Nuclear Regulator Seeks Fire Safety Improvements at Dounreay

NEWS FROM THE CELTIC LEAGUE The Office of the Nuclear Regulator has served an improvement notice on the operators of the Dounreay facility following a fire at the plant in early October 2014. The ONR website says: ?ONR has served Dounreay Site Restoration Limited (DSRL) with an Improvement Notice as a result of a fire at the sodium tank farm of the Prototype Fast Reactor (PFR) in October 2014. The fire took place early hours of the morning on 7 October 2014 and has been widely publicised to local stakeholders by DSRL. No personnel were injured as a result of the fire, but the licensee confirmed that radioactivity may have been released, which was reported to the Scottish Environment Protection Agency who regulates radioactive discharges to the environment. The fire was one of several incidents on site in the last few years, with similar contributory causes, and ONR has been working with DSRL to encourage improvements. However, the latest incident demonstrates that improvement initiatives have not been effective. ONR Deputy Chief Inspector Richard Savage explained: ?The incident revealed several concerns, notably a poor compliance culture and unacceptable behaviours of personnel on site. We are looking for evidence of improvements to effective planning; control and monitoring that will prevent future incidents occurring, and protect the public during the decommissioning of the plant.? DSRL are now required to make appropriate improvements to preventative and protective measures for the decommissioning of the sodium tank farm of PFR by 30 June 2015.? The notice can be accessed at: (voir le site) Last week the Celtic League wrote to the Office of the Nuclear Regulator citing the Dounreay fire and reiterating early concerns about fire safety at nuclear plants. The full Celtic News release about this item can be accessed here: (voir le site) (Please note after checking with the ONR today they have confirmed that Mike Weightman ? referred to in the correspondence ? is no longer the Chief Inspector of Nuclear Installations having relinquished that role 12 months ago. The current Chief Inspector is Dr Andy Hall) J B Moffatt (Mr) Director of Information 02/12/14 (Please note that replies to correspondence received by the League and posted on CL News are usually scanned hard copies. Obviously every effort is made to ensure the scanning process is accurate but sometimes errors do occur.) ISSUED BY THE CELTIC LEAGUE INFORMATION SERVICE. The Celtic League has branches in the six Celtic Countries. It works to promote cooperation between these countries and campaigns on a broad range of political, cultural and environmental matters. It highlights human rights abuse, monitors all military activity and focuses on socio-economic issues Internet site at: (voir le site) (voir le site)