Regulator report reveals no danger at UK nuclear plants 12 January 2012

Safety reassessments undertaken at UK nuclear power plants in light of events at Fukushima Dai-ichi, following last year's earthquake and tsunami, have revealed no fundamental weaknesses.

A report published by the Office for Nuclear Regulation, the UK's independent nuclear safety regulator, confirms that UK sites have identified no issues but have made improvements to enhance safety.

The findings are contained in the UK national stress test report submitted to the European Council last week. It requested a targeted reassessment of safety at all European nuclear power plants, based on postulated extreme natural events – as per Fukushima – challenging the plant safety functions and leading to a severe accident.

Licensees of the 33 operating or shut down reactors in the UK within scope of the report carried out the tests.

"To date, no fundamental weaknesses in design and resilience have been identified at UK nuclear power plants, and lessons are being learnt from Fukushima to enhance safety, in line with our regulatory philosophy of continuous improvement," states John Donald, a senior nuclear safety inspector at the Office for Nuclear Regulation.

"Fukushima provided the world [with] a unique opportunity to learn from a serious nuclear accident. No matter how high our standards of safety, the quest for improvement must never stop," he continues.

"Work is already underway to improve safety at UK sites, such as bolstering flood defences and enhancing coolant supplies. We have also asked licensees of UK nuclear power stations to consider resilience against events that have only remote chances of happening in the UK."

Brian Tinham

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