Why Britain can’t build Nuclear Power Plants

Hinkley Point C is not exactly a standard EPR,

“He said that 70% of equipment had now been delivered for unit 1”, and "many risks are behind us, like the unique British instrument and control system which has been designed and manufactured, with testing under way". He added: "We had to substantially adapt the EPR design to satisfy British regulations, requiring 7000 changes, adding 35% more steel and 25% more concrete. This adaptation and approval process is the same for other developers bringing new designs into Britain. Now the design of our UK plant is complete in detail meaning contractors have certainty over exactly what is needed to build the plant."

https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/EDF-announces-Hinkley-Point-C-delay-and-big-rise-i

7000 changes, a unique control system, 35% more steel and 25% more concrete. This will be the BS 1363 plug and socket of the nuclear world.

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  • Hi Roger,

    This nuclear safety problem is worrying me as we know that nuclear submarines have sailors living for a whole year within metres of a nuclear reactor and seem to be unharmed??

    Further, we read that uranium fuel rods can be safely stored under water in tanks on the power station site.

    Someone needs to write a paper on why we need more reinforced concrete I think.

  • The water thing is quite fun, This article is a bit tongue in cheek but the figures referred to and used to make the calculations are  correct.

    https://what-if.xkcd.com/29/

    It implies we were not so easily scared we could save a lot of money on heating swimming pools by giving them a few dead fuel rods each in a keep-out cage at the bottom ;-)

    Mike

  • This is a brief guide to radiation levels:

    Ionising radiation: dose comparisons - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

    As you are supposed to plan for a maximum exposure of 1/3 of the limit it would not be possible to build a nuclear power plant in Cornwall Confused