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 Dounreay Site Stakeholder Group (DSSG) and covers activities associated with the regulation of safety at Dounreay. These reports are distributed quarterly and are available also from the Internet at http://www.hse.gov.uk/nuclear/index.htm. Site Inspectors of HM Nuclear Installations Inspectorate normally attend the Dounreay SSG meetings and will be happy to respond to questions raised there or subsequently by members of the Dounreay SSG. Any other person wishing to inquire about matters covered by this report should contact the HSE’s Nuclear Directorate Information Centre on 0151-951-3484/3290.
Nuclear Directorate
Health and Safety Executive
Redgrave Court
Merton Road
Bootle
Merseyside
L20 7HS
NII Site Inspectors and Specialist Inspectors visited Dounreay on the following dates:-
Compliance inspections were undertaken against a number of the Licence Conditions. A team inspection found that UKAEA was applying its work control process effectively in the areas inspected. Although some areas for improvement were identified, no major issues were raised. Specialist inspectors visited the site to inspect civil engineering and external hazard capabilities on the site and to inspect some facilities.
Estimates for radiation doses to be accrued during the work to decontaminate the Main Handling Cell following spillage of raffinate and cement powder two years ago proved optimistic. The spilled cement powder had set firmly and its removal required use of a jack-hammer and acid. The work significantly reduced dose rates, enabling installation of replacement equipment. Radiation doses were controlled by use of telemetry-enabled electronic personal dosemeters(EPDs), temporary shielding and special long tools. Nevertheless, ninety percent of the 67mSv radiation collective radiation dose accrued since the spill two years ago was incurred during the period of this report.
NII, SEPA and the UKAEA are continuing to close-out the remaining recommendations. How the close-out of recommendations since the public report in 2002 has been achieved will be the subject of a joint NII-SEPA report which should be available during the latter part of 2008.
During transfer of irradiated fuel to a new storage location at PFR, a criticality control was inadvertently breached. A criticality event did not occur. NII considers criticality controls to be fundamental to nuclear safety. The incident was examined in detail followed by a site wide inspection of criticality controls. The breach was considered sufficiently serious to warrant consideration of enforcement action, supported by the HSE Enforcement Management Model. Because of the action taken by UKAEA following their investigation into the incident, NII chose to issue a letter requiring certain improvements to be made at PFR.
The programme for restructuring UKAEA and in particular the relicensing of Dounreay to Dounreay Site Restoration Limited(DSRL) is continuing. On 16th October 2007, NII gave Agreement to implement the shadow working organisation for DSRL under Licence Instrument number 536. NII considers that a satisfactory period of shadow working of about 6 months is a prerequisite before DSRL can become the licensee for Dounreay. NII will closely monitor the performance of the shadow DSRL organisation during the period of shadow working. A NII relicensing readiness inspection is scheduled for the end of February 2008 with the aim of granting a new Nuclear Site Licence to DSRL on 1st April 2008.
The Annual Review of Safety Meeting was held on 22nd November. NII expressed the view that whilst there appear to have been improvements in safety performance at Dounreay over the last 12 months, significant challenges lay ahead as decommissioning progresses.
NII welcomed the progress made with decommissioning at a number of facilities on the site, in particular, the MTR fuel fabrication facility, the shielded cells in the laboratory complex, the MTR fuel reprocessing plant pond and the draining of the primary circuit at PFR.
The Inspectorate has powers under the licence to issue Consents, Approvals and Directions. In addition, the Inspectorate uses Licence Instruments to issue Specifications, Acknowledgements, and Agreements under either the conditions attached to the Licence, or arrangements made by UKAEA for complying with those conditions. NII issued the following Licence Instruments during the 4th quarter of 2008:
| LI No. 533 | Agreement to proceed with active commissioning of the Primary NaK Disposal Plant and Ion Exchange Plant at DFR. |
|---|---|
| LI No. 535 | Agreement to proceed with limited operation of D1203 and adoption of the D1203 modern standards safety case. |
| LI No. 536 | Agreement to carry out restructuring to form a shadow working organisation prior to relicensing. |
| LI No. 537 | Agreement to proceed with adoption of the modern standards safety case for the D9833 silo facility. |
| LI No. 538 | Agreement to the recommencement of decommissioning of the pulse column laboratory. |