NFLA Policy Briefing 313: Correspondence with the Nuclear Regulator over AGR Extensions
We note the recent EDF press release stating that a decision to life-extend
all four remaining AGR stations has been taken by EDF with Heysham 1 and
Hartlepool extended to 2027 and Heysham 2 and Torness extended to 2030.
The ONR site says for Heysham 1 and Hartlepool that: ‘EDF have recently
communicated their decision [March 2023] to extend the generating lifetime
of the station to March 2026, subject to an adequate demonstration of
safety.’ But there is no further information on whether an adequate
demonstration of safety has been submitted and assessed, and no mention of
extension to 2027.
For the other two AGR stations, no mention is made on
the ONR site of EDF’s intention to life-extend the plants, and the EDF and
the ONR sites give a forecast end of generation as 2028 for the two AGRs.
On your questions regarding EDF’s press release, the results of the EDF
inspections indicated that the graphite cores remained within the
limitations of the current safety cases.
The results of these inspections
have not been published by EDF. These inspections informed EDF’s commercial
judgement to pursue lifetime extensions; it is not within ONR’s scope of
regulation to consider the commercial viability of the life extension of
these reactors.
It is likely that EDF will require new safety cases to
justify operation to the specified end of generation dates and these will
be considered by ONR as part of normal regulatory activities.
NFLA 19th Feb 2025, https://www.nuclearpolicy.info/briefings/nfla-policy-briefing-313-correspondence-with-the-nuclear-regulator-over-agr-extensions/
Rolls-Royce ‘resists pressure’ to put Czech parts in mini-nuclear reactors.
British engineering giant urged to award contract to Skoda
despite leaning towards Korean company. Rolls-Royce is under pressure to
buy Czech parts for its pioneering mini-nuclear power stations after
striking a deal with Prague to build a generator in the country.
The British engineering giant revealed in October that CEZ, the Czech state
energy company, had placed the first order for its small modular reactors
(SMRs) and was taking a minority stake in the venture as well. It was
hailed as a landmark deal that would see the Czech Republic benefit from
being part of the technology’s supply chain.
But according to local media
reports, Rolls and CEZ are in disagreement about where to source key
components from. CEZ has reportedly been pushing for its subsidiary Skoda
JS – a former part of the Skoda Works empire that is now separate to the
car company of the same name – to be awarded the contract to manufacture
reactor pressure vessels, according to Czech newspaper Ekonomicky denik.
However, the report claimed that Rolls is pushing for Doosan, in South
Korea, to be given the work instead because it can do a better job for a
lower price. Rolls was also said to be frustrated that CEZ had not agreed
to post engineers to Britain to help finish the company’s SMR designs.
Telegraph 18th Feb 2025
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/02/18/rolls-royce-resists-pressure-put-skoda-parts-mini-nukes/
Nuclear waste dump agency pumps money into community projects in Mablethorpe
By Richard Silverwood
The organisation behind plans for a possible nuclear waste
dump in the Louth or Mablethorpe areas is continuing to pump money into
important community projects there. Nuclear Waste Services (NWS), a
government agency that specialises in the management of radioactive waste,
has earmarked Lincolnshire or Cumbria as the location for the dump, known
as a GDF (geological disposal facility).
Two potential sites – a former gas terminal at Theddlethorpe, near Mablethorpe, and agricultural land close to the villages of Hayton le Marsh and Great Carlton, near Louth –
have been mooted – and both have attracted widespread opposition.
Lincolnshire World 17th Feb 2025, https://www.lincolnshireworld.com/news/people/nuclear-waste-dump-agency-pumps-money-into-community-projects-in-mablethorpe-4995509
Uncertain nuclear partnership between ČEZ and Rolls-Royce.
Negotiations between ČEZ and Rolls-Royce
on cooperation are starting to falter. Negotiations on the capital
investment of the CEZ Group in the British company Rolls-Royce SMR and
subsequent cooperation on the development and construction of modular
reactors are not going smoothly.
