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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 GE Healthcare Ltd Maynard 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 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.

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

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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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Inspections

An NII inspection took place on 14-15 April 2009 and the LLC meeting on 19 June 2009 was attended. 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. Details are noted below.

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Routine matters

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 regulations made under the HSWA for example the Ionising Radiations Regulations 1999, and
3. 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 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 the Maynard Centre and discussions covered:

• 14 - 15 April 2009. The ND Site inspector discussed a range of licensing issues that need to be considered to ensure the remaining Nuclear Licensed Site remains robust in resources, arrangements and compliance. E.g. Level and type of continued operations, Asset maintenance, staffing, LC 11 / Emergency Arrangements, OCNS (Security), Ionising Radiations Regulations.
• 19 June 2009. The ND site inspector attended the Maynard Centre LLC meeting. Notes of this meeting are prepared by GE Healthcare.

Issues arising from these and previous inspections are being pursued.

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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/operators response including actions taken to implement any necessary improvements. There are no items of particular note during the current reporting period

Corporate

No corporate issues were identified during this period.

Maynard Centre

The site inspection visit on 14 - 15 April 2009 included a meeting to address the regulatory implications of the recently announced business closure. In particular:

• We held Discussions on site to identify issues associated with Delicensing and the proposed variation to the Nuclear Licensed Site boundary.
• We have set up a contract with HPA (Health Protection Agency), to provide independent verification of the sampling, monitoring and analysis undertaken by GEH. The HPA 'sample' of the GEH monitoring is required to provide NII with confidence in the results obtained and the conclusions drawn.
• We agreed to hold quarterly contact meetings at the Maynard centre with GEH, together with HPA and EA.
• A 'Timeline' and a 'Memorandum of Regulatory Assumptions and Agreements' document for the project will be drafted by GE Healthcare.

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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). In addition inspectors may issue enforcement notices to secure improvements to safety.

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

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