HSE issues nuclear alert

The UK’s £20bn nuclear programme is facing delays because of a failure to tackle design problems with their reactors, the Health and Safety Executive has warned.

A report by the HSE, seen by Building, said the two firms in the running to build the reactors had to put more resources into dealing with the safety assessment process if it was to be completed on time.

One of them, Japanese-owned Westinghouse, came in for particular criticism for failing to provide a report on external hazards such as flooding.

The HSE also criticised it for its “slow progress” in responding to questions on civil engineering design codes. It said: “We’ve not seen evidence the civil structure design conforms to the standards we’d expect to be applied to new nuclear construction.”

Another cause of concern is last week’s statement by the US nuclear regulator, which said Westinghouse would have to modify its designs to receive approval in the States.

Mike Tynan, Westinghouse UK chief executive, said: “These are issues that we are well aware of and we have given commitments to the UK’s Nuclear Installations Inspectorate that we are addressing them with priority.”

We’ve not seen evidence that the design conforms to the standards we would expect

HSE report

The news comes amid concern about how quickly the nuclear programme can provide work for construction firms, which are bracing themselves for cuts in other areas of public spending.

Two consortiums are in the running to be Westinghouse’s suppliers. One is formed of Costain, Sir Robert McAlpine and Hochtief and the other contains the Shaw Group and Laing O’Rourke. Westinghouse was expected to have made a decision between them in the next month.

The HSE report also discussed French company Areva, the other candidate to provide third-generation reactors to the UK. In July, it expressed concerns about the control and instrumentation systems on Areva’s pressurised water reactor. It said the matter was still on its “red indicator” list of worries, although it added that it expected the matter to be resolved satisfactorily.

Charles Hendry, the shadow energy minister, has warned that if the delays become too severe, German utility companies RWE and E.ON, which were to have paid for much of the work, would invest in their domestic market instead of the UK.

A CBI report last week said the private sector would struggle to invest sufficiently in the nuclear market without government incentives. A policy statement on the nuclear programme is due next month.