Dungeness B Power Station Monthly Newsletter - February 2020

We are keen to hear the views of our local communities. We recognise that good communication is a two-way process and we welcome your feedback and comments.  While we will do our best to use plain English, talking about our business sometimes involves specific terminology. If you are unsure about the wording we use please get in touch - details on how to reach us can be found at the foot of this report.

Safety

We measure our safety performance against top tier indicators, including nuclear reportable events, environmental events, and staff and contract partner recordable injuries.

During the period of the report there have been:

No injuries to employees
No nuclear reportable incidents
No environmental incidents

Station output

On 27th August 2018 Dungeness B shut down Reactor 22 for its planned statutory outage. On 23rd September 2018 Reactor 21 was also shut down for the planned double reactor outage.  

This has been one of the station’s busiest periods of maintenance for many years, with employees and specialist contractors carrying out a huge amount of technical tasks. The work has included a significant programme of main steam pipework inspections and defect removal. This has run in parallel to a programme of enhanced inspection and remediation of back-up systems susceptible to the effects of environmental corrosion.

Over the past 16 months we have spent over £69 million on our programmes and throughout this process we have worked closely with the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR). Our total investment into our plant in 2019 was £88 million.

All of the work that is happening on the station must be underpinned by a comprehensive safety case that demonstrates the station’s ability to produce safe, reliable, low carbon energy. A safety case analyses all possible scenarios, and demonstrates that all defects have been removed. Our reactors will only be returned to service when we are satisfied that it is safe to do so. This work is now nearing completion and our latest forecasting gives us return to service dates of April 20, 2020 for Reactor 22 and May 2, 2020, for Reactor 21.

Station News and the Community

Visitor Centre
In addition to hosting site tours, our guides work with other members of staff at Dungeness to support many internal and external events, from charity fundraisers to educational outreach activities, all for the benefit of the local community.

The power station continues to fund extracurricular activities at local primary and secondary schools and it has continued to explore diverse ways of welcoming visitors to the power station, working with the Romney Marsh Partnership and supporting the home education market. In 2019 the Visitor Centre also hosted two art exhibitions that promoted Dungeness B’s unique natural setting.

The Be Creative STEM initiative continues to grow and the always-popular Bug Hunts and Exploring Dungeness days continue to draw crowds.

In 2019 Dungeness B and EDF were represented at Canterbury Pride, New Romney Country Fayre, JAM on the Marsh, Light Up New Romney, Hythe Venetian Fete and Lydd Club Day. The station and Visitor Centre will continue to build visibility in the community throughout 2020, with the Planetarium Project at Lydd Primary School kicking off a busy calendar of events.

For more information on booking a tour please email dungenessbtours@edf-energy.com.

Station news

For the past three years staff and partners at Dungeness B raised money for, and awareness of, Breast Cancer Now. Over that period the team raised almost £23,000 with everything from cake sales and sponsored runs to lawnmower racing in Finland. The money was handed over to the charity in late December.

In January it was also announced that EDF has now joined forces with Prostate Cancer UK. Over the next three years our staff will be raising money for this important cause which exists to fund research into prostate cancer which kills thousands of men every year.

Every year Dungeness B distributes an amount of money to our local community. This fund was created to support important projects in and around Romney Marsh and, in particular, to fund schemes designed to promote Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) projects in schools and communities. For details on how to apply please email dungenessbcommunications@edf-energy.com.

Local community meetings

EDF and the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority hold regular joint meetings with local people, media, council and emergency services representatives and local politicians to maintain regular communications about the site. This meeting is independently chaired and members of the general public are welcome.

In 2020 site stakeholder meetings will take place on 21 May and 15 October, in the Dungeness B Visitor Centre Lecture Theatre. 

For more information contact Tracey Finn at Magnox Ltd, on: 01797 343510