New design center supports construction of Hinkley Point CNuclear NewsPower & OperationsJuly 21, 2020, 9:38AM|Nuclear News StaffUK EPR Design Centre, Bristol, England. Image: EDF EnergyEDF Energy has opened a new engineering design facility in Bristol, England, to support the next phase of construction at the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station in Somerset, the company announced on July 14. The UK EPR Design Centre at Aztec West brings together nuclear designers and engineers from EDF and British engineering partners and suppliers, including Framatome UK, Atkins, Jacobs, Assystem, Anotech, and Vulcain, the announcement said.About 700 people from the United Kingdom and elsewhere will be employed at the center by 2021, according to EDF. The company also estimates that the center will bring an additional 300 jobs to Britain to support the design, construction, and commissioning of EPR reactors at Hinkley Point C and at the proposed Sizewell C station in Suffolk. Last month, Blackburn-based Assystem announced the creation of 100 jobs in the United Kingdom to support the construction of Hinkley Point C.What they’re saying: “The UK EPR Design Centre creates a collaborative environment with key strategic partners to grow the U.K.’s design engineering long-term capability and skills,” said Tilly Spencer, director of Edvance UK, a joint subsidiary of EDF and Framatome, who is leading the center. “We are bringing together a diverse group of people with the right skills and experience of the U.K. context and global nuclear industry, which will help us as we move into the next phases of construction at Hinkley Point C and look ahead to replicate not only the design, but also the learnings, at Sizewell.”Background: In September 2008, French utility Électricité de France announced that it had agreed to a takeover of British Energy (which became EDF Energy), operator of Hinkley Point B, a nuclear power station in Somerset with two gas-cooled reactors, and that it was planning to build an adjacent power station, Hinkley Point C, which would house two 1,630-MWe EPRs. The U.K. government approved the project in September 2016, following a favorable vote by the Électricité de France board. Hinkley Point Units C1 and C2 are scheduled to begin commercial operation in 2025 and 2026, respectively. If completed, they will be the first new nuclear units in the United Kingdom since Sizewell B began commercial operation in 1995.Tags:edfeprhinkley pointsizewellShare:LinkedInTwitterFacebook
Delay, cost increase announced for U.K. nuclear projectPerspex screens and reduced seating capacity in the Hinkley Point canteens help protect the workforce during breaks, EDF Energy said. Photo: EDF EnergyThe unfortunate effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on nuclear new-build projects haven’t stopped with Vogtle: EDF Energy this morning reported that the expected startup date for Unit 1 at its Hinkley Point C site is being pushed from late 2025 to June 2026.In addition, the project’s completion costs are now estimated to be in the range of £22 billion to £23 billion (about $30.2 billion to $31.5 billion), some £500 million (about $686 million) more than the 2019 estimate, EDF said, adding the caveat that these revisions assume an ability to begin a return to normal site conditions by the second quarter of 2021.Go to Article
Proposed Czech unit won’t be built by ChinaCzech Republic political parties have agreed to exclude China from participating in a tender to build an additional reactor at the Dukovany nuclear plant but have yet to decide whether to allow Russian participation, according to a report last week from Reuters.Other bidders on the project, estimated to be worth some €6 billion (about $7.2 billion), include Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power of South Korea, EDF of France, and Westinghouse of the United States.Go to Article
Hinkley Point B to be retired earlier than plannedHinkley Point B, in Somerset, England. Photo: EDF EnergyEDF Energy has made a “proactive decision” to move Britain’s Hinkley Point B power station into its defueling phase no later than July 15, 2022—some eight months earlier than previously scheduled—the company announced on November 19.The two-unit plant, located in Somerset, England, began generating electricity in 1976 and has since produced more than 300 TWh of power, enough to meet the electricity requirements of every home in the United Kingdom for three years, according to EDF.Go to Article
