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 Hinkley Point A Site Stakeholder Group (SSG) and covers activities associated with the regulation of safety at Hinkley Point A 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 SSG meetings and will respond to questions raised there by members of the SSG. 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 Safety Directorate
Health and Safety Executive
Redgrave Court
Merton Road
Bootle
Merseyside
L20 7HS
Four site inspection visits were undertaken this quarter.
6-8 May 2008
19-22 May 2008
11-12 June 2008
26-27 June 2008
Licence Condition planned inspections – On my 6th May visit I undertook inspections of the Licensee’s arrangements under Licence Conditions 2 and 35.
On the 19th May and 11th June visits I made an inspection of the Licensee’s arrangements under Licence Conditions 10, 12 and 24. I inspected various safety significant roles, both for staff and contractors on site. The arrangements and their implementation were found to be adequate and were generally detailed and comprehensive. A number of issues were raised with the site to improve their arrangements.
Licence Condition 23 was inspected on my 26th June visit. The conclusions from this inspection are being developed at the time of writing and will be reported in the next SSG report.
LC2 – Marking of the Site Boundary
LC10 – Training
LC12 – Duly Authorized and Other Suitably Qualified and Experienced Persons
LC23 – Operating Rules
LC24 – Operating Instructions
LC35 - Decommissioning
There have been a number of incidents over recent years relating to inadequate procedural control of maintenance, as highlighted in an earlier inspection I undertook in December 2007. Subsequently, on 3rd April, an incident occurred indicating equipment had failed to be maintained as expected. While this has not affected safety and the equipment is not on the nuclear safety maintenance schedule, it raised concerns again about the site’s ability to control maintenance generally. The site also is concerned and has initiated a comprehensive review of its maintenance arrangements. The project will address both the issues raised by this latest incident and those raised by my earlier inspection.
The Inspectorate has power under the Licence to issue Consents, Approvals and Directions. In addition the Inspectorate uses Licence Instruments to issue Specifications and Agreements under the conditions attached to the Licence.
No formal regulatory activity took place during this quarter. Site specific work by myself has now completed in respect of preparing for re-licensing; corporate work by others in NII is still ongoing.
There were no Licence Instruments issued in the period covered by this report.