Fresh Cracks Found in UK Nuclear Plant

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RIA Novosti, PUBLISHED 08.10.2014

Fresh cracks have been discovered in one of the United Kingdom's nuclear power plants in Ayrshire, Scotland, as reported by the BBC.

Colin Weir, station director at the EDF Energy Hunterston B power plant, played down the severity of the cracks, saying “The small number of cracked bricks found during routine inspection is in line with our expectations; the findings have no safety implications and are well within any limits for safe operation agreed with our regulator."

According to Weir, the cracks were found in two of the 6,000 bricks which make up the graphite core of reactor 4. He said "During the outage we found two bricks with a new crack which is what we predicted during Hunterston B's lifetime as a result of extensive research and modelling.”

The reactor had been shut down since August 1for routine maintenance it is scheduled to undergo every three years. The reactor was restarted Sunday after an analysis was conducted on the potential dangers of the cracks to the nuclear reactor and was found to be insignificant by EDF and Britain’s Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR). According to Weir, the cracks “will not affect the operation of this reactor and we also expect that a few additional cracks will occur during the next period of operation.”

The Hunterston B nuclear power plant is powered by 2 advanced gas-cooled reactors and produces a total of 960MW. Construction began in 1968 and the plant became operational in 1976 and is scheduled to be decommissioned in 2023.

Topics: Safety, Europe, Great Britain

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