Executive summary
Date(s) of inspection:
December 2025
Aim of inspection
This reactive themed compliance inspection sampled the adequacy of arrangements and their implementation to determine compliance with licence conditions 7, 17, 26, & 28 and nuclear site health & safety at Hartlepool Power Station. This inspection was reactive following the substantial unplanned double reactor outage and period without ‘at power’ operation.
Subject(s) of inspection
- CDM 15 - Rating: Green
- Health & Safety at Work Act - Rating: Green
- LC7 - Incidents on the site - Rating: Amber
- LC17 - Management systems - Rating: Red
- LC26 - Control and supervision of operations - Rating: Amber
- LC28 - Examination, inspection, maintenance and testing - Rating: Amber
- Overall Inspection Rating - Rating: Red
Key findings, inspector's opinions and reasons for judgement made
This reactive themed compliance inspection sampled the adequacy of arrangements and their implementation to determine compliance with licence conditions 7, 17, 26, & 28 and nuclear site health & safety at Hartlepool Power Station. I, the Nominated Site Inspector, provided a high level summary of the key findings during the close out of the inspection, and included advice and guidance on where the station should focus its attention. The key findings from this inspection are as follows.
Hartlepool has undergone a range of organisational and operational challenges changes over the last few years (such as staff turnover, changes in senior management personnel, unplanned extended outages, life extension and ageing facilities). This has had an impact on how the plant and facilities are operated and managed, how processes are implemented at site, and on the people operating the site. One such impact is a reduction in the knowledge and experience levels of personnel which is evidenced by weakened performance in training compliance figures, and in staff demographics across the site.
EDF use a range of indicators to monitor nuclear safety risk (which are presented across the site and captured throughout the safety management system). As a result of the above changes and the consequential change in risk position, the site has experienced a number of events and challenges which could potentially affect safe, reliable generation. As a consequence, senior management have not demonstrated that adequate management system controls are implemented at site to manage these risks. This is also evidenced through the associated licence condition inspections (licence condition 7, 26, and 28) which have identified shortfalls in the implementation of the safety management systems.
Given the extent and significance of the shortfall in licence condition 17 identified, and substantiated through the associated licence condition findings, I judge the licence condition 17 rating to be a ‘Major non-compliance with defined or established standards necessary to ensure safety, safeguards or security’ and therefore is judged to be red.
This inspection identified licence condition shortfalls that will be addressed through follow up regulatory actions. However, as there is no demonstrably adequate risk assessment my immediate advice to EDF was to complete suitable and sufficient risk assessments that include appropriate mitigations for immediate risks identified. These risk assessments should consider the identified organisational shortfalls and what actions must be completed as a priority to support safe operations at site.
I also advised site to review the extensive operational readiness and improvement development plans it has created and to rationalise them to be a credible plan that can be delivered with the time and resources available to it.
Conclusion
Based on the evidence sampled the overall rating is red (Demand improvement).
Following this inspection, the ONR Enforcement Management Model has been applied to determine appropriate enforcement actions. A Level 2 Regulatory Issue (RI-12877) has been raised to track and manage enforcement actions.