and are almost breaching the safety limit. Solution: Raise the limit
A key safety limit at one of Britain's nuclear power stations is being raised to allow the life of the reactor to be extended, the BBC has learned.
The regulator has agreed to increase the amount of weight graphite bricks at the core of the reactor at Dungeness B in Kent will be allowed to lose.
The bricks, which degrade over time due to radiation, are vital for safety.
The Office for Nuclear Regulation said it was a "robust" body but one expert accused it of "moving the goalposts".
The nuclear reactor at Dungeness B would have breached the safety margin within months which could have forced the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) to prosecute or even shut it down.
The safety margins cover thousands of graphite bricks at the core of Britain's 14 elderly Advanced Gas-cooled Reactors (AGRs).
But the bricks, each about a metre in height, are both cracking and starting to lose weight due to decades of radiation, and that could affect safety.
The current graphite weight loss limit for Dungeness is set at 6.2% but the regulator says when it reached 5.7% its operator, French power giant EDF, applied to raise it to 8%.
more
BBC News - Dungeness B nuclear plant operator wants safety limit raised
A key safety limit at one of Britain's nuclear power stations is being raised to allow the life of the reactor to be extended, the BBC has learned.
The regulator has agreed to increase the amount of weight graphite bricks at the core of the reactor at Dungeness B in Kent will be allowed to lose.
The bricks, which degrade over time due to radiation, are vital for safety.
The Office for Nuclear Regulation said it was a "robust" body but one expert accused it of "moving the goalposts".
The nuclear reactor at Dungeness B would have breached the safety margin within months which could have forced the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) to prosecute or even shut it down.
The safety margins cover thousands of graphite bricks at the core of Britain's 14 elderly Advanced Gas-cooled Reactors (AGRs).
But the bricks, each about a metre in height, are both cracking and starting to lose weight due to decades of radiation, and that could affect safety.
The current graphite weight loss limit for Dungeness is set at 6.2% but the regulator says when it reached 5.7% its operator, French power giant EDF, applied to raise it to 8%.
more
BBC News - Dungeness B nuclear plant operator wants safety limit raised