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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 Heysham Power Stations’ Local Community Liaison Council (LCLC) and covers activities associated with the regulation of safety at Heysham 1 & 2 Nuclear Power Stations.  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 (HSE Nuclear Directorate) attend LCLC meetings and will respond to questions raised there by members of the LCLC. 

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Inspections

The Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (part of HSE Nuclear Directorate ) site inspectors and other inspectors made inspections at Heysham on the following dates during the quarter:

Heysham 1

October 2010 - 11,12
November 2010 - 11,12,16,17
December 2010 - 13

Heysham 2

October 2010 - 7, 14
November 2010 - 3, 4, 30
December 2010 - 1, 6, 15, 16

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Routine matters

Inspections at Site:  Inspections are undertaken at site as part of the process for monitoring compliance with:
(i) the conditions attached by HSE/HSE Nuclear Directorate  to the nuclear site licence;
(ii) the Health and Safety at Work etc Act (HSWA) 1974; and
(iii) 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 licensee is 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:

• Examination, Maintenance, Inspection and Testing
• Incidents on the Site
• Emergency Arrangements
• Management of Operations including Control and Supervision, Training and Duly Authorised and Other Suitably Qualified and Experienced Persons
• Modification on Existing Plant
• Operating Rules
• Operating Instructions
• Operational Records
• Periodic Shutdown

 

In general, the arrangements made and implemented by the stations in response to safety requirements were deemed to be adequate in the areas inspected. However, where improvements were considered necessary, HSE Nuclear Directorate has written to the licensee seeking satisfactory commitments to address issues raised.  The site inspectors will monitor progress during future visits. 

General issues

Heysham 1

During the period the site inspector, Mr Rowland Cook, was unable to attend site.  Cover was therefore provided by Mr Len Bruce prior to the appointment of Mr Peter Rothwell as the new site inspector in December 2010.

With respect to emergency arrangements, on the 17 November 2010 a team from the NII witnessed the Heysham 1 annual Level 1 demonstration emergency exercise and concluded that the station provided an adequate demonstration of their emergency arrangements.

HSE’s Nuclear Directorate carried out its routine review of the station’s safety performance covering the period 01 May 2009 to 30 September 2010 (‘Annual Review of Safety’).  HSE’s Nuclear Directorate considers that good progress has been made during the review period in a number of areas.  For example, the installation and commissioning of new equipment (Vessel Over-pressurisation Protection Equipment and the Quadrant Feed Trip System) has provided additional protection against leaks from boiler tubes.

There have also been significant developments in the understanding of the reasons for increases in the temperature of the hot box dome.  The hot box dome provides a barrier between coolant gas at reactor inlet temperature and that at reactor outlet temperature and is subject to a temperature limit.  In order to stay within this limit Reactor 2 has been operating at reduced power.  Improved understanding has enabled plant modifications which have led to a reduction in hot box dome temperature. In due course this may enable operating power to be raised on Reactor 2. 

However, HSE’s Nuclear Directorate considers that there is scope for improvement in some areas, for example, leadership, accountability, defect management and housekeeping at Heysham 1.  Following discussions, the regulator’s view has been accepted by the licensee and consequently a number of initiatives have been put in place.  HSE’s Nuclear Directorate will monitor progress in these areas.

Heysham 2

The licensee adequately demonstrated its emergency arrangements process for search and rescue of people, following a postulated accident, to HSE Nuclear Directorate.  This element had been identified as a shortcoming from the overall Heysham 2 emergency exercise demonstration in 2010.
HSE Nuclear Directorate carried out a criticality safety inspection at Heysham 2 as part of its ongoing work to look at criticality safety throughout British Energy Generation Ltd.  The HSE Nuclear Directorate inspection was generally positive, with a few areas identified for further improvement, including resilience, succession planning and enhancements in staff training and safety documentation, on which HSE Nuclear Directorate is seeking commitments from the licensee.

