environmental news & information about the UK electricity supply industry
Heysham Power Stations to feature in new BBC TV series. Heysham power stations are the stars of a new BBC TV series which looks at how the UK gets its electricity and the people behind that power production.
Lancaster Guardian 14th Aug 2020 read more »
This past 11th of March 2020 was the 9th anniversary of the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident. Fears of radiation from the triple meltdown led to the long-term relocation of over 100,000 people. In a landmark study completed in late 2017, a group of UK scientists set out to find the truth about the risk of nuclear. They showed that not only was the scale of this relocation far too large, but that the evacuation itself led to thousands of unnecessary deaths from mental and physical exhaustion. Revisiting our assumptions about nuclear accidents will not be easy, but we have to try. Everyone has an interest in doing so. Government and regulators have an interest, because evidence from Japan shows that overreacting could be fatal. The nuclear industry has an interest, because a single badly-handled nuclear incident would cause the complete shutdown of the sector, just as happened in Japan. The public has an interest, because on a planet already overwhelmed with fossil fuels and habitat destruction, a billion people still lack access to electricity. Rediscovering nuclear as a safe energy source, as well as a green and affordable one, would be revolutionary.
Medium 12th Aug 2020 read more »
As Adriènne has said, COVID-19 has changed the way we work, but it has helped us adapt to new ways of working that might otherwise have taken much longer to implement. Although inspectors are working at home wherever they can, we have continued to go to site (as key workers and with public health measures in place) to conduct urgent or essential regulatory business. Most recently, I visited Sellafield, with Paul Fyfe (our Director of Civil Nuclear Security and Safeguards), to find out more about progress on key projects, and explore the site’s current resilience levels. Regulatory assessment work has continued as normal in recent months. Our specialist inspectors have been working hard to complete their assessment of the safety case submission provided by EDF NGL regarding the restart of Reactor 3 at Hunterston B. As soon as we have made our decision, we will announce it publicly.
ONR 14th Aug 2020 read more »
ONR Newsletter.
ONR 14th Aug 2020 read more »
Four of the UK’s ageing nuclear power reactors, currently closed for repairs, should not be allowed to restart, in order to protect public health, says a consortium of 40 local authorities in Britain and Ireland. The Nuclear Free Local Authorities (NFLA), the local government voice on nuclear issues in the United Kingdom, then wants all the rest of the country’s 14 ageing advanced gas-cooled reactors (AGRs) shut down as soon as possible, with the power they produce replaced by renewables and a programme of energy efficiency. The four reactors they want closed immediately are two at Hunterston in Scotland and two at Hinkley Point B in Somerset in the West of England. Of the other five power stations (each with two reacttors) which the NFLA wants shut down as soon as possible, one is at Torness, also in Scotland. Three more are in the North of England – one at Hartlepool in County Durham and two at Heysham in Lancashire – and one at Dungeness in south-east England. To protect the jobs of those involved, the NFLA calls in its report on the future of the AGRs for a “Just Transition”: retraining for skilled workers, but also an accelerated decommissioning of the plants to use the nuclear skills of the existing workforce. The report details the dangers that the reactors, some more than 40 years old, pose to the public. Graphite blocks, which are vital for closing down the reactor in an emergency, are disintegrating because of constant radiation, and other plants are so corroded that pipework is judged dangerous. If the two Hunterston reactors were restarted and the graphite blocks failed, a worst-case accident would mean both Edinburgh and Glasgow would have to be evacuated, the report says.
Climate News Network 13th Aug 2020 read more »
The UK & Ireland Nuclear Free Local Authorities (NFLA) publishes today a detailed report outlining the challenging problems besetting EDF’s existing Advanced Gas Reactor (AGR) nuclear power plants like Hunterston and Hinkley Point B and argues that the entire AGR fleet is likely to close considerably earlier than the operator or the UK Government would like. This leaves real questions as to future UK energy policy requiring an even greater move towards decentralised and renewable energy alternatives. At present, EDF’s existing nuclear fleet of Advanced Gas Reactors covers reactors at Hunterston B, Hinkley Point B, Hartlepool, Heysham, Dungeness and Torness. All are due to end operations between 2023 and 2030, leaving just Sizewell B, a Pressurised Water Reactor, in operation.
