist inspectors visited the site and made inspections associated with the on going assessment of the modifications to the Boiler Closure Units.
Inspections at Site: 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 Hartlepool Power Station covered:
In general the arrangements made and implemented by the station 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.
Both reactors at Hartlepool remain shut down whilst modifications are completed to the Boiler Closure Units (reported in earlier LCLC reports). This major project is close to completion and the final testing and commissioning is on going. The safety case supporting the return to service is with the NII for assessment and the NII will not give agreement to restart the reactors until our assessment reaches a satisfactory conclusion and we are satisfied that the modifications will ensure safe operation into the future.
During this prolonged double reactor outage the Licensee has taken the opportunity to undertake a number of other significant safety and operational improvements including: reducing the impact of a major fire following a turbine disintegration event; improving the protection of safety related plant from the effects of a hot gas or steam following hot gas or steam release event; and replacement of the original buried cast iron cooling water system with an above ground steel system that should ensure reliable operation and improve the capability to inspect the system.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. Of particular note during the period was the following event:
The sub pile cap shield wall around each reactor is supported by eight pairs of steel bracing buttresses which provide integrity to the shield wall in the event of a release of hot gas from the reactor. Inspections in October 2008 identified that some of the supporting buttresses were not fitted. Investigations concluded that these had been missing during the last period of power operation. This event was rated 1 on the INES scale (a plant anomaly). The buttresses have been returned to operable status. No further regulatory action is being considered.
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.
No Licence Instruments were issued to the licensee during the quarter.
No enforcement notices were issued during the quarter.