Corroded reactor given five more years

somerset | the environment | press release Tuesday December 11, 2007 23:54 by Jim Duffy - Stop Hinkley stophinkley at aol dot com

Campaigners railed at British Energy's announcement that Hinkley Point B will operate till 2016. A Stop Hinkley spokesman has said the reactors should be decommissioned immediately due to continual ageing problems and if not then should be fitted with an expensive extra safety system.

The thirty-one year old plant has been beset with problems in crucial safety areas. A regulator's report last year stated "there is an increased likelihood of an increased risk should we agree to continued operation" due to cracks in the reactor core bricks composed of graphite. It went on to say the company does not know the extent of the damage to the reactor cores, cannot monitor their deterioration and does not fully understand why the cracking has occurred.(1)

More recently Hinkley's boiler tubes were discovered to be corroded and required five month's work to repair them while the reactors were shut down. Although protected, welders were exposed to high levels of radiation in the process, requiring them to work in relays. Even now the station can only operate at sixty percent output to reduce the risk of a boiler explosion which could impact on the reactor core alongside which the boilers are housed.

In October the regulators again raised their concerns over deterioration in the reactor core struts, a system of turnbuckles which should keep the fuel and control rod channels safely aligned in an abnormal event such as a pressure surge following a boiler containment failure.(2)

British Energy's statement points to the numbers of staff currently employed at the plant but this number would not shrink if the reactor were to go into decommissioning which is both lengthy and labour-intensive.

Most of the eight reactors in the now ageing British Energy fleet have incurred stoppages due to corrosion problems which impact on their safety. Hartlepool and Heysham 1 may be off-line for six months whilst cooling tube coils are repaired, adding financial pressure on the company to keep Hinkley and other reactors generating.

Jim Duffy, Coordinator for Stop Hinkley said: "Hinkley B has had a string of corrosion problems which cannot be fixed but which add up to a bigger risk of a serious accident. It should shut now. If not then an extra reactor safety system should be put in place to build in more protection. Although costing many tens of millions it might go some way to allay public fears."

"Their strategy might be to try and look good to foreign reactor builders who would want the Hinkley C site owned by British Energy but it's a risky enterprise which will test their competence."


Jim Duffy
Stop Hinkley Coordinator
07968 974805

(1) Documents reveal hidden fears over Britain's nuclear plants, Guardian front page 5th July 2006:
http://www.stophinkley.org/News%20Pages/news060705Grd.htm

(2) Renewed calls for closure following new reactor problems, Stop Hinkley press release 25th October 2007
http://www.stophinkley.org/Press%20Releases/pr071026.htm

Nuclear plants continue to 2016




AOL News Dec 11th 2007

British Energy has said that it would extend the lives of Hinkley Point B and Hunterston B nuclear power stations by five years to 2016.

The two sites, which are currently running at around 60% capacity due to boiler issues, began generating power in 1976.

Further studies will be conducted by 2013 regarding the potential for additional life extensions beyond 2016, the company added.

British Energy said the decision was an important move towards supporting the UK's climate change goals and the reduction of CO2 emissions.

Ayrshire-based Hunterston B and Hinkley Point B, near Bridgwater, Somerset, are both capable of supplying power to more than one million homes.

The potential for life extensions at the company's other nuclear power stations will be considered in due course, British Energy said.

It is also working with companies from around the world in a bid to develop plans for new-build nuclear projects, should such expansion be permitted by the Government.

To enable Hinkley Point B and Hunterston B to operate over their extended lives, British Energy expects to spend an additional £90 million on the sites in excess of its current investment programme.

Both sites were impacted by technical problems last year, resulting in the stations operating at around 60% load. Further work will be undertaken during planned outages over the next year aimed at delivering 70% load.

At such a level, British Energy said it believed it would be economically viable to extend the lives of the two stations