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Nuclear plants receive life extension |
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Monday, 20 December 2010 |
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The Nuclear Industry Association (NIA) has today warmly welcomed the announcement that two of the UK's fleet of 10 nuclear power stations will continue operation, producing more low-carbon secure electricity for the UK grid.
NIA Chief Executive Keith Parker commented: "Nuclear power provides some 18% of UK electricity, and is by far the largest current contributor of clean low-carbon energy to the UK mix".
He went on: "The fact that these stations can continue operating longer than had been anticipated is good news for our energy security, for our climate and for electricity users".
He also said: "The UK is driving towards a secure and low-carbon energy mix. A balance of renewables, fossil fuels with carbon capture and nuclear energy must be at the heart of our energy future".
The announcement from EDF Energy stated: Life extension of Hartlepool and Heysham 1 power stations
The Company announces that, having completed the necessary technical and economic evaluation and received the relevant external consents, the decision has been made to extend the lives of Hartlepool and Heysham 1 power stations by five years to 2019. This decision extends the life of these stations for accounting purposes to 35 years. Further studies will be conducted by 2016 regarding the potential for additional life extension beyond 2019.
Load was reduced on Heysham 1 Reactor 2 to approximately 80% of full load in October 2006 to reduce the surface temperature on an area within the reactor, known as the Hot Box Dome. It was disclosed in April 2010 that the degradation mechanism had the potential, if not resolved, to limit the output of the remaining reactors at Heysham 1 and Hartlepool below full load within three years. During 2010 Heysham 1 Reactor 2 has been running at approximately 70% of full load.
An established and dedicated team has continued to work towards resolving the issue and the company now believes that it has a solution which would allow load on Heysham 1 Reactor 2 to be increased to greater than 90% of full load and to significantly reduce the risk of future load restrictions over the extended life of the remaining reactors at Heysham1 and Hartlepool. The intention is to implement the solution during outages over the next few years.
The progress made on this issue has supported the decision to extend the lives of these power stations.
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