- Site: Sellafield
- IR number: 19-190
- Date: March 2020
- LC numbers: 11
Executive summary
Purpose of Intervention
The Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) undertakes all regulatory interaction with the Sellafield site licensee (Sellafield Limited (SL)) against a strategy defined by the ONR Sellafield Sub Division. In accordance with that strategy, Licence Condition (LC) compliance inspections were carried out within the Spent Fuel Management (SFM) value stream, as planned, in March 2020.
Interventions Carried Out by ONR
The purpose of this inspection was to confirm that the licensee had implemented the arrangements for emergency preparedness at the High Level Waste Plants (HLWP) Waste Vitrification Plant (WVP) facility in line with Licence Condition 11 (Emergency Arrangements).
The inspection was carried out by the ONR SFM Site Inspector supported by the incoming Site Inspector (who will be taking over the role from 1 April 2020). The inspection was also supported by a member of the internal Nuclear Intelligence & Independent Oversight team. It was an unannounced inspection with no prior notification to the facility.
The intervention comprised:
- Discussion with the HLWP Duly Authorised Person (DAP) on the night shift of 10 March 2020,
- Review of training records of Incident Control Centre (ICC) personnel on 11 March 2020.
Explanation of Judgement if Safety System Not Judged to be Adequate
This was not a system based inspection, and therefore no judgement has been made of the adequacy of implementation of any part of the safety case.
Key Findings, Inspector's Opinions and Reasons for Judgements Made
The HLWP DAP was able to demonstrate that the minimum safety manning level and minimum operational manning level had been achieved. He was able to explain the process for setting-up the HLWP ICC in the event of an emergency and was able to confirm the roles and specific individuals who would be called upon from that shift.
A review of the training records of the individuals who would undertake the roles of the Incident Controller, Deputy Incident Controller and Incident Supervisor, showed that these three individuals had all completed the required training and had been assessed competent to undertake their designated roles.
A minor discrepancy on the training requirements within the high level Department Emergency Arrangements document and the ICC role profiles was identified. This had already been noted by SL and the document scheduled for update. A Level 4 regulatory issue has been raised to monitor this update.
Conclusion of Intervention
Notwithstanding the minor discrepancy on training requirements, on the basis of evidence sampled at the time of this inspection, we judge that the licensee has adequately implemented its arrangements for compliance with Licence Condition 11 (Emergency Arrangements) and an inspection rating of Green (No Formal Action) is merited for LC11.