Hinkley Point B Power Station report - Q1 2009

Site Stakeholder Group Quarterly Report for 1/1/2009 to 31/3/2009

Inspections
Routine Matters
Non Routine Matters
Regulatory Activity

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 Site Stakeholder Group and covers activities associated with the regulation of safety at Hinkley Point B 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 Site Stakeholder Group meetings and will respond to questions raised there by members of the Site Stakeholder Group.

Inspections

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

Hinkley Point B

19, 20, 22 January 2009
9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 24, 25, 26, 27 February 2009
16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 30 March 2009

Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII) Specialist Inspectors also made visits to site during the quarter on the following dates:

19, 20, 21 January 2009
10, 11, 12 February 2009

Routine matters

Inspections are undertaken at site as part of the process for monitoring compliance with:

the conditions attached by HSE/NII to the nuclear site licence;
the Health and Safety at Work etc Act (HSWA) 1974 and
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 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 Hinkley Point B covered:

Management of operations including control and supervision
Examination, Maintenance, Inspection and Testing
Modifications to plant, equipment and safety cases
Staff training, qualifications and experience
Emergency preparedness
Incidents on the site
Organisational Changes
Radioactive waste management

In general the arrangements made and implemented by the site 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.

In addition to the above, the following routine matters were also covered:

The annual site emergency exercise was held on 25th February 2009. The NII inspection team concluded that the exercise provided an adequate demonstration of the arrangements on site for dealing with an emergency.
A meeting to discuss the scope of work to be undertaken during 2009 statutory shutdown of Reactor 3 was attended by NII on 12th February 2009. Agreement of the work programme was reached, with the exception of the reactor core inspection programme. Issues concerning the performance of new in-core graphite inspection equipment are currently undergoing assessment by NII.
The effectiveness of the licensee's programme of corrective actions to improve the provision, inspection and maintenance of fire dampers was inspected. A number of necessary improvements were identified and a further NII inspection is scheduled for July 2009.
A meeting to discuss the licensee's corrective action programme to address the failure of gas circulator motor rotor bars was held on 18th February 2009. NII is content with the current situation and will continue to monitor compiance with the safety case and progress with the planned repair programme.
A meeting was held on 4th March 2009 to discuss proposals to enhance the reactor shutdown protection systems. The licensee presented plans to significantly enhance the capability of the nitrogen injection system used to ensure long-term hold-down of the reactor, following a shutdown. A further meeting is planned in May 2009 and NII will continue to monitor developments.

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. Matters of particular note considered during the current period include the following.

A joint visit was made with the Environment Agency on 30th March 2009 to investigate degradation which had been observed in the fuel pond wet sump. A programme of work to investigate the matter and clarify the safety case was agreed with the licensee.

Responsibility for the regulation of industrial safety matters at Hinkley Point B was passed to the HSE Field Operation Directorate from February 9th 2009.

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 LIs were issued to the licensee during the quarter.

No enforcement notices were issued during the quarter.

Changes to HSE's Nuclear Directorate

In early 2008 the Government initiated a review into the UK's nuclear safety regulatory regime, led by Dr Tim Stone. The recommendations and the UK's Government response were published at the end of January 2009. One of the major recommendations is the decision by Government to establish the Health and Safety Executive's (HSE) Nuclear Directorate (ND) as a Statutory Corporation under the auspices of the HSE.

The creation of this new, autonomous body, (which will continue to incorporate the Office for Civil Nuclear Security and the UK Safeguards Office) will facilitate a more sustainable approach to regulating nuclear safety and security within a rapidly changing global nuclear environment and recruitment of high calibre of staff within a hardening market place for highly specialised skills.

The restructuring 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.

Enabling work continues for the initial scoping and planning of the work-streams and programmes necessary for the Statutory Corporation to come into being from April 2010. This project has required the temporary enhancement of ND's senior management capability in order to deliver existing regulatory work and to create the Statutory Corporation.