EXPERTS have warned reopening a UK nuclear plant could spark a major nuclear disaster after hundreds of cracks were discovered. Owners EDF Energy said on Friday it was confident Hunterston B in North Ayrshire would eventually resume service after it shut last year. After more than 350 cracks were discovered in the reactor’s graphite core […]
EXPERTS have warned reopening a UK nuclear plant could spark a major nuclear disaster after hundreds of cracks were discovered.
Owners EDF Energy said on Friday it was confident Hunterston B in North Ayrshire would eventually resume service after it shut last year.
After more than 350 cracks were discovered in the reactor’s graphite core a detailed investigation was carried out.
This found new “keyway root cracks” in the graphite blocks. A further 200 cracks were found in reactor four.
Despite this, the two Hunterston reactors are currently scheduled to return to service at the end of this month.
Hunterston began operating in 1976 and its working life has already been extended to 2023 – well beyond its planned closure date.
A spokesman for EDF Energy insisted: “Hunterston B will operate until 2023.”
However experts have raised concerns against restarting the reactors.
Dr Ian Fairlie, an independent consultant on radioactivity in the environment and Dr David Toke, reader in Energy Policy at the University of Aberdeen, said the power station must not be restarted.
They said: “The vital issue is that the current unstable state of the graphite moderator cores increases the possibility of a major nuclear accident.
“Although the probability of such an accident remains low, the consequences could be so severe, in other words the radioactive contamination and evacuation of both Glasgow and Edinburgh, that the risk should not be taken.
“It does not bear thinking about.”
Nuclear expert Professor Neil Hyatt told the Sun Online: “Hunterston B is an AGR (advanced gas cooler) reactor which is a completely different design from the RBMK reactors at Chernobyl, and there is simply no credible basis for a similar accident to occur.
“But we cannot get away from the fact that the AGR reactors are showing their age after more than 40 years in service and, ultimately, there will come a point where a safety case cannot be made for continued operation.
“All of these reactors will be shut down by 2030 – possibly earlier.
“The idea was that this reliable supply of affordable and low carbon electricity would be replaced by new nuclear power stations but this plan is now behind schedule and the UK is heading toward an energy crunch.”
Photos emerged earlier this year showing the cracks in the core of the nuclear reactor at the power station in north Scotland.
Peter Roche, campaigner and energy consultant, added: “Cracks could prevent control rods from being inserted causing the nuclear fuel to overheat, potentially resulting in a nuclear accident.
“Hunterston was only expected to operate for 30 or 35 years. It is clearly time to say goodbye to reactor three.’
The consequences could be so severe, in other words the radioactive contamination and evacuation of both Glasgow and Edinburgh, that the risk should not be taken
Dr Ian Fairlie and Dr David Toke
However EDF said it had carried out tests, including earthquake simulations, which showed the reactor would still work normally and allow control rods to shut down the reactor in case of an emergency.
The Office for Nuclear Regulation must be satisfied the reactors would be safe even in an extreme and unlikely earthquake scenario.
Station Director Colin Weir told BBC Scotland: “Nuclear safety is our overriding priority and reactor three has been off for the year so that we can do further inspections.
“We’ve carried out one of our biggest ever inspection campaigns on reactor three, we’ve renewed our modelling, we’ve done experiments and tests and we’ve analysed all the data from this to produce our safety case that we will submit to the Office for Nuclear Regulation.
“We have to demonstrate that the reactor will always shut down and that it will shut down in an extreme seismic event.”
He added: “We have demonstrated our operational allowance, we’ve demonstrated our safety allowance. This cliff edge is still to be demonstrated. It has got a huge safety margin before we are anywhere near a cliff edge.”
The plant can generate enough electricity to power more than 1.7 million homes, and is one of Britain’s eight nuclear plants which provide around 20 percent of the country’s electricity.
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