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06/10/2014
Cracks Found In Reactor At Nuclear Power Station
New cracks have been discovered in one of the reactors at Hunterstob B nuclear power station in North Ayrshire.
Two of the 6,000 graphite bricks are cracked.
EDF Energy, the plants operator, said the crack was predicted.
Colin Weir, Station Director at Hunterston B said: "Every time we take the reactor out of service for planned maintenance we inspect the graphite core which is made up of around 6,000 bricks. During the current Hunterston outage we found two bricks with a new crack which is what we predicted during Hunterston B's lifetime as a result of extensive research and modelling. It will not affect the operation of this reactor and we also expect that a few additional cracks will occur during the next period of operation. The small number of cracked bricks found during routine inspection is in line with our expectations, the findings have no safety implications and are well within any limits for safe operation agreed with our regulator."
(CD/IT)
Two of the 6,000 graphite bricks are cracked.
EDF Energy, the plants operator, said the crack was predicted.
Colin Weir, Station Director at Hunterston B said: "Every time we take the reactor out of service for planned maintenance we inspect the graphite core which is made up of around 6,000 bricks. During the current Hunterston outage we found two bricks with a new crack which is what we predicted during Hunterston B's lifetime as a result of extensive research and modelling. It will not affect the operation of this reactor and we also expect that a few additional cracks will occur during the next period of operation. The small number of cracked bricks found during routine inspection is in line with our expectations, the findings have no safety implications and are well within any limits for safe operation agreed with our regulator."
(CD/IT)
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Northern Ireland WeatherThis Evening and Tonight:Dry with clear skies this evening. Patchy cloud will increase at times overnight, but some clear spells too. Light winds and some patchy shallow mist or fog towards dawn. Minimum temperature 2 °C.
