nuclear-news

Hinkley Point B leaves radioactive waste to be expensively managed for many generations to come.

 FRENCH-owned EDF Energy has formally switched off Hinkley Point B’s
second reactor, a nuclear power station in the UK that has generated more
electricity than any other during its 46 years of service. The closure of
the plant at Bridgwater, Somerset, on 1 August, has prompted concerns that
the cost of energy in the UK will have to rise.

Hinkley Point B had been
expected to close in March next year, after EDF announced in 2012 that it
would extend the generating life of the plant by seven years from 2016.
However in November 2020, the energy firm said it had made the “proactive
decision” to move the nuclear power plant into the defuelling phase – the
first stage of the nuclear decommissioning process – no later than 15
July 2022.

Local campaigner Roy Pumfrey, said that Monday’s closure
should “not be a day to celebrate the life of [Hinkley Point B]…Rather,
it’s a day to mourn the production of radioactive waste that is going to
have to be carefully and expensively managed and monitored for many
generations to come.”

 Chemical Engineer 2nd Aug 2022

https://www.thechemicalengineer.com/news/hinkley-point-b-nuclear-power-station-closes/

August 1, 2022 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | UK, wastes