On the contrary, according to two
well-informed sources of the Economic Daily, the negotiations are starting
to falter. The Czechs and the British have different expectations, for
example, regarding where the production of the main parts of the reactor
will be located – whether in the Pilsen-based Škoda JS or in Korea.
According to one source, the British claim that the best option would be to
outsource the production of pressure vessels, steam generators and other
large parts to the Korean Doosan; they are said to be able to produce them
cheaper and better than anyone in Europe. On the other hand, ČEZ is trying
to properly utilize the capacities of the manufacturing and engineering
company Škoda JS, which it took over at the end of 2022. It would like to
produce pressure vessels, internal parts of the reactor and other equipment
in Pilsen.
This is a lot of money, and supplies for up to dozens of
reactors are at stake. One of the sources contacted points to another point
of contention. Rolls-Royce management expected active participation of
Czech experts in completing the design of the 470-megawatt modular reactor.
However, ČEZ and its subsidiaries are keeping the shortage of nuclear
engineering experts “at home” and do not want to send them to Britain
for several years.
Ekonomicky Denik 17th Feb 2025
Amazon-backed nuclear power developer X-Energy threatens to move investment away from UK
Amazon-backed nuclear power developer X-Energy delivered a potential blow
over the weekend by threatening to move investment earmarked for its first
next-generation plants in the UK elsewhere unless the government sets out a
clear regulatory and financial route to market, The Times reported this
morning. “We would like to go big in Europe from a base in the UK but we
don’t have to do a base in the UK,” said X-Energy’s chief executive Clay
Sell.
“We’ve got to get real and we’ve got to get going, otherwise we’re
going to go someplace else.” Based in Maryland in the United States, the
firm is reported to be in discussions with French energy group EDF to build
one or more units on the site of the Hartlepool nuclear power plant, which
is due to be decommissioned in 2027. X-Energy recently closed a $700m
funding round anchored by Amazon, as part of a broader partnership to bring
5GW of power on stream by 2039. However, Clay reportedly said he remains
“very optimistic” that it could get its 80MW modular reactors – which can
be scaled into “four pack” 320MW plant – built in the UK.
Business Green 17th Feb 2025
Louth MP welcomes council’s decision to pull out of nuclear waste dump group
By Richard Silverwood, 17th Feb 2025,
Louth’s MP has welcomed the key decision by a council to pull out of the
group central to plans for a nuclear waste dump. The Theddlethorpe
Community Partnership has been set up by Nuclear Waste Services (NWS), the
government agency that has earmarked two possible East Lindsey locations
for the dump, known as a GDF (geological disposal facility). Its purpose is
to explain the proposals to residents and councillors, and to persuade them
that the GDF would be safe and secure in the Lincolnshire area. Coun Craig
Leyland, the Conservative leader of the council, said this was a blatant
switch from a ‘brownfield’ site and “would scar several kilometres of
farmland on the margins of the Lincolnshire Wolds”. Now MP Victoria
Atkins has echoed this view. She said: “When the latest proposals were
revealed by NWS, I immediately called a meeting with Coun Leyland and Coun
Martin Hill, the leader of Lincolnshire County Council, to reiterate local
residents’ opposition to a dump.
Lincolnshire World 17th Feb 2025
Pioneering micro nuclear reactors to be built in Britain.
Major test for UK’s energy policy as four reactors planned on site of former power
station in Wales. Britain’s first “micro” nuclear reactors are to be
built on the site of a former coal-fired power station in south Wales. Four
reactors will be installed at the decommissioned Llynfi power station in
Bridgend under the proposals, each generating up to 20 megawatts (MW) of
electricity. These will be assembled in modules after being produced in a
factory off-site. The 14-acre project is being overseen by Last Energy, a
Washington-headquartered business, in a major early test for the
Government’s green energy policy. It will be the first new UK location to
house a commercial nuclear power reactor since the Torness nuclear power
station in East Lothian in 1978. Until now, modern UK nuclear projects have
been built on sites previously occupied by an earlier plant.
