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 GE Healthcare Ltd Maynard Centre Local Liaison Committee (LLC) and covers activities associated with the regulation of safety at the site. These reports are distributed quarterly and are also available on the HSE’s website at www.hse.gov.uk/nuclear/llc/index.htm. Site Inspectors of HM Nuclear Installations Inspectorate normally attend LLC meetings and will be happy to respond to any questions raised there or subsequently by members of the LLC. Any other person wishing to inquire about matters covered by this report should contact the HSE’s, Nuclear Directorate on 0151 951 3484/3290.
Nuclear Safety Directorate
Health and Safety Executive
Redgrave Court
Merton Road
Bootle
Merseyside
L20 7HS
1. NII inspections were made on 13–15 November and 6–7 December 2007. (Inspections are also made at GE Healthcare Ltd’s nuclear licensed sites at Amersham (the Grove Centre) and Harwell. Where these are relevant to the Maynard Centre they are included below. For instance, the sites have many arrangements in common for compliance with the conditions attached to their site licences.)
2. 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 included:
3. Issues arising from these and previous inspections are being pursued.
4. Annual Safety Review Meeting: The meeting for 2007 was held at the Maynard Centre but, as usual, covered all four nuclear licensed sites. It was well supported by GE Healthcare Ltd; the site directors of those sites attended, with their supporting managers. The licensee’s safety performance and plans were discussed, and NII indicated a number of topics that would be given particular regulatory attention in the coming year.
5. Annual Emergency Exercise: This year’s demonstration emergency exercise was held on 14 November. It simulated a fire and consequent tritium release in the Paragon plant, with two casualties. (This plant, which will recycle most of the site’s unused tritium, is currently being inactively commissioned; it will not contain tritium until the middle of 2008. This exercise was therefore a useful test of the emergency arrangements for a new building.) NII judged the exercise to be a satisfactory demonstration of the licensee’s arrangements for dealing with any accident or emergency arising on the site and its effects.
6. Safety Representatives: The site inspector held the annual meeting with Safety Representatives, to support their function of representing employees and receiving information on matters affecting their health, safety, and welfare at work.
7. Local Liaison Committee: The site inspector attended the 6-monthly meeting of the Local Liaison Committee.
8. No statutorily reportable incidents were notified to NII in this quarter.
9. As part of its regulation under the nuclear site licence NII issues formal regulatory documents, which include Consents, Approvals, Directions, and Licence Instruments. Five Consents, numbered 506–510, were issued in this quarter, allowing the licensee to continue to lease parts of the site to Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics.
10. No other issues have arisen that have required formal regulatory action.
1 Licence Instruments are issued: to acknowledge receipt of specified documents, eg proposals for a new or modified plant; to stipulate whether the Inspectorate intends to examine these documents; or to agree to the start of a particular phase of construction, commissioning, modification, or decommissioning.