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Heysham 2 - Inspection ID: 52664

Executive summary

Date(s) of inspection:

  • April 2023

Aim of inspection

The objectives of this intervention were:
  1. To examine the adequacy of the licensee’s arrangements with regards to the maintenance and calibration of graphite inspection arrangements;
  2. To establish confidence that the quality and capability to meet various safety case commitments for core inspection and trepanning would be satisfied.

Subject(s) of inspection

  • LC28 - Examination, inspection, maintenance and testing - Rating: GREEN

Key findings, inspector's opinions and reasons for judgement made

The purpose of this intervention was to undertake a Licence Condition (LC) 28 compliance inspection at EDF Energy Nuclear Generation Ltd’s (NGL’s) Heysham 2 (HYB) power station. This intervention is one of a number of LC28 compliance inspections performed by ONR during the periodic shutdown of HYB Reactor 8 (R8). These inspections inform the ONR’s decision on whether to issue a licence instrument granting Consent for the return to service of HYB R8 following its 2023 periodic shutdown, as required by LC30(1). This intervention specifically focused on arrangements for the maintenance and calibration of graphite inspection equipment. I judged this intervention based on the findings of the intervention, the quality of the data I observed and the knowledge and experience of the licensee’s staff.

Conclusion

Following my intervention, I consider that the licensee’s arrangements with regards to the maintenance and calibration of graphite inspection equipment during this outage are suitable and adequate. At the time of my intervention, there was no reason to believe that the safety case requirements would not be met. A forthcoming assessment report will consider whether the results of the graphite core inspections are consistent with the graphite safety case, once the inspection schedule has been completed. I have allocated an ONR IIS rating of ‘GREEN’ – no formal action.