Case ref: MLA/2016/00408
Licence ref: L/2016/00357/1

Case summary

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Project description

Project title

Project background

Hinkley Point B Nuclear Power Station (PS) is located in Bridgwater Bay, Somerset, on the south west coast of England. The PS has a cooling water (CW) system which draws in and discharges sea water back to sea. This system comprises of both off-shore elements (outfall structures and tunnels) and on-shore (or on-site) elements (i.e. intake, forebay, surge chamber, outlets and drum screens).
During normal operation of the PS the CW system draws seawater in through the intake at a flow rate of up to 33 m3 per sec. The water flows through to an on-site “forebay,” and into the drumscreen chambers, drawn by the four main circulating water (MCW) pumps located there. Subsequently, the water flows through the rest of the CW system, before entering another tunnel that discharges the water back to the sea through the seal pit and outfall. This process is covered by a number of regulatory consents issued under the Environmental Permitting Regulations (2010) and regulated by the Environment Agency. These include permits covering on site water treatment plants and discharges, cooling water, Essential Systems CW, trade effluent, sewage effluent and other processes (e.g. Permit Numbers: 101266/TR/1, 101266/TR/2 and 070408).

The power station is required by law to shut down every 3 years for a statutory maintenance outage. This is a requirement of our Nuclear Site Licence, regulated by the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR). Other routine maintenance is carried out as required.

The intention of this marine licence is to cover normal routine operational maintenance activities that occur on-site, often during outage periods, in order to support the safe and continued operation of the nuclear power station, which is a condition of the Site Licence. These activities are all considered to be of extremely low complexity, low-impact and low risk. As such, after consultation and agreement from the MMO, one licence covering all such activities would be appropriate.

Programme of works

Many of these activities occur during statutory outages, however sometimes maintenance activities on plant will need to be carried out in the intervening periods between outages. These activities all constitute part of 'normal operational business' for the safe and continued operation of this nuclear power station. Therefore in some cases it will not be possible to provide a specific programme of works, mainly due to the nature of unplanned outages, emergent safety issues and ongoing maintenance requirements when running a large nuclear power station. Please find the attached table "Marine Licence Activities Document V3 outlining the full details of the outage activities.

Other information

Applicant details

Amy Barwood / 01278 654619 / amy.e.barwood@edf-energy.com
EDF ENERGY NUCLEAR GENERATION LIMITED / B POWER STATION HINKLEY POINT BRIDGWATER / TA5 1UD

Date application submitted

Date application validated

Date initial decision made

Status