Health and Safety
Executive / Commission
Nuclear
LLC reports
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 Power Stations’ Site Stakeholder Group (SSG) and covers activities associated with the regulation of safety at Dungeness A Nuclear Power Station. These reports are distributed quarterly and are also available on the HSE’s web site 1. Site Inspectors of HM Nuclear Installations Inspectorate attend SSG meetings and will respond to questions raised there by members of the SSG. Any other person wishing to inquire about matters covered by this report may contact the HSE’s Nuclear Directorate on 0151-951-3484/3290.
Nuclear Directorate1 http://www.hse.gov.uk/nuclear/index.htm
1. The Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII) Site Inspector and 3 other inspectors visited Dungeness A during the quarter. Inspections were made on the following days: -
9 – 12 January 2006
14 – 16 February 2006
7 – 9 March 2006
2. Compliance Inspections: Routine inspections are undertaken for the purpose of monitoring compliance with (i) the conditions attached by HSE to the nuclear site licences, and (ii) other relevant provisions of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, including the Ionising Radiations Regulations 1999. In this period routine inspections covered:
3. Annual Review of Safety: NII and representatives from the Site participated in the Annual Review meeting covering the year up to November 2005. The Site’s nuclear safety performance overall remains adequate. Commendably the Site’s industrial safety record is outstanding and probably amongst the best in the UK.
4. Periodic Safety Review (PSR): A requirement of the site licence is that Site performs a major review of safety every 10 years. This exercise requires a review of the existing safety case, a comparison of the plant with modern standards and identification of ageing related effects that may affect safety. The NII then assess the review and decide on future operation of the station based on its findings. Clearly this is an unusual review with the imminent cessation of generation, followed by 2-3 years of defuelling and then depending on acceptance of the NDA’s strategy, accelerated decommissioning. NII has reviewed the PSR reports for these phases and confirmed in a letter to Site in March 2006 its aceptance of the PSR.
5. Re-demonstration Emergency Exercise. During the annual demonstration emergency exercise in September 2005 NII identified the need for the Site to provide a further demonstration particularly in the area of casualty rescue and handling. The NII witnessed a demonstration in January 06 and judged casualty rescue and handling and other aspects of the exercise to be adequate.
6. Environmental Impact Assessment for Decommissioning Regulations (EIADR99): The HSE is the competent authority for the above regulations. These regulations implement the requirement of an EC Directive for an environmental impact assessment (EIA) for decommissioning nuclear power reactors. Before Dungeness A can commence decommissioning it requires HSE’s Consent under these regulations.
In September 2005 ME plc submitted its Environmental Statement (ES) as required by the Regulations. A 3 month period of public consultation on the ES ended on 24 February. HSE has received responses from 21 interested parties and is collating and analysing these as part of its review and assessment of the ES. Discussions with the licensee will follow before taking a decision on granting the Consent. This decision is expected in the summer of 2006.
7. As part of its regulation under nuclear site licences NII issues regulatory documents, collectively termed Licence Instruments (LI). 2 one was issued for Dungeness A during the quarter:-
LI No 507 – Approval of minor amendments to the Site’s Emergency Plan (Issued on 14 March 2006).
8. Under Health and Safety legislation the Site Inspector, or other HSE Inspectors, may issue formal notices to secure improvements to safety. No such notices were issued during the reporting period.
2 Licence Instruments are formal documents issued under the licence conditions and arrangements, including Consents, Approvals, Directions, Specifications, Notifications, Agreements and Acknowledgements