Hunterston B Nuclear Power Station - report Q1 2009

1 January 2009 to 31 March 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 Hunterston Site Stakeholder Group (SSG) and covers activities associated with the regulation of safety at Hunterston B Nuclear Power Station. These reports are distributed quarterly and are also available on the HSE's website. Site Inspectors of HM Nuclear Installations Inspectorate usually attend SSG meetings and will respond to questions raised there by members of the SSG.

Inspections

The NII site inspector visited site on the following occasions during the quarter:

13 to 16, 23 and 24 January;
10 to 12 February; and
4 and 5, plus 17 to 19 March 2009.

During the quarter two superintending and three inspectors visited site so as to attend a formal review meeting and to tour the Hunterston B fuel route. They gave the site management team feedback that will add to efforts to raise safety standards at the power station.

Routine matters

Routine inspection

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 action on the site in relation to incidents, operations, maintenance, projects, modifications, safety case changes and other matters which may affect safety. The licensees 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 implementations. In this period routine inspections covered:

Emergency arrangements
Incidents on the site
Modifications on existing plant
Operating rules
Operating instructions
Control of organisational change
Management of projects on site
The fuel route
The regulatory schedule

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.

Formal regulatory meetings

During this quarter there was one formal meeting; it was a Review Meeting that took place on 15th January 2009. The site's management team and staff presented details of a successful twelve months; power had been raised, production targets exceeded, a year without a ‘loss time accident', standards raised in the Operations Department and so forth. NII supported the positive changes that had occurred since the new Station Director had taken charge; however, further improvements are anticipated by the regulator.

Site Stakeholder Group (SSG) meeting

The Hunterston B NII inspector attended the Hunterston SSG meeting held at the Seamill Hydro Hotel on 19 March 2009. After a brief presentation, with reference to HSE/NII Quarterly Reports, questions raised were answered.

Other regulatory meetings

A meeting to discuss the licensee's corrective action programme to address 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 compliance with the safety case and progress with the planned repair programme.

A meeting was held on 3rd 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.

A meeting took place on 24th March 2009 so as to discuss the results of reactor core graphite inspections obtained by various tools so as to reach agreement between licensee and regulator on which tools may be used in future planned outages.

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 this period included:

The station has been putting considerable effort into improvement of emergency arrangements and consequently NII observed a demonstration of the Nuclear Industry Airwaves System and a proposed new organizational arrangement during a ‘shift exercise' on 16th January 2009. A considerable training burden is associated with these changes but the hope is that a much improved emergency response will be seen at the next formal ‘NII demonstration' exercise, planned for May 2009.

During re-commissioning/testing of a large pump on 5th March 2009 there was a problem which resulted in sparks and smoke. A fire muster very quickly established the safety of all personnel and the local fire brigade arrived to confirm that there was no fire. An investigation into the incident did however identify a number of shortcomings that caused the event and these are now being addressed by the licensee so as to avoid a re-occurrence.

A fire occurred during roofing work on 20th March 2009; this event is currently being investigated by NII.

Responsibility for the regulation of industrial safety matters (excluding fire) at Hunterston B was transferred to the HSE Field Operation Directorate from 9th February 2009.

Regulatory activity

Under Health and Safety legislation the Site Inspector, 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 of require 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 Licence Instruments or Enforcement Notices were issued during the period.

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) [commonly called NII] 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.