Nuclear reactor steam leak 'put employees at risk'

A steam leak occurred at the Heysham 1 power station in December

A steam leak at a nuclear power station could have seriously injured staff, an investigation found.

The incident was caused when a valve controlling steam from the reactor failed at the Heysham 1 power station.

A report by the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) found the valve system had not been maintained.

The power station’s owner accepted the findings and said it was carrying out a review.

Nobody was injured as a result of the incident on 23 December 2023, but the ONR investigation found that EDF Energy – the energy company that owns the Lancashire site – had failed to maintain the valve system.

This had the “potential for serious personal injury, if people had been present in the area near the valve”, the ONR report said.

Mike Webb, ONR’s superintending inspector for operating reactors, said failure to maintain the valve system had “put at risk the safety of employees”.

The ONR issued the improvement notice to EDF Energy and said it would engage with the company to “ensure positive progress is made to address the shortfall”.

The reactor remains offline.

In a statement, a spokesperson for EDF Energy said it took safety seriously and that the station would be back online once a solution was found.

“We accept the ONR’s findings and are working hard to ensure these are addressed. We are also carrying out a full review to understand how this issue occurred and will share the outcomes and findings with the ONR,” the spokesman added.

EDF Energy has until 30 April to comply with the improvement notice.

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