HSE Nuclear Directorate and the licensee have agreed priorities for improvements to nuclear safety at Heysham 2.  Overall, there is reasonable progress on these areas.  Over this period:

• HSE Nuclear Directorate has closed a previously-raised issue relating to disposal of radioactive desiccant wastes, on which it is satisfied that the licensee has made considerable progress.  
• An existing, ongoing issue relates to improving conditions for interim storage of desiccant wastes pending disposal and HSE Nuclear Directorate continues to monitor the licensee’s progress in addressing it.

Station periodic shutdowns

To continue to operate safely and reliably, reactors require examination, inspection, maintenance and testing and implementation of plant modifications. Some of these activities can take place when a reactor is generating electricity.  However, many of them require a reactor to be shut down and be at relatively low temperatures.  To enable such activities to take place, each of the reactors at Heysham 1 and Heysham 2 undertakes a ‘periodic shutdown’ every three years.  Following such a periodic shutdown, the licensee cannot re-start a reactor without the permission of HSE Nuclear Directorate.

Heysham 1: Periodic shutdown of Reactor 1

Heysham Reactor 1 successfully completed its statutory outage and the NII gave Consent to restart the reactor on 27 August 2010.  However, the reactor was not returned to service until the 1 October 2010 for a number of reasons, including the hot box dome modification discussed above. 

Heysham 2: Periodic shutdown of Reactor 8

Reactor 8 at Heysham 2 successfully completed its periodic shutdown, which had been extended by several months due to an issue identified by the licensee during the periodic shutdown. 

• This issue related to a steel irradiation sample container and associated reactor plug unit, located at the periphery of the reactor (known as an In-service Inspection plug) which could not be removed.  Inspection revealed that the tube had become distorted, probably as a result of misapplication of gas pressure.  The licensee carried out additional work to demonstrate the integrity of Reactor 8 to support a case for restarting the reactor and operation at power and to assess implications for the other reactor at Heysham 2 and the two reactors at its sister station, Torness.  NII gave Consent to start up Reactor 8 on 16 November 2010.

HSE Nuclear Directorate will conduct further assessments of work being undertaken by the licensee in developing and implementing a longer term strategy to repair or further secure the integrity of the inspection tube and the steel irradiation sample container and boiler inspection access plug unit

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Non-routine matters

Licensees are required to have arrangements to respond to non-routine matters and events.  HSE Nuclear Directorate inspectors judge the adequacy of the licensee’s response including actions taken to implement any necessary improvements.  Matters of particular note considered during the period include the following:

Heysham 1

On 9 July an operator tragically fell to his death in the reactor building. The Police and the HSE have carried out an investigation into the circumstances surrounding this event.  The Licensee has also carried out its own investigation. The HSE’s investigation has not finally concluded and awaits the outcome of the coroner’s inquest. A further report will be made to the LCLC when the investigation is complete.

Heysham 2

HSE Nuclear Directorate investigated an event involving the licensee operating the plant outside one of its ‘operating rules’ (conditions set out by the licensee to ensure nuclear safety) covering reactor gas flow limits for a period of time, during the return to service of Reactor 8 following its periodic shutdown.  Although, on this occasion, the consequence of the event was not significant in terms of nuclear safety, HSE Nuclear Directorate considers operation of plant outside an operating rule to be a serious event.  HSE Nuclear Directorate has written to the licensee seeking commitments on measures to be put in place to prevent recurrence.

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Regulatory activity

Under Health and Safety legislation HSE Nuclear Directorate Site Inspectors, and other HSE Inspectors, may issue formal documents to ensure compliance with regulatory requirements.  Under nuclear site licence conditions, HSE Nuclear Directorate 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 2 Licence Instruments issued this quarter:

Licence Instrument No 559 was issued giving Consent for the licensee to restart Heysham 2 Reactor 8 after its periodic shutdown.  This was delayed by the inspection plug issue described above (under Station Periodic Shutdowns).

Licence Instrument No 560 gave HSE Nuclear Directorate Agreement to replace the existing neutron flux Log/Lin (High Log) trip group equipment with new equipment on the Heysham 1 reactors.

Information about regulatory decisions, including licence instruments, is available in the Project Assessment Reports section of the HSE Nuclear Directorate website.

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For information

Transforming our business

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:

• The HSE Nuclear eBulletin;
• Site stakeholder group and local liaison committee reports;
• ND's newly re-launched website

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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