UK BE says nuke safety questions 'essentially not news'

London (Platts)--5Jul2006

Reports Wednesday that government nuclear inspectors have raised serious
questions over the safety of UK's nuclear power plants are "essentially not
news," British Energy spokesman Martin Pearce said.
Pearce said BE had already published the issues raised in the reports in
its shareholder report in 2004, and that the company had always anticipated
that it would see cracks in the graphite bricks that form the reactor cores at
its Advanced Gas-cooled Reactors. The cracks in the cores were the subject of
press reports over nuclear safety concerns.
The "Guardian" newspaper said that documents obtained by Greenpeace under
Freedom of Information legislation "show the Nuclear Safety Directorate (NSD)
has issued warnings over the deterioration of reactor cores at Hinkley Point B
in Somerset and other British nuclear plants."
But BE said that the documents "reflect are only a fragment of the
on-going dialog that British Energy has with its regulator the NII." The UK's
nuclear industry is regulated by the Nuclear Industries Inspectorate, while
safety issues are under the purview of the Health and Safety Executive's NSD.
Pearce said "The bottom line is that we can't run a reactor unless the NII
approves the safety case."
The papers are from an HSE safety assessment of Hinkley completed in
April. But in a statement released Wednesday, the HSE said: "Matters have
moved on since April and British Energy has provided new evidence in support
of the reactor core safety case. If HSE were not confident in the safety of
the reactor cores we would not allow the reactors to operate."
Greenpeace published a report Wednesday by engineering consultant John
Large, who analyzed the documents. He said it was "quite clear that the
graphite cores of Hinkley Point and at least a further 6 reactors, possibly
all 14 AGR reactors, have developed and continue to develop structural damage
to individual bricks in the fueled section of the reactor." Large added that
the damage was "not fully understood by both NSD and BE."
But BE said "It is accepted by the NII and the industry in general that
cracks will occur in some of the bricks as part of the normal ageing process
within the graphite reactor core. This is a phenomenon known about and
anticipated for within the safety case."
The nuclear operator said that reactor cares are "tolerant to such
cracking" and added that the cracks had not changed "the fuel and control rod
channel profiles" at Hinkley Point B. It said "This is after 30 years of safe,
reliable generation."
Stephen Tindale, executive director of Greenpeace called for the reactors
to be shut down. "It is clear that Tony Blair should shut these dangerous
reactors down," he said "Yet it's almost as if he feels that having to turn
off AGR nuclear plants to prevent a nuclear accident might be problematic just
before he formally announces his staggeringly irresponsible plan to build even
more nuclear plants."
Greenpeace cited John Large's report as evidence of the need to shut down
the plants. In his conclusion, Large said: "In view of the increased risk
presented by continued operation of these nuclear plants, the reactors should
be immediately shut down and remain so until a robust nuclear safety case free
of such uncertainties has been established."
But when asked about this claim by Platts, BE's Pearce said "He is
absolutely right, which is why we have a robust safety case in place, which
has already been approved by the NII."
HSE spokesman Martin Wheeler said "We do not gamble with public safety."
He added that HSE refutes Greenpeace's claims that there were any political
moves to reduce scrutiny, and said that the executive is an independent body.
"We take a great deal of regulatory scrutiny ... It is incorrect to say
that no one is doing anything about it. We have put pressure on BE to review
the safety issue," he said.
Wheeler said that HSE inspector's views, as given in the safety
assessments, had been "taken out of context." "The point the inspector was
trying to make is that the longer the reactors operate without confirmatory
inspections, the less certainty there is in what the rate of cracking is," he
added.
But BE has taken actions to improve the safety situation further since
April, Wheeler said. The nuclear operator is now doing "online monitoring" of
its reactor cores, meaning that the cores were being checked even while plants
were in operation.
The risks involved are not as great as might be thought, either. Wheeler
said: "The potential event is not a meltdown, but impairment of a single
control rod or increased heat in the fuel."

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