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 :
This included a visit by the Chief Inspector of NII on 1st June 2007.
The site was also inspected by HSE/Hazardous Installations Directorate (HID) inspectors on 22nd and 26th June 2007.
On 1st May, the site inspector for the Urenco (Capenhurst) Limited site changed, following a reorganisation within NII. An initial handover visit was made on 27th April 2007. The incoming site inspector is also the site inspector for the Sellafield Limited - Capenhurst Works and Springfields Fuels Limited nuclear licensed sites. An inspection programme will be prepared covering these three nuclear licensed sites, to reflect his wider duties.
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 NII site inspector, accompanied by an NII specialist emergency arrangements assessor, participated in the Emergency Planning Consultative Committee meeting, which reviewed progress arising from the Level 2 emergency exercise “Eagle” and ongoing changes to the licensee’s emergency arrangements. It is planned to hold a further Capenhurst Level 2 emergency exercise in 2008.
Discussions were held with the licensee regarding planned safety case submissions. The licensee explained that delays in the preparation of some safety cases had resulted from shortages of safety case authors within the licensee and external safety case reviewers. The licensee was now recruiting additional safety case authors to address this issue.
A plant inspection was made of the licensee’s commissioning activities, at one of the enrichment facilities, with an acceptable outcome. The potential radiological impact of the plant extension is to be assessed by NII.
A further meeting was held with the licensee to obtain an update on the various proposed changes to the licensee’s management structure. Subsequently, the licensee has provided NII with licence condition 36 organisational change safety justification documentation, addressing phase one of the site organisational changes. On sampling this safety documentation, NII is content that the licensee is duly assessing the safety implications of the proposed changes.
NII provided regulatory advice at a site meeting, involving both nuclear licensees at Capenhurst, on the proposals to lease Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) owned land and facilities, (currently licensed to Sellafield Limited – Capenhurst Works), to Urenco (Capenhurst) Limited. The plan is to eventually reconfigure the boundary between the two licensed sites. The current proposals cover areas of the site associated mainly with Electrical Distribution and Fire Water supply facilities. The leases will be assessed and a Consent issued by NII, when the applications are eventually presented.
Discussions have continued with the licensee regarding the projects to construct additional raft storage areas for uranium hexafluoride cylinders on the site. The licensee is preparing the Pre-Commencement Safety Report (PCSR) for the project. The licensee indicated that the radiological impact of the raft was still being assessed and the associated ALARP justification was developing. NII specialists will assess the radiological impact and ALARP justification of the licensee’s proposals. The licensee has recently sent NII the Pre-Commencement Safety Report (PCSR) for the extension to an enrichment facility, in accordance with an earlier commitment.
The Chief Inspector of NII, accompanied by the site inspection Unit Head, met with the Managing Director of the licensee. The licensee outlined the future development plans for the site and the Chief Inspector also visited one of the site uranium enrichment facilities.
The site inspector attended the Local Liaison Committee meeting on 28th June 2007, reporting on NII site inspection activities during the preceding six months. The site inspector also reported NII organisational changes, including the integration of both the Office for Civil Nuclear Security (OCNS) and the former DTI’s Safeguards Office into HSE in April, with HSE’s Nuclear Safety Directorate consequently becoming the Nuclear Directorate, as well as the change of site inspector in May.
Two RIDDOR reportable dangerous occurrences were independently investigated by HSE/HID inspectors. (HID, HSE’s Hazardous Installations Directorate, lead on conventional safety inspection). The first event, on 20th April, concerned a hired mobile elevating work platform, which was being moved on a construction site, when one of the wheels became detached. There was no injury to the operator. In response to the first event, the HSE/HID investigation identified weaknesses in the licensee’s control of contractors and a range of other issues, which are being promptly addressed by the licensee. One major outcome was the re-launch of the licensee’s site safety initiative planned for August 2007. The licensee has agreed to review and formally audit arrangements in the latter half of 2007, following written advice from HSE/HID. Written advice has also been provided by HSE/HID to the other parties involved in this event. The second event, on 19th May, involved an overhead travelling crane wheel fracturing, within one of the enrichment facilities. There were no injuries or damage to plant. The licensee is also adequately addressing the maintenance issues associated with the second event.
An enrichment plant criticality alarm was actuated on the morning of 26th June.
Plant alarm detector heads were being routinely tested, shortly after which the criticality alarm was actuated. The alarm was established to be false within about twenty minutes of actuation, (by radiation monitoring around the enrichment facility and its environs). Plant staff were mustered to the site criticality mustering point. The Emergency Control Room and Emergency HQ were duly manned. The decision was taken to test the site roll call, which had been correctly initiated. The site inspector has requested the licensee to provide timely reports on both the cause of the false alarm and a report on the adequacy of the site mustering.
No regulatory enforcement action was necessary in this quarter.
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 Urenco (Capenhurst) Limited for complying with those conditions.
No Consents/Approvals/Directions and Licence Instruments were issued during this quarter.
Urenco (Capenhurst) Limited NII Site Inspector.
July 2007.