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 Site Stakeholder Group (SSG) and covers activities associated with the regulation of safety at Dungeness B 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 Information Centre on 0151 951 4103.
Nuclear Directorate
Health and Safety Executive
Redgrave Court
Merton Road
Bootle
Merseyside
L20 7HS
The Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII) Site Inspector visited Dungeness B on the following dates during the quarter covered by this report:
Other NII inspectors with specialist technical expertise also visited Dungeness B and other British Energy establishments during the period to support the Site Inspector by performing inspections on specific aspects of the Licensee’s arrangements and nuclear safety case. A team inspection was carried out against compliance with Licence Conditions 12; 14; 17 and 21 in support of permissioning the return to service of the fuelling machine following installation of neutron scatter plug equipment.
Routine planned inspections are carried out throughout the year and enable NII to judge whether a Licensee is complying with the conditions attached to the Nuclear Site Licence, the Ionising Radiations Regulations, and other relevant statutory provisions on a sampling basis. Compliance with the following Licence Conditions was inspected during the period:
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. These commitments will be tracked and closed out as part of normal regulatory business.
Meetings were held to discuss progress made of both the Data Protection System (DPS) Replacement project and the Fuel Plug Unit (FPU) Project. Meetings were also attended to discuss the station’s progress against closing out actions placed on it following the NII team inspection of LC 28: Maintenance, Examination, Inspection and Testing in September 2006.
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 followed up during the period include the following:
This incident occurred on 10 September 2007. While unloading a CO2 delivery tanker, a CO2 leak was reported from the CO2 Bulk Tanks 23 & 24 area. A site incident was declared and the alarm sounded. Investigation showed that a CO2 relief valve had lifted. The valve was isolated and the leak was stopped. The valve has been passing for approximately twenty minutes releasing around three tonnes of CO2. No personnel were affected by the leak. The station’s investigation into the incident is ongoing. HMNII wrote to the licensee on 26 September 2007 seeking its proposals for remedial actions to prevent any re-occurrence. The station reported a further CO2 leak on the same day from a leaking drain valve. HMNII are to carry out an investigation into these recurring CO2 leaks.
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.
The 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. Licence Instruments issued during the period were: