British Energy to shut (nuclear) plants after finding cracks

[jpak]

http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/articlebusiness.aspx?type=businessNews&storyID=2006-10-16T161202Z_01_L22465390_RTRUKOC_0_UK-UTILITIES-BRITISHENERGY.xml

LONDON (Reuters) - British Energy said it would shut two nuclear reactors after finding cracked pipes at two other power stations, sending its shares down a quarter in value on Monday.

Britain's biggest power producer also said it was examining "a significant leak" in an underground cast iron pipe in the cooling water systems at Hartlepool, northeast England.

Asked about any risks to public safety, a spokesman said boiler tubes at Hinkley in western England and Hunterston in Scotland were cracked but not leaking, and that water leaking from the pipes in Hartlepool was "non-nuclear".

Finance Director Stephen Billingham, speaking to analysts on a conference call, said British Energy would now have to buy electricity in the wholesale market to fill its contracts.

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[JohnWxy]

1. Just a little glitch here, and there, and well, over there and oops ...

The firm, which has been hit by a string of glitches in recent years, said on Monday it had found cracking at its Hinkley Point B R3 plant was "at the high end of the range previously experienced".

"Whilst the level of boiler tube cracking is not as extensive as that at Hunterston B R3, the results indicate that early inspections of Hunterston B R4 and Hinkley B R4 are required," it said.
Output at the latter two plants has been cut while plans are made to shut down the units for inspections and any repair work.

British Energy had already said in August after previous unplanned outages that forecast output of 63 terawatt hours for the year to March 2007 looked "challenging" in the face of fresh unplanned stoppages.



Recommended.

[hunter]

2. Remember British cars of the 'seventies?

I do. This story is a little like that.

If these plants are comparable to modern nuclear plants, it is in exactly the same way that, say, an old Morris Marina is comparable to a modern Toyota Camry.



The news here is that British Energy wanted to keep these (to put it politely) quirky plants running.