EDF hit with second improvement notice for nuclear plant incidents

The Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) has served an improvement notice to EDF for the second time in five days.

The latest improvement notice follows an incident at Heysham 1 Power Station in Lancashire.

The incident occurred on 23 December 2023 while Reactor 1 was being returned to service when a valve controlling the flow of superheated steam from the reactor failed, resulting in a steam leak.

Nobody was injured and the ONR said there was no risk to nuclear safety, the public or the environment.

However, ONR identified the potential for serious personal injury, if people had been present in the area near the valve.

Mike Webb, ONR superintending inspector for operating reactors, said: “Our investigation found that EDF had failed to ensure that the valve system was properly maintained and, by failing to do this, EDF had put at risk the safety of their employees.

“We will engage with EDF during the period of the improvement notice to ensure positive progress is made to address the shortfall.”

EDF has until 30 April to comply with the improvement notice.

An EDF spokesperson said: “EDF takes the issue of safety at its sites seriously. Following the failure of part of a steam valve in the Heysham 1 boiler pipework, EDF proactively decided to take the station offline to safely conduct inspections and find a solution with the valve manufacturers. The station will be back online once this work is complete.

“We accept the ONR’s findings and are working hard to ensure these are addressed. We are also carrying out a full review to understand how this issue occurred and will share the outcomes and findings with the ONR.”

The latest incident comes less than a week after EDF was ordered to improve safety standards at its Dungeness B nuclear power station after a worker required hospital treatment following an electric shock.

The incident, which occurred last November, resulted in the worker suffering injuries which required a visit to hospital after suffering an electric shock from a portable heater while undertaking maintenance work at the Kent power plant.