Why cracks at the cores of ageing AGRs worried safety inspector

---

Why cracks at the cores of ageing AGRs worried safety inspector
Ian Sample Science correspondent
The Guardian
05 Jul 2006

No one knows when the cracks first started to appear, but as long ago as 2004, British Energy voiced concerns about fractures in the cores of its 14 reactors.

The cracks were spotted in graphite bricks in the cores of all the company’s advanced gas- cooled reactors, or AGRs. Collectively, they provide the country with nearly one fifth of its electricity. But the extent of the potential damage, and the consequences that might flow from it, were uncertain.

However, the latest report by the government’s Nuclear Safety Directorate (NSD), obtained via the Freedom of Information Act, makes clear that nuclear inspectors have raised repeated concerns about the dangers of continuing to operate Hinkley Point B nuclear power station in Somerset and other nuclear plants weakened by cracks. British Energy, they say, knows too little about the cracks to be confident they can operate without incident.. read more...