The Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) has informed Dounreay Site Restoration Limited (DSRL) that it is satisfied that DSRL has complied with an Improvement Notice served by ONR in November 2014.
The Improvement Notice was issued following a fire at the sodium tank farm of Dounreay’s Prototype Fast Reactor in the early hours of 7 October 2014. Although there were no off-site consequences and no personnel were injured, the fire was one of a number of incidents on site over previous years with similar contributory causes, and ONR took enforcement action subsequently as it considered DSRL had breached Management of Health and Safety at Work regulations.
DSRL initiated their own investigation and reviewed past experience, and ONR engaged with them to secure satisfactory implementation of the required improvements. Significant changes have now been made on site to the way alkali metals work is planned and delivered.
The licensee has also implemented a wider improvement programme to ensure that lessons learned in the tank farm and associated correcting measures are implemented throughout the organisation, and that due consideration has been given to how the changes can be sustained in the long-term.
ONR will continue to monitor the progress of the wider site improvement programme as part of its routine inspection work.