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 URENCO (Capenhurst) Ltd Local Liaison Committee and covers activities associated with the regulation of safety at the URENCO (Capenhurst) Ltd Nuclear Licensed Site. 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 LLC meetings and will be happy to respond to 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 0151-951-4382.
Nuclear Safety Directorate
Health and Safety Executive
Redgrave Court
Merton Road
Bootle
Merseyside
L20 7HS
The site was visited by NII inspectors on :
Each NII Site Inspector has an inspection programme to inspect compliance of operations on the site with the 36 Nuclear Site Licence Conditions (LCs). During this quarter particular attention has been paid to compliance by the licensee to licence conditions :
No issues were raised from the compliance inspections undertaken during this period that required formal regulatory action.
The series of planned inspections relating to the implementation of the UCL arrangements for LC28 was continued throughout this report period. Inspections were carried at all three of the enrichment plants on site. Discussions were also held with the UCL Plant Engineering Services Manager which focused on the role and responsibilities of the UCL Plant Engineering Services Manager with respect to the management of maintenance work on the UCL site. The overall findings from these inspections will be discussed with UCL when the series of inspections are completed.
The NII UCL Site Inspector accompanied NII Specialist Inspectors on an IRRs 99 Reg 8 (Restriction of Dose) inspection. This inspection was carried out as part of the NII programme of inspections covering all licensees to review each licensee’s progress in keeping occupational radiation exposure as low as reasonably practicable. The inspection indicated that the UCL arrangements were generally adequate.
A number of meetings have been held with UCL to obtain updates on the various proposed changes to the UCL management structures. The Urenco Chief Executive wants all Urenco sites to adopt the same management template structure. UCL stated that they intended to produce an overarching Management of Change (MoC) submission covering all the intended management changes at UCL. UCL stated that it intended to implement the changes by a series of supplementary MoC submissions over the next 12-18mths. UCL subsequently indicated that the submission documentation had been delayed to allow it to be revised to reflect further changes to the original proposals and the peer reviewer comments on the original documents. UCL has now indicated that the revised documents will be submitted for NII consideration early in the next NII report period.
Discussions have been held with UCL regarding the proposal to contract out the UCL IT support work. The three main issues arising from previous NII/UCL discussions were further discussed ie the possible requirement of a LC3 Consent to cover a lease to permit CSC to occupy premises on the UCL site, the provision of the “Intelligent Customer” capability by the licensee and the arrangements for the control of changes to software and hardware. UCL agreed to write to NII to outline the UCL position relating to the issues discussed and to outline the procedures that will be put in place to address the concerns raised.
UCL has outlined to NII details of a further change to the UCL management structure relating to the proposal to relocate the Urenco Finance Dept and bill payment activities to a centralised Urenco group finance function based at Almelo in Holland. UCL stated that the changes will be implemented in mid 2008 and a Management of Change proposal will be raised over the next few months to cover the proposed changes.
The 2006 NII/UCL Annual Review of Safety Meeting took place on 16.2.07. Presentations made by UCL included the Managing Directors Report, Review of Health, Safety and Environmental Performance, Review of the UCL Management Safety Committee activities, Review of Operations/Technical Services/ Quality, Future Projects and Organisational Changes and one covering the view of the UCL Safety Representatives.
The BNGSL Capenhurst and UCL NII Site inspectors have attended meetings to discuss proposals to transfer land and facilities from BNGSL Capenhurst to UCL. The current proposals cover areas of the site associated mainly with Electrical Distribution and Fire Water supply facilities.
Discussions have continued with UCL regarding the projects to construct additional raft storage areas for feed, product and tails cylinders on the site. The project is currently being progressed at UCL’s “commercial risk” in advance of the publication of the Pre Commencement Safety Report (PCSR) for the project. UCL indicated that the radiological impact of the raft was still being assessed and the associated ALARP justification was still being reviewed. UCL stated that the Cat B Pre-Commencement Safety Case (PCSR) for the project should be endorsed by the May Management Safety Committee (MSC) and then submitted to NII for consideration.
During the report period a number of visits to plants across the site were undertaken including:
During the report period a number of miscellaneous topics were discussed with UCL including the
A number of updates were obtained during this report period on the UCL Management Investigation of the Raft 11/12 “event” described in the previous NII report. UCL are now reviewing the impact of various strategies for the storage of cylinders on all the rafts across the site including revisiting the impact of the new storage raft facility. UCL also indicated that the investigation report recommends a number of actions to improve the safety documentation and modification processes across the site. Further meetings are envisaged with UCL on the investigation report findings on this event.
Regulatory Actions taken during the quarter:
| Date | Description |
|---|---|
| None |
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 UCL for complying with those conditions. The Consents/Approvals/Directions and Licence Instruments issued during the quarter were:
| Date | Type | No. | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| None |