Office for Nuclear Regulation
An agency of HSE

British Energy Generation Ltd Hartlepool Power Station report - Q4 2010

Local community liaison council quarterly report for 1 October to 31 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 Hartlepool Power Station Local Community Liaison Council and covers activities associated with the regulation of safety at Hartlepool Power Station.  These reports are distributed quarterly and are also available on the HSE’s website at http://www.hse.gov.uk/nuclear/llc/index.htm. Site inspectors of HM Nuclear Installations Inspectorate usually attend LCLC meetings and will respond to questions raised there by members of the LCLC.

Inspections

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

  • 5 – 7 October 2010
  • 8 – 10 November 2010
  • 8 – 9 December 2010
On 9 and 10 November there was a team inspection of the Company’s progress in managing concealed systems on site.  On 8 and 9 December two NII inspectors witnessed part of the Company’s internal regulators inspecting progress with the fuel route improvement program.

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
  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 Hartlepool Power Station covered:

  • Training and Suitably Qualified and Experienced Persons
  • Modifications to plant, equipment and safety cases
  • Control and supervision of staff
  • Compliance with Technical Specifications
  • Examination, maintenance, inspection and testing
  • Inspection of improvements to the fuel route operations and associated plant areas
  • Inspection of the management of concealed systems on site

In general the arrangements made and implemented by the station 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.

A site visit to witness the annual demonstration emergency exercise was cancelled due to severe weather.  However the station went ahead as planned with the exercise. Following discussions with the NII the company’s emergency planning group and internal regulators carried out an independent assessment of the station performance on behalf of the NII. The independent assessment team have provided the station with a number of areas for improvement and these will be monitored by the NII. The site inspector will witness a shift exercise in the near future to assess the improvements.

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. There was one reportable event during the period. This involved the inadvertent isolation of the reactor gas filling route for a short period and breached the Technical Specifications. The Company has carried out a thorough investigation into this event  and this has been shared with the NII. The NII is satisfied that proper corrective actions have been identified and acted on to prevent similar events occurring. No further regulatory action is being considered.

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.

There were no Licence Instruments issued this quarter

Transforming HSE's Nuclear Directorate (ND)

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