from Caledonian Mercury, 12 January 2012
EDF Energy has been reprimanded by the government’s nuclear watchdog for a series of safety lapses at the Torness nuclear power station in East Lothian, the Caledonian Mercury can reveal.
The Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) has criticised the French power company for a “shortfall” in its arrangements for checking safety valves and for inadequacies in addressing concerns about the state of radioactive waste discharge pipes following a leak.
ONR has also expressed concern over slow progress in introducing self-closing “hazard barrier doors” to prevent large releases of hot gas. And it has urged EDF to improve its early warning systems after a “jellyfish blockage” caused Torness to be shut down last June.
The revelations have prompted critics to question the safety of prolonging the working life of Torness, alleging it is becoming increasingly unreliable. EDF, however, says the plant has a good safety record.
ONR has posted its latest report on Torness online, covering 1 July to 30 September 2011. It disclosed that staff at the plant failed to inspect a safety relief valve on a nitrogen test rig when they should have done.
“The omission represents a shortfall in the station’s arrangements to ensure that examinations are carried out on time, and it has been asked to provide proposals to improve them,” the ONR report said. Both ONR and EDF said that the problem had since been addressed.
EDF were criticised for producing a draft report that “did not adequately address the issues” raised by ONR about the condition of pipes for discharging radioactive tritium. A small leak from one of the pipes was reported last February.
EDF said that it has now provided a “more detailed” report on the pipes, which ONR said would be assessed.
According to the ONR report, Torness “had not progressed sufficiently in some areas, and specifically with regard to self-closing hazard barrier doors”. Temporary alarms have been put in place, and EDF has agreed to find a “permanent engineered solution”.
The blockage of the coolant inlets at Torness by large numbers of jellyfish in June “presented a challenge to station systems related to safety”, according to the ONR report. EDF were asked to review its safety systems.
As a result new arrangements for introducing a “heightened state of alert” for external hazards have been implemented. They were used during the strong winds in December, and are being monitored by ONR.
ONR’s criticisms were described as ”very worrying” by Stan Blackley, the chief executive of Friends of the Earth Scotland. “Scotland's remaining nuclear reactors are growing older and more unreliable by the day, so it is increasingly important that they are run safely and properly, and it seems this is not the case,” he said.
“This disproves the argument that nuclear power stations are required to keep the lights on in Scotland,” he added. “Nuclear power is unreliable and surprisingly fragile.”
Pete Roche, a nuclear consultant based in Edinburgh, argued that EDF’s slow implementation of requests from the regulator illustrated why the lives of ageing reactors should not be extended. “Problems are bound to increase as they get older, so the sooner they are closed the better,” he said.
EDF Energy insisted that all its plants, including Torness, had good safety records. “This regulator's report was part of our ongoing dialogue with ONR, whose job it is to scrutinise our operations in detail,” said a company spokeswoman.
“We welcome their input and use it to learn and improve. Under our policy of openness and transparency, all of these events were communicated to our local liaison committee, which includes local residents, and local government representatives.”
Addressing all the criticisms in detail, the EDF spokeswoman added: “During a routine inspection, an operator failed to inspect one valve. This had no implications for nuclear safety but the regulator asked us to draw up procedures to ensure this does not happen again, which we have done.
“In February 2011, during routine sampling, we detected abnormal readings in water in one borehole. The readings were extremely low – one would have to drink one tonne of the fluid found to receive a dose equal to thirty minutes flying time in an aeroplane. The drip was fixed immediately and we carried out a review of the entire pipe. The ONR has since asked for a more detailed report on this, which we have provided.
“We have a number of station hazard barrier doors fitted with piercing alarms which ring when a door opens and some key doors are centrally monitored to ensure safety. All doors inspected by the ONR were found to be closed as expected, but a small number are not designed to close automatically which is what we have agreed to address.
“Both units at Torness Power Station were manually shut down in June as a precautionary measure in line with our normal operating procedures. The shut down cooling systems performed in a satisfactory manner and at no point was there a risk to our ability to cool the reactors or nuclear safety in general.”
This story was followed up by the Edinburgh Evening News and Deadline News.
There is more going on here than we the people of Dunbar are being told. There is a big question mark over the environment Department at East Lothian Council and the involvement between the Scottish Environment Pollution agency,S.E.P.A. They are not fit for purpose, and they are misleading the people of Scotland, they are fixing it so that the people don't get to hear the truth as to what is going on, they give the impression that all is well, and the environment is in good condition. In 2001 a scientific study was carried out by an independent scientist and there was pollution all over Dunbar. In his words it had a lead blanket all over it from Blue circle cement, now it is Lafarge one of Scotland's worst Polluters, so what is S.E.P.A all involved in where they turn a blind eye to what big business is doing. Why? There are enough photos to prove they are being misleading. And we have not just the 1 incinerator we are going to have 2. on our door step. And a land fill that is full of every thing that should not be there. One day we will suffer for all the pollution in our area. The shore from the dry burn to the light house is devoid of all marine life. It was there 10 years ago why not now?? We have witnessed dead marine life on the shore, there are photos of it on the link have a look at what we are fighting for. It's the truth not lies. http://www.flickr.com/photos/davet_herav/
Posted by: David Swan | 12 January 2012 at 08:56 PM
i WOULD ALSO LIKE TO ADD THAT WE HAVE LOST ALL OF OUR ACCESS ROADS AND RIGHTS OF WAYS TO OUR COAST.
THEY HAVE DENIED OUR HUMAN RIGHTS.
ALEXANDER lOUGH.
Posted by: Alexander Lough, | 12 January 2012 at 07:43 PM
This does not surprise me,i have written proof that TORNESS had released 40 emmisions into the Firth of Forth for a decade,it only came to our attention in the year 1999.
The responsibilty of this was in the hands of SEPA.
SEPA were responsible for everything in the East Lammermuirs,this included the dreaded landfill site at OXWELLMAINS next door to our village of INNERWICK.
How this was approved god knows,the proximity for a start needs questioned.
Then we have the LAFARGE cement works belching out all of the deadliest fumes and toxins into our environment,and in doing so have and are destroying our landscape all around us.
They have destroyed our history old and ancient.
Where we live must be the most deprived areas in the whole of Scotland,it should not be like it is,our area raises more revenue than anywhere else in East Lothian and yet our lives are endangered by over industrialisation.
This we never were fully informed about,there was no consultation orconsideration and most important of all transparency.
This has to be addressed,who was responsible,who agreed to everything we have here on our doorstep.
This was all done behind closed doors.
Alexander Lough.
Posted by: Alexander Lough, | 12 January 2012 at 07:40 PM