- Site: Hunterston B
- IR number: 21-141
- Date: December 2021
- LC numbers: 7
Executive summary
Purpose of Intervention
This was a planned inspection of EDF Energy (EDFE) Nuclear Generation Ltd.'s Hunterston B Power Station, undertaken as part of the planned intervention strategy for the Operating Facilities Division (OFD) of the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR).
The work was carried out in accordance with the planned inspection programme contained in the Hunterston B Integrated Intervention Strategy (IIS) for 2021/22.
Interventions Carried Out by ONR
As part of this intervention the nominated site inspector for Hunterston B carried out a compliance inspection against:
- Licence condition (LC) 7 – Incidents on the site.
The intervention was performed in line with ONR's guidance requirements (as described in our technical inspection guides) in the areas inspected.
The site inspector and project inspector also held meetings to monitor the progress being made on the End of Generation and Defuelling projects at the station.
Explanation of Judgement if Safety System Not Judged to be Adequate
No system based inspection was undertaken hence, this is not applicable for this intervention.
Key Findings, Inspector's Opinions and Reasons for Judgements Made
The inspection examined the Operational Experience (OE) Investigation process by sampling its application to recent events reported at station. It sought to determine whether the direct and root causes of events had been determined, that corrective actions deemed necessary to prevent recurrence were being identified and that the lessons for similar plant or operations had been identified.
The inspection confirmed that station is following its OE Investigation process adequately. There are some opportunities to increase the learning extracted from the investigation of events, which have potential to inform the plant configuration control programme during the defuelling phase. A regulatory issue will be raised to monitor the application of these OE enhancements to the plant configuration control programme.
Conclusion of Intervention
From this inspection of LC7 that examined the investigation of events reported at Hunterston B, there were no findings that could significantly undermine nuclear safety. Therefore, a rating of Green, no formal action, was assigned to the inspection.