Telegraph 17th Feb 2025
Starmer’s nuclear reactors won’t be small, cheap or popular
David Elliott and Arthur Stansfield on Labour’s plans for expanding nuclear power plants, https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/feb/16/starmers-nuclear-reactors-wont-be-small-cheap-or-popular
Labour’s plan for siting small nuclear reactor plants around the country (Keir Starmer unveils plan for large nuclear expansion across England and Wales, 6 February) feels almost like something Donald Trump would come up with. The reality is that they would not be small – for example, the system being developed by Rolls-Royce is 470 megawatts, larger than most of the old, now closed, magnox reactors that were built in the UK in the 1960s.
And they will not be cheap – even backers, like the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, have admitted that they “could have higher costs per MW compared to gigawatt-scale reactors”. And there would be a range of safety- and security-risk issues with local deployment, adding to the cost – nuclear plants are usually located in remote sites. Will many people want one near them? By comparison, with costs falling, public support for renewables, like solar and offshore wind, has never been higher.
David Elliott
Emeritus professor of technology policy, the Open University
UK’s first new nuclear site since the 1970s begins licensing
China Daily By Bloomberg, February 17, 2025
The UK’s first new location for a commercial nuclear power plant since the 1970s is undergoing licensing from the country’s regulator, at a time when the government is making it easier to approve new projects.
Last Energy Inc’s microreactors are set to be built at a site of a former coal plant in South Wales. That would mark the first new site for a commercial reactor to begin licensing since 1978, as all projects since then have been built at locations on or next to sites that have had a plant there, the firm said…….
The government is taking steps to make it easier to approve and build nuclear plants, with an overhaul of planning rules giving developers more freedom over where they can build. Last Energy’s site still needs to be approved by the Office for Nuclear Regulation………….. https://www.chinadailyhk.com/hk/article/604745
Ancient historic sites under threat from South Copeland nuke waste dump.
The Nuclear Free Local Authorities have written to the prisons’ minister
seeking a government guarantee that Haverigg Prison, will remain open, and
local jobs saved, were the nuclear waste dump to be built in South
Copeland.
Nuclear Waste Services have recently identified ‘Areas of
Focus’ in each of the three Search Areas which are being investigated for
their potential to host a Geological Disposal Facility. The GDF shall be
the eventual ‘forever’ repository for Britain’s stockpile of legacy
and future high-level nuclear waste. The facility will require a surface
site which shall receive waste shipments before they are taken beyond
ground and out through tunnels under the seabed.
One of these ‘Areas of Focus’, designated ‘West of Haverigg’, wraps around the prison site.
In his letter to Lord Timpson, the Chair of the NFLAs, Councillor Lawrence
O’Neill, identifies that over 200 staff work at the prison, including
over 100 from the local area, and that many local businesses also supply
goods and services to HMP Haverigg.
NFLA 18th Feb 2025 https://www.nuclearpolicy.info/news/can-there-be-any-guaranteed-future-for-haverigg-prison/
So Called Small Modular Reactors Would Be Nuclear Nightmares
Stanford-led research found that small modular reactors would exacerbate challenges of highly radioactive nuclear waste “We found that small modular reactors will generate at least nine times more neutron-activated steel than conventional power plants. These radioactive materials have to be carefully managed prior to disposal, which will be expensive.”
Note they took the word “Nuclear” out rather like the Geological Disposal Facility, lets not scare the horses!
Marianne Birkby, Radiation Free Lakeland 16th Feb 2025
There was an excellent letter in the Westmorland Gazette this week, a newspaper covering the South Cumbria area.
