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 Stakeholders Group (DSG) and covers activities associated with the regulation of nuclear safety at the Naval Reactor Test Establishment (NRTE) Vulcan. These reports are distributed quarterly and are also available on HSE’s web site at http//www.hse.gov.uk/nuclear/llc/index.htm
Site Inspectors of HM Nuclear Installations Inspectorate usually attend DSG meetings and will respond to questions raised there or subsequently by members of the DSG. 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
The majority of sites inspected by HM Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII) a part of the Health and Safety Executive are licensed by NII under the Nuclear Installations Act 1965 (as amended). NRTE Vulcan is not a licensed site although it operates under Authorisation from the Ministry of Defence (MoD) Defence Nuclear Safety Regulator (DNSR). The site is adjacent to the Dounreay Licenced Site and is regulated by NII through other legislation as noted below. This report summarises the inspection and regulatory activities associated with NRTE Vulcan which are coordinated with inspections by DNSR. The focus for NRTE Vulcan is safe and timely testing of submarine reactor performance to enable continued safe operation of the UK’s nuclear submarine fleet.
The Nuclear Installations Site Inspector made inspection visits to the sites on the following dates during the quarter: -
With limited resources, HSE-NII necessarily employs a sampling regime in its regulation of sites that is proportionate to the risks, and which is targeted primarily on those activities with the highest risks or where the hazards are least well controlled.
Inspections on site are undertaken are taken as part of monitoring compliance with:
This entails monitoring operator’s actions on the site in relation to incidents, operations, maintenance, projects, modifications, safety case changes and any other matters which may affect safety. The operators are required to make and implement adequate arrangements in order to ensure legal compliance. Inspections seek to judge both the adequacy of these arrangements and their implementation. In this period all inspections of NRTE Vulcan were undertaken jointly with DNSR and covered:
The Site Inspector also met with the Site Safety Representatives.
In general the Quality Assurance arrangements made and implemented by NRTE Vulcan in response to IRR99 and REPPIR were deemed to be adequate in the areas and for the regulations inspected. Where improvements were considered necessary, these were brought to the attention of NRTE Vulcan during the inspection and the Site Inspector will monitor progress during future visits.
Where necessary, formal regulatory enforcement action will be taken to ensure that appropriate remedial measures are implemented to reasonably practicable timescales.
Operators are required to have arrangements to respond to non-routine matters and events. NII Inspectors judge the adequacy of the operator’s response including actions taken to implement any necessary improvements.
During the visit, the Site Inspector was briefed on a minor personal contamination event and was satisfied with the actions and investigation being undertaken by NRTE Vulcan. The Site Inspector will follow this matter through on subsequent visits.
Under Health and Safety legislation NII Site Inspectors, and other HSE Inspectors, may issue enforcement (Crown) notices to secure improvements to safety.
No enforcement (Crown) notices were issued during the quarter