Nuclear scores point in U.K. green planThe United Kingdom, the first of the world’s major economies to adopt a legally binding commitment to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, has released a blueprint to help realize that goal—one that includes a substantial role for nuclear energyThe Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution will mobilize a total of £12 billion (about $16 billion) of government investment to create and support up to 250,000 highly skilled green jobs in the United Kingdom and spur over three times as much private sector investment by 2030, according to the UK government on November 18.In addition to nuclear, offshore wind, hydrogen production, carbon capture, and vehicle electrification are also earmarked for significant investment in the 38-page document.Go to Article
BBC: U.K. government may be close to greenlighting Sizewell CArtist’s rendering of the Sizewell site, with Sizewell C at right. Image: EDF EnergyA BBC News story from late last week states that the U.K. government “is close to giving the green light” to EDF Energy’s proposed Sizewell C nuclear new build project in Suffolk, adding that details surrounding the project’s financing “are still being hammered out.”The Sizewell C station, consisting of twin European pressurized reactors (EPRs), would be built next to Sizewell B, a 1,198-MWe pressurized water reactor that began operation in 1995. (The Sizewell site also houses Sizewell A, a 290-MWe Magnox gas-cooled reactor, but that unit was permanently shuttered in 2006.) Sizewell C would be a near copy of the two-unit Hinkley Point C station, currently under construction in Somerset.Go to Article
To fight climate change, accept nuclear energy“The world needs a mix of renewable power sources, including one that can carry on producing power when the others can’t—the sun doesn’t always shine and the wind doesn’t always blow,” British journalist Jonathan Gornall writes in an opinion piece posted Wednesday on the Asia Times website. Gornall argues that the residents of Suffolk County in the United Kingdom would be better served by the expansion of the Sizewell nuclear power plant than by leaving a wooded area untouched.Go to Article
U.K. trade group debuts blueprint for lowering nuclear construction costsThe Nuclear Industry Association (NIA), the trade group for the United Kingdom’s civil nuclear industry, unveiled a new report yesterday that sets out a framework for cutting the cost of building new nuclear power plants in Britain.The 27-page report, Nuclear Sector Deal: Nuclear New Build Cost Reduction, is available online.Go to Article
Hunterston B Unit 3 to restart soon; plant to retire earlier than expectedWorkers on the fueling machine at Hunterston B. Photo: EDF EnergyEDF Energy has received approval from the United Kingdom’s Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) to restart the Hunterston B power station’s Unit 3 for a limited run, according to August 27 announcements from both the company and the regulator. EDF has permission to operate the unit for up to 16.425 terawatt days (approximately six months of operation), the ONR said.EDF also announced that Hunterston B—located in North Ayrshire, along the western coast of Scotland—will begin its defueling phase no later than January 7, 2022, more than a year earlier than the expected retirement date of March 2023. The decision, EDF said, was made following a series of executive board and shareholders meetings.Go to Article
Regulator releases report on Flamanville-3 pre-operational safetyThe Flamanville nuclear plant. Photo: EDFThe French nuclear safety authority, Autorité de Sûreté Nucléaire (ASN), has released an International Atomic Energy Agency report on a pre-operational safety review team (pre-OSART) mission conducted in 2019 at the Flamanville nuclear plant to review the safety status of its Unit 3 EPR reactor, currently under construction.According to the report, the pre-OSART mission at Flamanville-3 reviewed the following areas: leadership and management for safety, training and qualification, operations, maintenance, technical support, operating experience feedback, radiation protection, chemistry, emergency preparedness and response, accident management, human-technology-organization interaction, and commissioning. The review was performed by a team from Canada, Finland, Germany, Russia, Spain, Sweden, and the United States, along with IAEA staff members and observers from Russia and South Korea.Go to Article
EDF fined millions for disseminating misleading information about U.K. nuclear projectThe Enforcement Committee of the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF) has imposed a fine of €5 million (about $5.9 million) on Électricitéde France for providing false information about the Hinkley Point C new-build nuclear project in the United Kingdom. The committee has also imposed a €50,000 (about $59,000) fine on EDF’s former chairman and chief executive officer, Henri Proglio. According to a July 30 statement from the AMF, the false information was spread via an October 8, 2014, news release.The AMF is described on its website as an independent public authority that regulates the French financial marketplace and its participants.Go to Article