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 Sizewell A and B Stakeholders Group (SSG) and covers activities associated with the regulation of safety at Sizewell B. 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
The Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII) Site Inspector made inspections at Sizewell B on the following dates during the quarter:
7 – 10 January 2008
21 – 23 January 2008
4 – 7 February 2008
25 – 28 March 2008
On 5 – 7 February the site inspector and two specialist inspectors carried out an inspection of the internal hazards and general fire precautions. This was followed by a letter seeking improvements to the maintenance of the safety related fire dampers. On the 27 – 28 March the site inspector and specialist inspector carried out inspection of the programme of In Service Inspections carried out by the Licensee on the Reactor Coolant System.
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 station covered:
Examination, maintenance, inspection and testing – in particular the In Service Inspection of the reactor coolant system and the licensee’s compliance with the American Society of Mechanical Engineers XI code (ASME XI) and the maintenance of Safety related fire barriers and dampers.
Quality assurance – Completed a joint audit with the stations QA engineer on the refurbishment project for the fuel handling machine.
Emergency preparedness – Attended the Emergency Exercise Review meeting to plan the next demonstration Emergency Exercise and to monitor the completion of improvement actions following last years exercise
Training and experience of Contract staff - an inspection of the arrangements for ensuring that contract staff are suitably qualified and experienced to carry out specific tasks during the forthcoming outage.
Management of operations including control and supervision during normal operations and during the reactor refuelling outage.
Technical Specification compliance during normal operations and during the refuelling outage and compliance with station operating instructions during the off-loading and reloading of the core.
Control and supervision of operations during the refuelling outage including contract staff
Modifications to plant, equipment and safety cases and arrangements for commissioning of major projects
Radiological protection plans for the refuelling outage and inspections during the outage.
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.
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. There was one event rated as 1 on the INES scale. The cooling water flows to a high head safety injection pump and a containment spray pump were identified as being low and the pumps declared unavailable. The flows were restored to normal and the pumps returned to service. Improved arrangements for monitoring these flows have been put in place. The final outcome of the company’s investigation is awaited.
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.
One Licence Instrument was issued to the licensee during the quarter: -
LI 513 Specified that the Licensee shall provide the HSE with certain records of radioactive material subject to the High-Activity Sealed Radioactive Sources and Orphan Sources Regulations 2005
No enforcement notices were issued during the quarter.