Hinkley Point power station near Burnham-On-Sea will re-open in January, it was announced by British Energy on Friday.
As previously reported, both the station’s two advanced gas-cooled reactors are currently shut down after cracks were found in a reactor’s graphite core and in boiler pipes.
While British Energy confirmed that the reactors would return to action at the start of 2007, it also said they would generate only 70 per cent of their normal capacity.
This is to reduce wear on the plant, it said, which normally produces 3 per cent of the whole UK’s electricity.
Burnham-based campaigners have expressed their concerns about the re-opening of the station.
Angela Wicks from the Parents Concerned About Hinkley group said in a recent statement: “The station is 30 years old and clearly at the end of its life.”
“We should not put profits above public safety. The station should be closed down permanently and we should look at cleaner and safer ways of getting our energy in future. We owe this to our children.”
But British Energy says that the cracks are within its safety plan and the decommissioning date for the station remains 2011.
A statement from the company stated: “The graphite cores are made up of a number of graphite bricks arranged in layers. It is accepted… that cracks will occur in some of the bricks as part of the normal aging process within the graphite reactor core.”
RELATED LINKS:
Parents group calls for permanent closure of Hinkley Point
Hinkley Point ‘may never re-open’ say campaigners
Cracks in boiler pipes force temporary closure of Hinkley Point
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Hinkley gas release ‘posed no risk’ to people in Burnham
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