Long wait for power
Jan 18 2008 by Sarah Judd, Evening Gazette
HARTLEPOOL Power Station is likely to remain out of action until the second half of this year, it was revealed today.
The site, owned by British Energy, has been closed since October, when wire corrosion problems within a boiler closure unit were discovered in one of the station’s two reactors.
British Energy said remedial engineering work would take place to enable the return to service of all four reactors at Hartlepool and the Heysham 1 site in Lancashire, which will also be closed until later this year.
It said the work would take place in a phased process over the second and third quarters of the company’s 2008/09 financial year - covering the period between July and December.
Both Hartlepool and Heysham 1 are capable of supplying more than 1.5m homes - enough electricity to keep three cities the size of Liverpool supplied during peak loading hours. Both started power generation in 1983 and have estimated decommissioning dates of 2014.
There are eight steel and concrete boiler closure units in each reactor. All are pre-stressed with nine layers of wire winding at the outer periphery. British Energy said the problem with corrosion was a legacy issue from the initial construction.
The cost of the remedial engineering work is not expected to exceed £50m, although this is in addition to the £20m cost of inspection and assessment of the units incurred in the current financial year.
