Office for Nuclear Regulation
An agency of HSE

British Energy Generation Ltd - Dungeness B Power Station report - Q4 2010

Quarterly report for 1st October 2010 to 31st December 2010

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 Dungeness Site Stakeholder Group (SSG) and covers activities associated with the regulation of safety at Dungeness 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 (HMNII) usually attend SSG meetings and will respond to questions raised there by members of the SSG.  

Inspections

The Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (HMNII) site inspector and other inspectors visited Dungeness B on the following dates during the quarter covered by this report:

  • 19, 20, 25, 26 October
  • 1, 2, 3, 4, 30 November
  • 1, 2 December

On 20 October 2010 there was a team inspection that established what would need to be in place before licence instruments could be issued relating to the introduction of robust fuel.

On 2 and 4 November 2010 there was a joint Environment Agency / HMNII radioactive waste inspection.

On 30 November (pm) and 1 December there was a criticality safety team inspection.

Routine matters

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

  1. The conditions attached by HSE/HMNII 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 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 on site covered:

  • Training;
  • Emergency arrangements;
  • Duly authorised and other suitably qualified and experienced persons;
  • Modification or experiment on existing plant;
  • Operating rules;
  • Operating instructions;
  • Accumulation of radioactive waste; and
  • Leakage and escape of radioactive material and radioactive waste.

Non-routine matters

Licensees are required to have arrangements to respond to non-routine matters and incidents.  HMNII inspectors judge the adequacy of the licensee’s response including actions taken to implement any necessary improvements.As part of their planned inspection, site inspectors examine safety-related incidents that have occurred and the licensee’s response to them.  There were no matters of particular note during the current period.

Regulatory activity

Under health and safety legislation, HMNII site inspectors, and other HSE inspectors, may issue formal documents to ensure compliance with regulatory requirements.  Under nuclear site licence conditions HSE/HMNII 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.

There was one licence instrument issued to the licensee during the quarter:

No enforcement Notices were issued to Dungeness B during the reporting quarter.

Transforming HSE Nuclear Directorate

HSE’s Nuclear Directorate (ND) continues work on a programme of change entitled ‘Transformation’ which is intended to help ND realise its aims to become recognised as a world-class regulator. Over the coming months, ND’s focus will include improving the way it engages with all of its stakeholders, including communities around nuclear licensed sites, to explain the work that it does and the regulatory decisions it makes.

ND will keep stakeholders fully informed of changes and any decisions that are made through channels including:

If you have any comments, questions or suggestions regarding ND’s Transformation programme, please get in touch by emailing ONRenquiries@hse.gsi.gov.uk.

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Updated 17.08.11