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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 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.

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Inspections

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

Hinkley Point B

• 1, 2, 13, 14, 20, 21, 22 July 2009
• 17, 18, 19, 20, 21 August 2009
• 17, 18 September 2009

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

• 1, 2, 13, 14 July 2009
• 18 August 2009
• 17 September 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 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.
• Emergency preparedness.
• Modifications to plant, equipment and safety cases.
• Examination, Maintenance, Inspection and Testing.
• Radiological protection.
• Incidents on the site.
• 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 review of Hinkley Point B emergency arrangements was held on 2nd July 2009. This meeting was held jointly with representatives having an interest in site security. Satisfactory progress is being made with the continuous improvement of arrangements at Hinkley Point B for emergency preparedness.

Reactor 3 was shutdown during the reporting period for the purposes of routine periodic examination, inspection, maintenance and testing of plant and equipment. The Reactor 3 start-up meeting was held on 22nd July 2009 at which a number of required actions were identified. All required actions were completed prior to the start-up of Reactor 3 on 28th August 2009.

An inspection was carried out on the topic of fire damper maintenance. This was a follow-up to a previous inspection that identified areas where improvements were required to be made by the licensee. The follow-up inspection noted that satisfactory progress had been made with the implementation of corrective actions.

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

A previous quarterly report noted that a joint investigation was ongoing with the Environment Agency into degradation of the fuel pond wet sump, which had developed a leak. NII specialists have now completed an assessment of the structural design and condition of the fuel pond wet sump. They have concluded that a small amount of pond water did leak into the AETP area through the north wall, but that there was no leakage out of the facility to ground.

An incident occurred at Hinkley Point B Nuclear Power Station on 16 July 2009, when a quantity of radioactive dust was released from the Reactor 3 gas circuit into the gas bypass plant area. As a result 8 workers became contaminated. The individuals concerned were independently assessed to determine the level of exposure to ionising radiations.  The maximum level of exposure was estimated as 0.059mSv, which may be compared with the annual dose limit of 20mSv permitted for a radiation worker. No release of activity to the environment was reported. NII has written to the licensee requiring improvements to the arrangements for the control and supervision of work, particularly where contractors are involved during periodic shutdown.  NII will monitor the situation and follow-up inspections are planned.

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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.
Three LIs were issued to the licensee during the quarter:

• LI526 was issued approving changes to the Maintenance Schedule Preface.
• LI527 was issued giving consent to start up Reactor 3.
• LI528 was issued giving agreement to modification of the DC12A neutron flux detectors.

No enforcement notices were issued during the quarter.

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Changes to HSE's Nuclear Directorate

Government has decided to restructure HSE’s Nuclear Directorate (ND) to improve further its organisational framework for the sustained delivery of robust, effective and efficient nuclear regulation in the UK. This will place the ND in a better position to meet the anticipated future challenges.

Several factors have come together to make now the right time to restructure ND and create a new independent Nuclear Statutory Corporation (NSC) under the auspices of HSE.  These include changing requirements of ageing nuclear power reactors; on-going decommissioning and active management of legacy nuclear plants; assessment of potential new nuclear power stations; growing competitiveness in the global nuclear skills market and the need for improved regulation driven by increased expectation from society for better accountability, transparency and efficiency from public sector bodies.

In addition to this was the government-initiated exercise conducted by Dr Tim Stone which examined the UK’s nuclear safety regulatory regime and identified a number of recommendations for improvement, including the need for structural changes to ND.  The Summary Recommendations and the Government’s response were published at the end of January 2009 (available on HSE’s website).

HSE is working on the legislative measure that needs to be in place to create the NSC. These changes will be made through a Legislative Reform Order (LRO) under the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Act 2006.

Informing this, a joint consultation exercise was carried out by DECC and DWP that sought views on the proposed changes. The 12-week consultation period ended on 22 September 2009 and submissions are currently being assessed.

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.

These reforms are designed to lead to improvements in the transparency, accountability and consistency of regulatory activities, thereby seeking to enhance the confidence of all stakeholders, both duty holders and those with wider interests.  The reforms would be expected to offer clear and direct benefits to industry and workers as well as society as a whole, which would benefit from efficient and continued robust and effective regulation of nuclear hazards.

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 when permitted by Parliamentary approval as a statutory corporation from spring 2010.  This programme has identified key areas of action and deliverables, which will sit alongside the current business improvement programme and will ensure that operational business improvements are delivered alongside the set up of the new corporation.

It is important to recognise that this programme does not in anyway compromise the current business activity that is delivered through ND and strives to improve operational effectiveness and stakeholder engagement.

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