The letter from Philip Gilligan of South Lakeland and Lancaster District CND points out that the so called Small Modular Reactors would produce nuclear waste. This is true and bad enough but only tells part of the story. The waste from these new reactors would be far more dangerous than from existing reactors. Stanford-led research found that small modular reactors would exacerbate challenges of highly radioactive nuclear waste “We found that small modular reactors will generate at least nine times more neutron-activated steel than conventional power plants. These radioactive materials have to be carefully managed prior to disposal, which will be expensive.”
The study also found that the spent nuclear fuel from small modular reactors will be discharged in greater volumes per unit energy extracted and can be far more complex than the spent fuel discharged from existing power plants. Along with the increased radioactive wastes each site would require the presence of armed police from the Civil Nuclear Constabulary. As Noel Wauchope writes on the Australian Independent Media Network …
‘New Civil Engineer brought up a few points that have escaped notice, following the publication of the draft National Policy Statement for nuclear energy generation (EN-7) They note that; “Despite EN-7 being 64 pages, just two lines are dedicated to specifically addressing the security of SMRs.”
The new regulations for SMRs would allow for many new nuclear sites near communities.………… https://radiationfreelakeland.substack.com/p/so-called-small-modular-reactors
Starmer’s shortsighted push for more nuclear power.
So Starmer is going to sweep opposition aside in his shortsighted push for more nuclear power. Two good reasons why no nuclear power stations have been built since Sizewell B are the exorbitant cost and the impossibility of safe disposal of nuclear waste.
The nuclear industry is very good at promises, but poor on delivery. The size of nuclear power stations increased to get the savings of scale. We now see the nuclear industry rehashing technologies that were long abandoned because of cost or because the technology was too difficult.
Unbelievably, Sizewell C is progressing at pace and has been for two years, despite no investment decision having been made and an inadequate supply of water. We must not forget that the result of the inquiry recommended refusal of the development consent order application, but was overridden by the minister of state.
Arthur Stansfield
Wickham Market, Suffolk
Guardian 16th Feb 2025, https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/feb/16/starmers-nuclear-reactors-wont-be-small-cheap-or-popular
There really ARE necessary nuclear industry jobs – IN DEMOLISHING NUCLEAR REACTORS!
Dounreay to take on 23 new apprentices
One of Britain’s most complex environmental restoration projects is taking on 23 new apprentices.
Nuclear Restoration Services and Nuclear Decommissioning Authority 13 February 2025,
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/dounreay-to-take-on-23-new-apprentices
The decommissioning of the former centre of fast reactor research and development at Dounreay is continuing to create long-term opportunities for young people.
Applications are open for the next intake of apprentices, with 23 places in total available.
The apprenticeships are in engineering trades, engineering design, construction scaffolding, construction painting, business administration and project management, and vary in length from two years to four years.
The closing date for applications is 14 to 21 February, with start dates in August.
Dounreay’s operator, Nuclear Restoration Services, is also in the process of recruiting 9 health physics surveyor trainees.
Their 2-year training programme equips them with an NVQ Level 2 Diploma in Radiological Protection.
Dounreay also has 15 places this year for graduate recruitment. Applications for these posts closed on 6 January.
More information about the opportunities at Dounreay can be found at the site’s careers website at www.dounreaycareers.com.
Dounreay has a long and proud history of high-quality training for young people across a wide range of disciplines and I’m delighted we are able to continue this during the decommissioning phase of the site,
said Dave Wilson, managing director of NRS Dounreay.
The site is complex, its decommissioning is challenging and we can offer superb training and development opportunities at the cutting edge of science and engineering.
UK Government urged to scrap nuclear weapons ‘once and for all’
While our armed forces wrestle with two decades of cuts, the UK Labour Government is determined to waste more than £100 billion on nuclear weapons over the next decade.
By Lucy Jackson, Multimedia Journalist, The National 15th Feb 2025
THE UK Government has been urged to scrap its nuclear weapons arsenal “once and for all” amid concerns the country’s defence capability is in a “woeful state”.
