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 Hartlepool Local Community Liaison Council and covers activities associated with the regulation of safety at Hartlepool Power Station. These reports are distributed quarterly. Site Inspectors of HM Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (part of the Health and Safety Executive's Nuclear Directorate) attend LCLC meetings and will be happy to respond there to questions raised by members of the LCLC. Any person wishing to inquire about matters covered by this report should contact the HSE, Nuclear Directorate on 0151-951-3484/3290.
This report will be placed on the HSE website at http://www.hse.gov.uk/nuclear/llc/index.htm under “Local Liaison Committee Reports”.
The site inspector visited the site on seven occasions during the quarter:
In addition specialist NII inspectors visited the site during the period to assist with inspections related to their areas of expertise – electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, fuel performance and fire safety.
As part of their routine work NII inspectors inspect for compliance against the requirements of the Station’s Nuclear Site Licence, the Health and Safety at Work Act and other relevant safety legislation. They monitor events, plant operations, projects, modifications and safety case changes and any other matters which are important to safety. Planned inspections during the quarter included event reporting (LC7), emergency planning (LC11), modification to existing plant (LC22), control of operations (LC23), control and supervision of operations (LC26), and maintenance, inspection and testing (LC28).
In general the station’s arrangements were found to be satisfactory. In those areas where improvements were identified, satisfactory commitments to address the issues were made by the station. Routine aspects of particular significance are summarised below:
Exercise Sunrise was held in May, as a result of a need to demonstrate improved arrangements for command and control in the emergency control centre (ECC) identified during exercises ZooZoo in 2005 and Pheonix in 2006. Following improved training and some changes to arrangements in the ECC, the station provided an adequate demonstration of command and control during exercise Sunrise.
As part of their planned inspection site inspectors examine safety related events that have occurred and the Licensee’s response to them. Generally the Licensee’s internal system for following up events is robust and the appropriate actions are implemented. More noteworthy events during the period include the following:
At Hartlepool, control rods are exchanged when the reactor is at power with the reactor vessel pressurised. During the manoeuvre, a shield plug is inserted in the top of the standpipe to maintain the pressure boundary while the machine moves away to exchange the rods. After an event in March when the machine had difficulty engaging with a shield plug after it had been inserted, a similar event occurred in April which required the reactor to be shutdown and depressurised before the shield plug could be removed and the control rod exchanged. The site inspector has initiated discussions between the NII specialists and the station and corporate fuel route team to gain a clearer understanding of the issues involved. In the interim, use of a different set of equipment (the grab and interface element in the fuelling machine) resulted in a successful exchange on Reactor 2 prior to the periodic shutdown.
The Ionising Radiation Regulations 1999 requires owners of radioactive sources to leak test them at suitable intervals. Following errors in data migration from an old scheduling system into the site wide work control process, a percentage of the sources failed to have their tests performed on time. After the station reported this breach of the regulations, they have initiated a program to recover the backlog of tests, and to modify the scheduling database. As a proportionate response to this breach of regulations, the site inspector has written to the station director asking him to confirm when the station has resumed compliance with the regulations.
At the end of June, a Fork Lift Truck (FLT) reversed onto non-load bearing trench covers, breaking them and falling into the trench below onto high voltage cables. The driver was uninjured. The cables were slightly damaged, but have been inspected by station and external experts and following a safety review returned to service. The station had previously surveyed trench covers to identify and protect non-loadbearing covers, but these covers appear to have been overlooked. A further survey has been completed, together with modifications to risk assessments for operating all-terrain FLTs. The site inspector has been monitoring the development of the safety review for the return to service as well as the implementation of the corrective actions.
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.
Th e Inspectorate has powers under the Licence to issue Consents, Approvals and Directions. In addition the Inspectorate uses Licence Instruments to issue Specifications and Agreements under the conditions of the Licence. These are all called Licence Instruments. The following Licence Instruments were issued to Hartlepool during the quarter:
Licence Instrument 510, agreeing to NP/SC 7428: the safety case for the use of fuel elements and stringer components having sleeves and retaining rings made from graphite produced with Bilbania binder pitch
Licence instrument 511, agreeing to NP/SC 7421: a proposal to change feed water dosing from ammonia to dimethylamine.
Licence instrument 512, agreeing to an extension to the operating period of Reactor 2 by a maximum period of 24 days.
HM Nuclear Installations Inspectorate,
3rd July 2006
Redgrave Court
Merton Road
Bootle
Merseyside
L20 7HS