| The progress of the UK government's
nuclear power expansion plans has been dealt a blow recently
after experts raised a raft of safety concerns about two proposed
reactors.
Health and safety experts said they had identified a "significant"
number of issues over the designs of the French and American
reactors set to power a new generation of UK plants in the
next decade.
In reports
on the assessment of the French EPR and US AP1000 designs,
the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) said there was a much
more "detailed work" to do before they could be approved for
use.
The HSE
said of both units - "We have identified a significant number
of issues with the safety features ... that would first have
to be progressed. If these are not progressed satisfactorily,
then we would not issue a design acceptance confirmation."
Among the criticisms raised, experts said there were significant
concerns about EPR's proposed architecture and that improvements
were required for "hazard barriers".
Other issues relating to the reactor's structural integrity
were also addressed, with the report saying it was "too early
to say whether they could be resolved solely with additional
safety case changes or whether they may result in design modifications
being necessary".
The safety case of the AP1000's internal hazards also showed
"significant shortfalls", it was found.
The HSE's assessment work is due to be completed within
a year-and-a-half, but one industry expert suggested a delay
of up to three years was possible.
Kevin Allars, a nuclear assessment director at the HSE,
highlighted shortages of information about the new reactors
from their manufacturers. He said - "Despite some initial
resource shortages in some technical areas, we have made good
progress on our assessment and we have identified issues that
require further work.
"We are now at the stage of discussing these issues with
the design companies, who are putting in place plans to resolve
them. If we are to complete (design assessment) by the target
date of June 2011, we will need the design companies to work
with us proactively and to provide the high quality and timely
information we need."
UK government ministers have announced plans for 10 new
nuclear power stations to help offset the country's carbon
emissions. The first is set to be operational by 2018 - and,
by 2025, nuclear electricity generation could amount to around
40% of new energy provision.
The announcements were coupled with moves aimed at speeding
up planning decisions on new energy projects aimed at cutting
decisions to one year.
John Large, a leading nuclear consultant, aired the possibility
of the HSE delaying the designs acceptance by up to three
years. He said - "The HSE, as an independent agency, will
come under tremendous pressure to push through these designs.
But if it stands up to (the) government and stops or delays
these designs for two or three years until it is satisfied,
then developers could lose interest and we could fall behind
in the queue of countries waiting to build nuclear."
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