British Energy (BE) has restarted the unit 1 at the Heysham 1 nuclear power plant after a long-term outage to address boiler closure unit (BCU) issues at the Advanced Gas-cooled Reactor (AGR). The unit was synchronised to the national grid on 2 February, and BE says that a "comprehensive return to service" programme will be followed over the coming days. BCUs are pre-stressed concrete components with nine layers of wire windings, forming part of the reactor pressure boundary, and are unique to the Heysham 1 and Hartlepool power stations. Both units at each site were taken out of service after the discovery of a broken wire during planned inspections in October 2007. Hartlepool 1 returned to service on 26 January, following a detailed inspection and modification programme, and the second unit at each site is expected to follow suit in a phased process over the coming weeks.
Second BE unit back after 16 months
British Energy (BE) has restarted the unit 1 at the Heysham 1 nuclear power plant after a long-term outage to address boiler closure unit (BCU) issues at the Advanced Gas-cooled Reactor (AGR). The unit was synchronised to the national grid on 2 February, and BE says that a "comprehensive return to service" programme will be followed over the coming days. BCUs are pre-stressed concrete components with nine layers of wire windings, forming part of the reactor pressure boundary, and are unique to the Heysham 1 and Hartlepool power stations. Both units at each site were taken out of service after the discovery of a broken wire during planned inspections in October 2007. Hartlepool 1 returned to service on 26 January, following a detailed inspection and modification programme, and the second unit at each site is expected to follow suit in a phased process over the coming weeks.
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