The plant site is due to transfer to the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), the body tasked with decommissioning the UK’s former nuclear sites, on 1 April. NDA subsidiary Nuclear Restoration Services (NRS) will assume the role of licensee and take on full responsibility for overseeing the decommissioning of the site, making it the first of EDF’s Advanced Gas-Cooled Reactor (AGR) sites to move to NRS.
During a signing ceremony at Hunterston B on Wednesday, the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) granted a site licence to NRS and signed the documentation revoking EDF’s site licence from 31 March.
The licence, which will take effect at the point of site transfer, is a legal document that will see responsibility for the site move from EDF to NRS. It sets out the conditions under which the site can operate and is crucial for future decommissioning work to proceed.
“The change in ownership is expected to take place on time and on budget,” the NDA said. “It involves the transfer of thousands of files and records, more than 20 contracts and six site licences and permits from EDF to NRS, the NDA subsidiary that will carry out the decommissioning.”
“This first-of-a-kind project is a massive undertaking involving not just the transfer of a huge number of documents and permits but also of 246 brilliant people and the knowledge and skills they hold,” said EDF’s Decommissioning Director, Paul Morton.” Transfer is on track to be delivered on schedule. This has only been possible due to the strong relationship developed between EDF and NRS which has given the ONR the confidence to make this change to the site licence and enable continued decommissioning.”
Andrew Munro, Managing Director (AGRs and Paired Sites), NRS, said: “I am hugely proud of the collaborative work by so many people and organisations to bring us to this point. It has been a massive effort by all involved. We now look forward to welcoming our new colleagues into the NRS family on 1 April and embarking on the exciting next phase of the site’s lifetime – the journey of safe, secure and sustainable decommissioning. We are ready to support the site team using the decades of decommissioning experience gained in the wider NRS business, including the paired Hunterston A site next door. And, of course, we look forward to the transfer of Hinkley Point B later this year.”
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Hunterston B (Image: EDF Energy)
The Hunterston B plant comprises two 490 MWe AGRs – Reactors 3 and 4. Reactor 3 came online for the first time in February 1976, was initially expected to run for 25 years but had its generating lifespan increased to more than 45 years. It was taken offline in November 2021. The plant’s other unit, Reactor 4, started up in March 1977 and was shut down in January 2022. In April last year, Hunterston B became the first of the UK’s seven AGR power plants to be declared free of all used nuclear fuel ahead of decommissioning.
Decommissioning of the site will involve dismantling nuclear facilities and removing any associated radioactive waste for safe storage or disposal which includes removing all plant, equipment, services and buildings outside of the reactor building. After the decommissioning process is complete, the site will enter a period of care and maintenance. Decommissioning is being carried out using funds from the Nuclear Liabilities Fund, a ring-fenced GBP20.7 billion (USD27.6 billion) fund set up in 1996 specifically to pay for the decommissioning of the current nuclear fleet.
Decommissioning of AGRs
EDF had originally been responsible for total lifetime decommissioning of the seven AGR plants, which comprise Torness and Hunterston B in Scotland, Dungeness B in Kent, Hartlepool in Teesside, Heysham 1 and 2 in Lancashire and Hinkley Point B in Somerset. All these plants are scheduled to reach the end of their operational lives this decade.
However, in June 2021, the UK government and EDF agreed improved arrangements to safely and efficiently decommission the AGRs. Under the agreement, EDF will aim to shorten the time it takes to safely remove the fuel from the plants as they come offline, before working closely with the NDA to transfer ownership of the stations to the NDA.
Four AGR plants are still in operation. Hartlepool and Heysham 1 are currently expected to operate until March 2028. Heysham 2 and Torness are currently due to generate until March 2030.
