nuclear-news

Way behind schedule – UK’s planned nuclear reactors

the companies behind the designs – French consortium Areva, EDF and US firm Westinghouse – had been repeatedly submitting information which was incomplete and late………we could be faced with the farcical situation where the government is letting utilities press ahead with building work for reactors that haven’t been given safety approval.”

UK’s nuclear reactor programme falls behind schedule. Regulator and builders blame each other for construction hold-up as designs await approval Tim Webb , guardian.co.uk, ,  25 August 2010 The schedule for the UK’s nuclear reactor building programme has slipped behind already, the safety regulator has admitted, reinforcing concerns that the first reactor will not be built on time.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) said it would probably have to issue an “interim” decision on the safety of the two new proposed reactor designs next June, the deadline for its assessment programme. The regulator expects significant chunks of extra work will remain before it can finally approve or reject the designs, but did not say how long this would take.

Kevin Allars, director of the assessment programme at the HSE, said that companies could continue planning and carry out preparatory construction on proposed nuclear sites while they waited for a final decision. But he insisted that construction of a reactor could not start without its consent.

Allars promised there would be no repeat of the chaotic construction in Finland of what was supposed to be Europe’s first new reactor in decades. The Areva plant is more than three years behind schedule and more than €2bn (£1.6bn) over budget, with the Finnish regulator trying to approve each component of the design while it is being built. EDF has promised that the UK’s first reactor will be operational in 2018, although it had originally said it would be running by the end of 2017.

The HSE said the companies behind the designs – French consortium Areva, EDF and US firm Westinghouse – had been repeatedly submitting information which was incomplete and late………

A Greenpeace spokesman said: “The generic design assessment [GDA] process has already unearthed a string of nasty surprises within the new nuclear reactors’ designs. But now we find out GDA won’t even be able to give a final green light to the reactor designs. This means we could be faced with the farcical situation where the government is letting utilities press ahead with building work for reactors that haven’t been given safety approval.”

UK’s nuclear reactor programme falls behind as designs await safety approval | Business | The Guardian

August 26, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | technology, UK | antinuclear, EDF, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, reactors, Westinghouse