EDF Takes Three UK Nuclear Units Offline to Inspect Steam Valves

(Bloomberg) -- Electricite de France SA has taken three UK nuclear units offline to allow engineers to inspect steam valves after a fault was found at one of the plants last month. 

The issue means EDF has taken about 2.4 gigawatts of capacity offline with two units at the Hartlepool power station not generating, as well as a second unit at Heysham-1. 

“Following the failure of part of a steam valve in the Heysham 1 boiler pipework, EDF has taken a proactive decision to temporarily take the station offline, as well as its ‘sister station’ at Hartlepool that has the same valve design,” EDF said in a statement. “This enables engineers to safely conduct inspections and for us to find a solution with the valve manufacturers. The work is expected to take a few weeks to resolve.”

The outages mean a large chunk of capacity offline at a time when the grid is dealing with cold weather followed by high winds. Nuclear can provide a low carbon source of back up power to intermittent sources of renewable energy. Sub-zero temperatures last week boosted demand for gas last week with stations providing around 60% of the UK’s energy mix at times, according to grid data.

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