View on the ground

Hinkley Point

Hinkley Point is one of the eleven sites that could potentially host a new nuclear station included on the Government’s list published on 15th April 2009.

Home to two closed Magnox reactors (Hinkley Point A), owned by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, and two operating Advanced Gas-cooled Reactors (Hinkley Point B), owned by British Energy, on the Somerset coast between Minehead and Burnham-on-Sea.

According to the Department of Energy and Climate Change, EDF Energy, which now owns the majority share of British Energy, plans to build 6.4 gigawatts, at Hinkley and Sizewell. This would probably mean the construction of two 1.6GW European Pressurised Water Reactors at Hinkley.

British Energy held various public meetings in the area around Hinkley Point in October 2009.

Middlesex University Flood Hazard Research Centre looked at the effect of expected sea level rises and increases in storm surge over the next 200 years at Hinkley Point and concluded the site appears to be vulnerable. Defending the site is "likely to become economically unsustainable". It cannot be considered a suitable location for a new reactor.
 

Local group: Stop Hinkley Expansion

Expert questions EPR safety 

The UK's leading independent nuclear consultant questioned the engineering assumptions behind the safety claims at the proposed new reactors at Hinkley Point. Dr John Large, Director of Large & Associates, showed figures questionning EDF's confidence at a public meeting in Bridgwater on 13th October and cited highly radioactive 'high burn-up' fuel as potentially adding to the risks.

The fuel in an EPR would have double the radio-toxicity of Sizewell B, with 60,000 units compared to 30,000 units despite similar amounts of fuel: 130 tonnes compared to 110 tonnes.

He showed that his predictions for potential mortality and evacuation, using a standard model, collided with those of EDF who plan to build two giant 1600 megawatt reactors at Hinkley, the largest reactors in the world. He said they deny that a 'containment failure' could occur in their European Pressurised Reactors and that a lesser accident, a 'containment by-pass' would result in zero early deaths with just four 'late deaths' and 2,458 requiring evacuation.

Dr Large questionned EDF's optimism saying, "The bigger the reactor, the more advanced the fuel, the smaller the release fraction tolerable. The challenge for the French is the ability to engineer the containment and fuel to release less into the environment during the course of an accident than existing reactors would." He added "reactor designs have not had time to adjust to terrorism" arguing against EDF's claim that a determined terrorist could do no worse than a random natural event.

John Large's Presentation viewable on: http://www.largeassociates.com/PapersReports.htm

Stop Hinkley Report on John Large's presentation: http://stophinkley.org/EngRevu/Nuclear%20NO%20Build%20at%20Hinkleyv2.pdf

Last Updated 9 June 2009

This section of the website has been developed thanks to funding from Polden-Puckham Charitable Foundation.