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EDF nuclear plants closed until winter amid blackout fears
French energy giant warns of delay in restarting nuclear reactors that were shut for safety checks
Concerns are rising over possible UK blackouts after EDF nuclear closure Photo: Alamy
By Emily Gosden, and Andrew Critchlow
11:30AM BST 04 Sep 2014
108 Comments
Two UK nuclear power plants that were shut down amid safety fears may not restart until late December, EDF Energy has warned, heightening the risk of blackouts this winter.
The French energy giant closed its reactors at Hartlepool and Heysham 1 in Lancashire in early August after discovering "unexpected cracking" in a boiler unit. It said at the time that safety checks could take two months.
But on Thursday it announced that the reactors, which produce enough power to meet more than 4pc of winter demand, would only be returned to service gradually between the end of October and late December.
"Dates for returning the stations to service depend on the findings and completion of the inspections," EDF Energy said.
The delay leaves Britain facing the first months of winter with significantly less power capacity than had been expected to help keep the lights on.
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Fears that the reactors' restart could be delayed emerged earlier this week when National Grid announced it was resorting to emergency measures to bolster power supplies by paying mothballed and idle power stations to fire up. Grid said at the time that EDF's investigations "may have an impact" on plant availability this winter.
The confirmed nuclear delay compounds a situation that is already far bleaker than had been expected just a few months ago due to the partial closure of two fire-damaged coal power plants and the planned closure of one unprofitable gas power plant.
In June, energy regulator Ofgem had estimated there would be between 2.7 gigawatts (GW) and 5.4GW of spare operational power plants on the system this winter - a capacity margin of 5pc-10pc over and above peak demand.
But the combined loss of the coal, gas and nuclear plants since then removes a further 3.7GW from the system, threatening to wipe out the spare margin and trigger shortages unless the mothballed old plants are brought back on.
EDF's nuclear plant shutdowns followed the discovery last winter of cracking on a boiler spine in one of the reactors at its Lancashire site. There are two reactors of the same design at each of Heysham 1 and Hartlepool, and each reactor has eight boilers.
EDF said that inspections were underway and it had so far inspected two boiler spines and found no defects.
Before it can restart any of the reactors it would need to complete inspections, "understand in detail the cause of the crack found on the boiler spine at Heysham 1", "develop detailed designs and techniques for modifications to mitigate the impact of any defects" and implement any such modifications.
British Gas owner Centrica, which owns a 20pc stake in EDF's UK nuclear fleet, said on Thursday that the delay would at least double and potentially treble the financial impact of the closures.
In August it had said its earnings per share this year were expected to reduce by 0.3p per share. But "on the basis of the latest estimates for returning the reactors to service, and the associated costs", it said this would now be between 0.6p and 0.9p per share.
French energy giant warns of delay in restarting nuclear reactors that were shut for safety checks
Concerns are rising over possible UK blackouts after EDF nuclear closure Photo: AlamyBy Emily Gosden, and Andrew Critchlow
11:30AM BST 04 Sep 2014
108 Comments Two UK nuclear power plants that were shut down amid safety fears may not restart until late December, EDF Energy has warned, heightening the risk of blackouts this winter.
The French energy giant closed its reactors at Hartlepool and Heysham 1 in Lancashire in early August after discovering "unexpected cracking" in a boiler unit. It said at the time that safety checks could take two months.
But on Thursday it announced that the reactors, which produce enough power to meet more than 4pc of winter demand, would only be returned to service gradually between the end of October and late December.
"Dates for returning the stations to service depend on the findings and completion of the inspections," EDF Energy said.
The delay leaves Britain facing the first months of winter with significantly less power capacity than had been expected to help keep the lights on.
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Fears that the reactors' restart could be delayed emerged earlier this week when National Grid announced it was resorting to emergency measures to bolster power supplies by paying mothballed and idle power stations to fire up. Grid said at the time that EDF's investigations "may have an impact" on plant availability this winter.
The confirmed nuclear delay compounds a situation that is already far bleaker than had been expected just a few months ago due to the partial closure of two fire-damaged coal power plants and the planned closure of one unprofitable gas power plant.
In June, energy regulator Ofgem had estimated there would be between 2.7 gigawatts (GW) and 5.4GW of spare operational power plants on the system this winter - a capacity margin of 5pc-10pc over and above peak demand.
But the combined loss of the coal, gas and nuclear plants since then removes a further 3.7GW from the system, threatening to wipe out the spare margin and trigger shortages unless the mothballed old plants are brought back on.
EDF's nuclear plant shutdowns followed the discovery last winter of cracking on a boiler spine in one of the reactors at its Lancashire site. There are two reactors of the same design at each of Heysham 1 and Hartlepool, and each reactor has eight boilers.
EDF said that inspections were underway and it had so far inspected two boiler spines and found no defects.
Before it can restart any of the reactors it would need to complete inspections, "understand in detail the cause of the crack found on the boiler spine at Heysham 1", "develop detailed designs and techniques for modifications to mitigate the impact of any defects" and implement any such modifications.
British Gas owner Centrica, which owns a 20pc stake in EDF's UK nuclear fleet, said on Thursday that the delay would at least double and potentially treble the financial impact of the closures.
In August it had said its earnings per share this year were expected to reduce by 0.3p per share. But "on the basis of the latest estimates for returning the reactors to service, and the associated costs", it said this would now be between 0.6p and 0.9p per share.
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