After decades of neglect, Britain scrambles to keep the lights on this winter. With the nuclear revival years from fruition, Whitehall fears millions could lose power. When Boris Johnson touted plans to revive Britain’s nuclear power industry, he claimed a fleet of gleaming new reactors would ensure millions were never at the mercy of oil and gas prices again. Yet the bleak reality is this new generation of nuclear power plants will arrive far too late to help the current energy crisis. The first – Hinkley Point C in Somerset – is not expected to come online until 2027 at the earliest. Meanwhile, a string of existing plants are approaching retirement, putting UK nuclear power generation on course to fall to the lowest levels seen since the 1960s over the next few years. The resulting capacity crunch has prompted calls for the existing reactor fleet to be pressed into longer service, helping to keep the lights on as the war in Ukraine stretches Britain’s electricity supplies to the limits. One worst case scenario by Whitehall predicts six million homes will be left without power this winter if Russia cuts supplies of gas to Europe – a situation ministers are desperate to avoid. Experts say that means the Government can ill-afford to lose some of the nuclear power plants currently set to shut down over the next five years. Hinkley Point B is expected to close this August, while Hartlepool and Heysham 1 are on course to follow suit in 2024. To get extensions for the existing plants, EDF would need to meet strict safety criteria set by the independent Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR). It is understood the company remains in talks with the regulator and ministers about possibly extending the lifetimes of both Hartlepool and Heysham 1. A Whitehall source pushes back against suggestions Kwarteng could have done more, saying the issue of an extension is for the company and the ONR to decide. “Ministers are absolutely supportive of extending the life of Britain’s nuclear power stations if it can be done safely,” they add. “EDF did not make that request for Hinkley Point B.” The Government would be supportive of an extension of Hartlepool and Heysham 1, provided the ONR can be persuaded, they add. Following talks with the watchdog, EDF has already agreed a 20-year extension of Sizewell B’s lifetime, to 2055. Malcolm Grimston is among industry figures who believe some criteria for extending plant lifetimes is too strict. Rules stipulating reactors must be able to withstand earthquakes stronger than anything ever recorded in Britain could be relaxed over the next few years, for instance, he says, as well as requirements for all 81 control rods to be usable when only 12 are needed to initiate an emergency shutdown.

Telegraph 19th June 2022 read more »

Households face dramatically higher energy bills next year after ministers ignored calls to examine extending the lifetimes of existing nuclear reactors until it was too late, i can reveal. Leaked correspondence, shows energy minister Greg Hands was urged back in March to take action to prolong the operating lives of nuclear reactors, including Hinkley Point B in Somerset, in an attempt to shore up the country’s energy supplies amid fears of shortages as a result of the war in Ukraine. The plea to extend came from a fellow Tory MP, but in his response dated 11 April Mr Hands rejected the call, insisting that the “cracking of structural graphite” limited the operational life of the reactors. This is despite the French operator of Hinkley Point, EDF, stating last week that it was “technically feasible” to extend the life of the reactor, but it was now too late to do so and it will be decommissioned at the end of July. An industry source said the minister’s comments about the graphite were “inaccurate”, which has nothing to do with the structural integrity of reactors. MPs and industry insiders are at a loss as to the lack of action from the Department for Business, Enterprise and Industrial Strategy and believe ministers and officials left it too late to intervene to delay the decommissioning date of Hinkley Point. A senior Tory told i: “There is nothing stopping [Business Secretary] Kwasi Kwarteng from having a conversation with EDF to find out how it could have been done. It is more than feasible to ask officials to look into what would be needed to keep using Advanced Gas-cooled Reactors. There is a general unwillingness from Beis to look into it.” According to experts, the timing of Hinkley Point’s decommissioning could not be worse as it coincides with the retirement of several nuclear reactors in Europe, particularly in Belgium and Germany. By the end of winter 2022/23, more than 12 gigawatts of extra capacity will have been retired. It means there will be a greater demand for gas imports from countries, such as Norway, that will see gas prices becoming “immense”. Should Russia cut off its gas supplies to the rest of Europe, demand for Norwegian and US gas is likely to spike even further. A Government source told i that Hinkley Point B had already been extended by 15 years, and that a further extension was “entirely a matter for EDF and the safety regulator – not the Government”. “Ministers can’t force EDF to extend, or force the independent safety regulator to approve any application,” the source added. “If EDF believe it’s safe to extend Hinkley B’s life even further, they can – and have always been able to – apply to the safety regulator as they’ve done repeatedly in the past. There is a massive cost to EDF to extend the life of their plants, so that could be why they’ve declined to apply.

iNews 9th June 2022 read more »

Energy crisis horror as EDF scuppers plan to delay reactor shutdown to prevent blackouts. THE UK is facing the possibility of major blackouts to millions of homes this year as energy company EDF blocks the UK’s plans to delay the shutdown of a nuclear plant.

Express 2nd June 2022 read more »