NFLA 13th Aug 2020 read more »
The future of the AGR nuclear reactor fleet – to be closed sooner than expected by EDF?
NFLA 5th Aug 2020 read more »
EDF Energy said on 7 August that it was once again extending the outages at the UK’s Dungeness and Hunterston NPPs. Dungeness B Reactor 22 was taken offline for pre-planned outages in August 2018 followed by Reactor 21 the following month. During during maintenance work, on the two 520 MWe AGR reactors, problems with the main steam line and with corrosion were discovered and later issues involving the site’s boilers. Inspection revealed that several systems providing a safety function were “corroded to an unacceptable condition”. The corrosion has been rated level 2 on the International Nuclear and Radiological Events Scale (INES).
Nuclear Engineering International 12th Aug 2020 read more »
EDF will be paid between £55 million and £73 million for halving power output from Britain’s biggest nuclear reactor this summer under an agreement to prevent blackouts. National Grid, the company with the task of keeping Britain’s lights on, said that it had asked the French energy group to continue to limit generation from Sizewell B in Suffolk until late September. That is the maximum period negotiated in a contract that The Times revealed in May had been agreed to help to prevent the network being overwhelmed by excess power during the pandemic. Electricity demand dropped by as much as a fifth at the height of the lockdown and, although it is returning to normal levels, National Grid said that it was lower than expected and that there was a risk of a second wave that could suppress demand again. Keeping Sizewell operating at half-output enabled it to “prepare for such an event at minimal cost”. Juliet Davenport, of Good Energy, a renewable energy supplier, claimed that the contract was “evidence that inflexible, expensive nuclear power is not fit for the clean energy system we need”.
Times 8th Aug 2020 read more »
EDF Energy prolongs outages at Dungeness and Hunterston units. The restarts of three advanced gas-cooled reactor (AGR) units at EDF’s Dungeness B and Hunterston B nuclear power plants in the UK have been postponed. Dungeness Reactor 22 and Reactor 21 were taken offline, respectively, on 27 August and 19 September, 2018 – for pre-planned outages. During that work, EDF uncovered issues to do with the main steam line and then corrosion. In recent months attention has been focused on issues to do with the site’s boilers. Restart dates were 11 September for Reactor 22 and 21 September for Reactor 21, but these were re-forecast yesterday as 10 December for Reactor 22 and 20 December for Reactor 21. Hunterston Reactor 3 and Reactor 4 were taken offline on 9 March and 3 October, 2018 to work on issues related to their graphite cores. Following the approval of a safety case with the ONR, Reactor 4 was returned to service on 25 August, 2019 until 10 December, 2019. Hunterston Reactor 3 had been due to restart on 20 August, but that has now changed to 30 August. The restart date for Reactor 4 remains 17 September.
World Nuclear News 7th Aug 2020 read more »
EDF Energy has agreed to a request to reduce output from its Sizewell B nuclear plant in the east of England to help balance the grid amid low power demand due to COVID-19, the company told Reuters this week. As energy demand slumped across the world when countries shut industry and asked people to stay at home earlier this year, the National Grid ESO (Electricity System Operator) asked EDF to consider reducing output from its Sizewell B power station in Suffolk.
Reuters 6th Aug 2020 read more »
As outlined at the June meeting of the SSG, the safety cases for both Reactors 3 and 4 have been submitted to the ONR for their assessment. The ONR is continuing its assessment into the Hunterston B return to service case, using the information EDF has provided after extensive rounds of modelling and analysis. We have been in discussions with the Graphite Team on safety case progress and have concluded that the current trading dates for Reactor 3 needs to be pushed back 10 days to the 30 August. Reactor 4 – we aim to return the unit to service on 17 September 2020, there is no change to this date at present.
EDF Energy Letter to SSG 6th Aug 2020 read more »
In the event of a severe accident at a nuclear power plant, the highly radioactive mixture of fuel and molten material can pierce the steel vessel of the reactor. Fine modeling of the thermochemical evolution of this mixture and analyzes of the mechanical resistance of the tank assess the conditions to be respected to avoid it.
Pour La Science 23rd July 2020 read more »
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