Extension of use of Nuclear Power stations

One of the Britain’s biggest electricity producers British Energy Group Plc has announced plans to extend the life of its Hinkley Point B and Hunterston B nuclear power stations by five years because they’re profitable even after output constraints.

Both the plants have been in service for nearly 40 years and they will be kept operational until 2016. This would mean an additional cost of 90 million pounds. It is also looking at possibilities of extending the lives of the other 6 plants that it has in the due course of time.
According to analysts, there is no harm in increasing the life of these nuclear plants as they are marvelous pieces of engineering. If the life of these 2 can be extended then the rest of the nuclear plants can be extended too. Analysts expect the nuclear plants to last much longer than these five years.
These 2 plants have a combined capacity of producing 2400 megawatts. Postponing the closure date would mean easing pressure to replace aging plants. However aging can cause a lot of problems. Cracked boiler pipes in both the plants caused prolonged halts and unscheduled power shutdowns.
The plants are running at just 60% of their efficiency because of temperature restrictions and a plan has been formulated to increase the same to 70% and even further. At 70% capacity, the extension project becomes a viability and electricity prices would come down to 27 pounds per megawatt hour.

Extending the life of these plants would mean a breathter for the power industry as environmental restrictions have limiteded the output of coal and oil fired plants to a total of 11 gigawatts from next year with a closure date in the year 2015.

www.british-energy.com