Minister and Chief Nuclear Regulator respond to NFLA concerns over Hinkley safety issues, but no shutdown promised. The Nuclear Free Local Authorities network (NFLA) is disappointed, but not unsurprised, to hear from both the Minister and the Head of the Office of Nuclear Regulation that whilst investigations continue into the cause of the accident at the Taishan-1 reactor in China, there will be no halt to construction work at the new Hinkley Point C nuclear reactor. Last month, the Chair of the NFLA Steering Committee, Councillor David Blackburn, wrote to Minister Greg Hands and Chief Executive Mark Foy outlining his concerns that a radioactive gas leak at the Taishan 1 reactor in China may be the result of a potentially fatal design flaw which may be common to the identical EPRs (short for European Pressurised or Evolutionary Power Reactors) reactors planned for Hinkley Point C in Somerset and at Sizewell C in Suffolk. In June 2021, nuclear operator, Framatome, a subsidiary of French-state owned power utility, EDF, reported a leak of radioactive gas at the Taishan 1 plant. In November 2021, the French Commission for Independent Research and Information on Radioactivity (Criirad) reported that a design flaw causes early wear in the reactor and that it is common to all EPRs, raising ‘serious questions in terms of nuclear safety and radiation protection, both for plant workers and for residents.’ The reactor has been shut down to enable an investigation to take place. In his letters to the Minister and the Head of the ONR, Councillor Blackburn called for an indefinite halt to construction work at Hinkley until the investigation was completed and an assessment made as to whether the EPRs are fatally flawed and should be abandoned.
NFLA 17th Jan 2022 read more »