Hinkley Point

Hinkley Point

Hinkley Point consists of two nuclear power stations.

Hinkley Point A consists of two Magnox reactors. Both reactors were shutdown in April 1999 to carry out reinforcement work following a Nuclear Installations Inspectorate Periodic Safety Review. Reactor 2 was returned to service in September 1999, but shut down on 3 December 1999 because of newly identified uncertainties in the reactor pressure vessel material properties. Because of the cost of remedying these problems, it was announced on 23 May 2000 that Hinkley Point A would be shutdown.

Hinkley Point B is an Advanced Gas-cooled Reactor (AGR) which was designed to generate 1250 MW of electricity (MWe).

In 2006 the station's reactors were closed for testing microscopic defects that had been found in similar reactors. Due to the fact it is ageing, it will, if it returns to full service, only generate 570 MW per reactor instead of the rated 625 MWe, in total producing 1140 MWe. However on 16 August 2006 the company warned that until a decision was made over whether to extend its usable life, it would operate at a maximum of 70 per cent load. Both reactors were subsequently restarted generating 420 MWe each, roughly 70% of full power. The number 4 reactor was cleared for restart by the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate on 11 May 2007. The power station current accounting closure date in 2016, though it could possibly be life-extended beyond that date.

In September 2008 it was announced, by Electricité de France (EDF) the new owners of Hinkley Point B, that a third, twin-unit European Pressurised Reactor (EPR) reactor is planned for Hinkley Point, to join Hinkley Point A (Magnox), which is now closed and being decommissioned, and the Hinkley Point B (AGR) which is due for closure in 2016.

On 18 October 2010 the British government announced that Hinkley Point was one of the eight sites it considered suitable for future nuclear power stations.

Map Point: 

Message to the Treasury

Last week it was reported in the Guardian and elsewhere that the Treasury was less than enthusiastic about the terms of the deal the British Government had entered into with EDF over the building of Hinkley C nuclear power station.

Because of this Kick Nuclear have decided to hold two leafletting sessions outside the Treasury underlining just how terrible a deal it is and congratulating them on their stand.

[ See Events for the times & place ]

This is the text of the leaflet which will be distributed: -

NO to Hinkley C and NO to Nuclear!

Nuclear New Build Forum 2014

On November 20th KN leafleted the Nuclear New Build Forum.

This is the text which was used.

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We're here today to ask you if building any more nuclear power plants is really such a good idea?

Japan has highlighted one of your industry's main problems by building 7 GW of solar in 2013 alone. That’s equivalent to about six nuclear power stations but built in only one year, while nuclear power stations take over 15 years to build!

Anti-Hinkley campaigners in EDF Energy “nuclear bulls**t" protest in Bridgwater, Somerset

From South West Against Nuclear:

http://southwestagainstnuclear.wordpress.com/2013/10/22/no-more-edf-bullst (Posted 22 October 2013)

EDF “nuclear bulls**t” protest

People protesting about public subsidies for a new Hinkley Point nuclear power station today dumped a pile of animal manure at an EDF shop in Bridgwater in Somerset. A banner was hung above the shop which read “No More Bullsxxt – EDF take our £££ and dump waste on us!”

HINKLEY POINT C NO DONE DEAL

On 21st October, EDF issued a press release titled: “Agreement reached on
commercial terms for the planned Hinkley Point C nuclear power station.”

My aim in this article is to examine exactly what has been “agreed” and its
implications for the likelihood of Hinkley C being built and if so, when.

In the first paragraph of the press release, the claim in its given title above is qualified, when we read that “EDF Group and the UK Government have reached in principle an agreement on the key commercial terms for an investment contract of the planned Hinkley Point C…”

Kick Nuclear Activists Return to Leaflet DECC and The Treasury.

On morning of May 14th Kick Nuclear activists leafleted the
civil servants and government advisers who work at DECC [the
Department of Energy & Climate Change] about the high cost
of new build.

On the morning of May 15th leaflets were handed out to the civil
servants and government advisers who work in the Treasury.

Both the Secretary of State at DECC ( Ed Davey ),
and the Chief Secretary to the Treasury ( Danny Alexander )
were seen to be reading the leaflets,
as were many of those who work in these two government
departments.

Here is a copy of the leaflet: -

Letter about nuclear subsidies and Energy Bill

Delivered to Ed Davey, Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change; George Osborne, Chancellor of the Exchequer; Danny Alexander, Chief Secretary to the Treasury; David Cameron, Prime Minister; and Nick Clegg, Deputy Prime Minister:

 

Kick Nuclear

Why I continue to fight the Hinkley nuclear plant next door

Article by Theo Simon

While Britain’s green movement remains split over nuclear power, a determined band of campaigners are staging their own protests against a planned nuclear plant in the south-west. Activist Theo Simon gives an insider’s view.

Read this great article here:

http://www.chinadialogue.net/books/5309/en