The UK’s Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) has served a fire enforcement notice on Bylor JV (a joint venture of Laing O’Rourke and Bouygues Travaux Publics) after identifying significant fire safety shortfalls at the Hinkley Point C (HPC) nuclear construction site in Somerset.
ONR inspectors identified that Bylor had failed to implement appropriate arrangements for the effective planning, organisation, control, monitoring and review of preventive and protective measures following a focused fire safety intervention.
Bylor is delivering HPC’s main civil engineering works. ONR said many of the Bylor buildings on the site are currently at an advanced stage of construction and these shortfalls resulted in inadequate general fire precautions, including a lack of an adequate emergency lighting system.
“Fire safety is fundamental to protecting workers and the public at nuclear construction sites,” said Ray Cassar, ONR’s Fire Safety Inspector. “Our inspectors found that fire safety arrangements at the Hinkley Point C site did not meet the standards we require, particularly given the scale and complexity of the ongoing construction work. We also took into account several similar findings from previous inspections. “We will work with Bylor JV to ensure they put proper systems in place to manage fire risks effectively and prevent similar issues arising in future.”
The enforcement action was served under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. Although there were no consequences to employees, the public or the environment as a result of the shortfalls, ONR identified the potential for harm and risk of serious injury, which required regulatory action. The improvements must be completed by 30 June 2026.
Since giving permission for NNB Generation Company (HPC) Limited (NNB GenCo) to begin construction of the unit 1 nuclear island concrete raft in November 2018, ONR has maintained its regulatory oversight of the project as above ground structures are constructed and nuclear safety-significant systems and components are manufactured and installed.
“We anticipate that our next permissioning point will be to allow NNB GenCo to begin the bulk installation of mechanical and electrical components in the unit 1 nuclear island,” ONR said. “This represents the start of a key stage for the project involving at its peak round 4000 workers on the site.
