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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 Chapelcross Site Stakeholder Group (SSG) and covers activities associated with the regulation of safety at Chapelcross. These reports are distributed quarterly and are also available on the HSE’s website at http://www.hse.gov.uk/nuclear/llc/index.htm . Site Inspectors of HM Nuclear Installations Inspectorate normally attend SSG meetings and will be happy to respond to any questions raised there or subsequently by members of the SSG.

Nuclear Directorate
Health and Safety Executive
Redgrave Court
Merton Road
Bootle
Merseyside
L20 7HS

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Inspections

The Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII) Site Inspector made inspections on the following dates during the quarter:

• 16-17 April 2009
• 18-20 May 2009

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Routine matters

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 licensee is 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 Chapelcross covered:

• Emergency preparedness.
• Decommissioning.
• Periodic safety review.

In general the arrangements made and implemented 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 action will be taken to ensure that appropriate remedial measures are implemented by reasonably practicable timescales.

During the evening of 19 May 2009, a team from NII witnessed Level 1 Emergency Exercise Karen, which demonstrated the site’s ability to cope with an emergency outside normal working hours. The site performed well and NII concluded that the exercise provided an adequate demonstration of its emergency response.

The site submitted its Periodic Safety Review to NII towards the end of 2008. During the reporting period there has been a significant amount of PSR assessment activity, led by an NII project officer. Assessors covering civil engineering and hazards, control and instrumentation, electrical engineering, management of safety, mechanical engineering, radioactive waste and structural integrity visited the site as part of their PSR assessments. NII still intends to reach its decision on the PSR by end October 2009.

 

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Non-routine matters

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 were no items of particular note during the reporting period.

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Regulatory activity

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 LI were issued to the licensee during the quarter:
• No enforcement notices were issued during the reporting period:

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Proposed changes to the Status of HSE’s Nuclear Directorate

The Government has put forward proposals to change the status of HSE's Nuclear Directorate (ND) to that of a Statutory Corporation under the auspices of the HSE. This is intended to enable ND, as the independent nuclear regulator of safety and security, to better meet the challenges of a changing nuclear industry over the coming years. The changes are to provide the nuclear regulator with greater flexibility and increase the accountability, transparency and openness of nuclear regulation. The Government are proposing that the statutory changes needed to bring this about will be made by a Legislative Reform Order (LRO).

This builds on the outcome of the Government initiated review of the UK's nuclear regulatory regime, led by Dr Tim Stone. The Summary Recommendations and the Government’s response were published at the end of January 2009 (available on HSE’s website: http://www.hse.gov.uk/nuclear/stonereview.htm ).

A public consultation, run by DWP and DECC, on the LRO was launched on June 30th for a 12 week period, which gives the opportunity for stakeholders to comment on the proposals.

For access to this consultation please see http://decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/consultations/hse_restruct/hse_restruct.aspx

These new arrangements will not change the substance or standards of regulation or compromise the independence of the nuclear regulatory body, and will not affect the decisions it takes or the international obligations the Government requires it to meet.

Subject to the outcome of the consultation and Parliamentary approval, and if the Parliamentary timetable permits, the aim is to bring the new body into being during 2010.

An internal change programme is currently operating within ND to ensure that the ND is ready to operate as a statutory corporation from spring 2010.

This programme does not in anyway compromise the current regulatory activities of ND.

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