Office for Nuclear Regulation
An agency of HSE

Trawsfynydd site stakeholder group report - Q4 2010

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 Trawsfynydd Site Stakeholder Group (SSG) and covers activities associated with the regulation of safety at Trawsfynydd.  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 normally attend SSG meetings and will be happy to respond to any questions raised there or subsequently by members of the SSG. 

Inspections

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

  • 4–5 October
  • 6–8 December

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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 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 of Trawsfynydd covered:

  • Modifications to existing plants and processes
  • Examination, inspection, maintenance and testing
  • Training

In general the arrangements made and implemented by the licensee 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.

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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. There were no items of particular note during the reporting period.

ILW Store

The licensee has been commissioning the new store for packages of intermediate level radioactive waste. During this quarter it completed the commissioning in respect of one type of package. The site inspector met the licensee discuss its report of that commissioning, and its implications for future operations. As a result, NII was content that the store will now routinely receive further packages of this type.

Emergency preparedness

the licensee is required to make arrangements for dealing with any accident or emergency arising on the site. At Trawsfynydd NII observes an exercise of these arrangements at least annually. A meeting was held to review the performance at the 2010 exercises, discuss progress on the actions that arose from them, and plan for the 2011 exercise. The meeting was held jointly with Chapelcross and Hunterston A, to allow lessons to be shared across the licensee’s three sites that are in the process of defuelling and decommissioning.

Site Stakeholder Group

The site inspector attended the six-monthly meeting of the Site Stakeholder Group, where he made a short presentation.

Safety representatives

The site inspector held a periodic meeting with Safety Representatives, to support their function of representing employees and receiving information on matters affecting their health, safety, and welfare at work.

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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 require 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.

No Licence Instruments or enforcement notices were issued during the quarter.

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:

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