It comes after a former head of the army urged Keir Starmer to commit to defence spending or “be consigned” to “the bin of history”.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4, ex-chief of the general staff Lord Dannatt said defence spending should rise to a 3.5% share of the economy.
The UK currently spends around 2.3% of gross domestic product on defence, a figure the UK Government wants to increase to 2.5%.
Dannatt said: “Unless Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves can find ways of producing more money, well beyond 2.5%, towards 3% or 3.5% for starters on our defence budget, then this strategic defence review is going to be hollow, it’s going to be a failure and, frankly, it’ll consign Keir Starmer to the bin of history.
“Our military is so run down at the present moment, numerically and as far as capability and equipment is concerned, it would potentially be quite embarrassing.”
The SNP have backed calls for defence spending to be increased to at least 2.5%.
However, the party called for the UK Government to scrap its nuclear weapons defence enterprise “once and for all”.
The UK’s nuclear weapons arsenal is stored in Scotland at HM Naval Base Clyde, west of Glasgow. Submarines are based at Faslane, while nuclear warheads are stored, processed and maintained at the nearby Royal Naval Armaments Depot at Coulport.
The party’s Westminster defence spokesperson, Dave Doogan, said Britain’s defence capability was in a “woeful state”.
Doogan told The National: “As insecurity and conflict foment across the world, including here in Europe, the comments from Lord Dannatt are incredibly concerning and reveal the woeful state of Britain’s defence capability.
“While our armed forces wrestle with two decades of cuts, the UK Labour Government is determined to waste more than £100 billion on nuclear weapons over the next decade.
“With the UK’s nuclear weapon vanity obsession hanging like a millstone around our conventional forces’ budget, the Labour Government should for once do the right thing and scrap the defence nuclear enterprise once and for all.”……………………. https://www.thenational.scot/news/24938558.uk-government-urged-scrap-nuclear-weapons-once-all/
Green power- not for us?
Renew Extra 15th Feb 2025
The Social Market Foundation, a cross-party think-tank, says that 48% of UK survey respondents felt the ‘green transition’ was ‘happening to them, not with them’. And 63% thought it wouldn’t work anyway. Certainly there has been some opposition to some green polices, and there have been claims that Starmer’s plan to remove ‘infrastructure blockers’, for example local objectors to green energy projects like wind and solar farms, and the extra grid links needed for them, could backfire. Although Labours plans for ‘pushing past nimbyism’ and putting many new small nuclear plants around the country could also attract fierce local opposition. In this case, small isn’t green- indeed, as well as potentially costing more, SMRs may actually increase security, safety and waste management problem. Lots of issues there too then…………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………… for the present, wind, on and offshore, and solar, large and small, are by far the main contenders for UK power supply, with wind, now at 30% of UK power, already overtaking natural gas. That’s good news, but, as David Toke has noted, with heat supply still not seriously being addressed, if we really do want to get to net zero soon, then the pressure will be on to get all the existing renewable options expanding even more rapidly- along with storage. And, I would add, also getting inputs from new sources like tidal turbines as fast as possible. As well as paying proper attention to energy saving and energy efficiency- the cash and carbon saving option that few oppose, but sadly too few actually adopt. https://renewextraweekly.blogspot.com/2025/02/green-power-not-for-us.html
1 This Month
22 June – Virtual Event –Climate Change: New Data, New Debate
Monday, June 22, 2026 2:30 p.m. – 3:15 p.m. CT
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25 June- THE PUKE ON NUKES
Thursday, June 25, 2026
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From NRC & DOE Deregulation to Techno-Fascist Billionaires Going Nuclear, Plus a Few Songs from Atomic Cabaret REGISTER
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Cuba Is Not a Failed State – It Is a Besieged State
PETITION: “Global Appeal to Endorse Palestinian Right of Return of Refugees”
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