Four nuclear reactors forced to shut down in safety alert: Units that serve three million homes closed for investigation into fault in boiler system
- Reactors at Heysham, Lancashire, and Hartlepool, County Durham will close
- The four units supply a total of 10 per cent of Britain’s nuclear power
- Fault in metal support tube found at Heysham 1 site in Morecambe Bay
Four nuclear reactors are to be closed temporarily following a safety alert.
The need to investigate a fault in a boiler system means that the reactors will be out of action for around eight weeks.
Two reactors at Heysham, Lancashire, and two at Hartlepool, County Durham, will close tomorrow, according to French energy giant EDF.
Two reactors at Heysham, Lancashire will close tomorrow so a fault in a boiler system can be investigated, according to French energy giant EDF
Together the four units serve three million homes, supplying 10 per cent of Britain’s nuclear power.
The fault, detected in a metal support tube, was found at the Heysham 1 site in Morecambe Bay. The other three reactors will be closed as a precaution because they have the same design.
The problems highlight concerns about Britain’s ageing power stations – no reactors have been built since 1995.
The power stations at Heysham and Hartlepool were built in 1983 and are set to be decommissioned in 2019. They were originally due to come out of service this year.
The Government is keen to kickstart a new generation of nuclear plants and last year ministers signed a deal with EDF and two Chinese firms to start building a plant in Hinkley Point in Somerset.
The power stations at Heysham and Hartlepool (pictured) were built in 1983 and are set to be decommissioned in 2019
But the project is on hold while the European Commission decides whether the contract meets competition rules.
The £16billion project will be funded by levies on household power bills for 35 years.
The firms will receive a guaranteed price for the electricity they supply. Officials in Brussels are investigating whether the deal is overly generous to the firms.
Meanwhile, EDF has been seeking extensions to the life of its existing plants, most of which are scheduled to close by the end of 2023. Its other plants are at Sizewell B in Suffolk, Hinkley Point B, Dungeness in Kent, Torness in Dunbar, and Hunterston B in West Kilbride.
EDF first found the fault at Heysham last year. The boiler was returned to service early this year on a reduced load, but in June a defect was found and Heysham 1 was shut down.
EDF has been seeking extensions to the life of its existing plants, including Torness in Dunbar, most of which are scheduled to close by the end of 2023
The firm said: ‘Until the results of the further inspections are known it is not possible to advise exact return to service dates for these four reactors, however an initial estimate is that these investigations will take around eight weeks. EDF Energy’s other nuclear power stations are not affected by this issue as they are of a different design.’
National Grid, which runs the UK power network, said there was plenty of surplus capacity during the summer months. A spokesman said: ‘We have many generation sources to call on and demand is low at this time of the year.’
But if the problems continue into the winter, it may well create a problem as demand increases.
The Office for Nuclear Regulation said: ‘ONR is satisfied that EDF Energy is taking appropriate and conservative action in the interests of continued nuclear safety, and that they are seeking to obtain positive confirmation of the condition of the boilers.
‘There has been no release of radioactive material and no persons have been injured.’ The ONR said the cracking at the Heysham 1 site was in the ‘boiler spine’, the metal tube which supports the weight of boiler tubes coiled around it. It added: ‘Its failure could lead to water entering the reactor vessel.
‘The shutdowns will allow the company to undertake accelerated inspections of all of the boilers in each of the reactors which are a similar design, and to fit equipment that will enable monitoring of the condition of the boiler spines.’
Centrica, the owner of British Gas, which has a 20 per cent stake in EDF Energy’s nuclear operations, said the reduction in output would reduce the company’s 2014 earnings.
Nuclear power contributes one-sixth of the country’s electricity.