Dungeness B Power Station Monthly Newsletter - November 2019

Introduction

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. These reports are available to all members of the public on www.edfenergy.com.  While we will do our best to always use plain English, talking about our business sometimes involves specific terminology.

Station Director

On 14 October, 2019 John Benn took over from Ian Stewart as Acting Station Director of Dungeness B Power Station.

Many of you will know me from my time here as Plant Manager over the last two years. My journey in the industry began back in 1985 as an apprentice in coal generation where I worked in various roles for over 16 years. I then moved into renewables, finally joining EDF Energy in 2007 as Maintenance Manager at Hunterston, before moving to Sizewell as Plant Manager. I have also spent time as the Head of Operational Fleet Maintenance in our central office before joining Dungeness B in September 2017. On 14 October 2019 it was my pleasure to take over from Ian Stewart as Acting Station Director of Dungeness B Power Station and to lead the station as it continues to generate safe, reliable low carbon power up to 2028

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 27 August 2018 Dungeness B shut down Reactor 22 for its planned statutory outage. On 23 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 14 months we have spent over £64 million on our programmes and throughout this process we have worked closely with the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR).

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 generation. 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 20 and 31 January 2020.

The station will continue to produce low-carbon electricity safely and reliably for many years to come – and with this in mind engineers are working through a very full and thorough service, which will stand us in good stead for the future.

Station News and the Community

Apprenticeship Scheme

In October four apprentices graduated from the EDF Energy apprenticeship scheme after four years of training. Ryan Farrow, Sean McVeigh, Michael Palmer and Samuel Steed have been working onsite for the past two years. Dungeness B’s own Samuel Steed was named ‘Technical Apprentice of the Year’.

Visitor Centre

Our Visitor Centre continues to thrive. During October we welcomed more than 300 people on tours and as drop-ins to our exhibition area.  The Visitor Centre already has more than 2200 people booked on future tours.

During October half term we hosted two Be Creative events in the visitor centre enjoyed by 60 people over two days for Halloween craft and Remembrance Day education/crafting.

We continue to receive positive reviews of our visitor centre.

The Visitor Centre team attended the STEM Hub Primary Conference in Chatham as part of our external educational engagement showcasing exploring electricity tours, careers and STEM activities.

EDF Energy & The Haywardians Last Night of the Proms

Dungeness B was delighted to organise a Last Night of the Proms concert in All Saints Lydd in October, raising £600 for New Romney Counselling Service.

Next Community Meeting

The next Dungeness Site Stakeholder Group meeting due to be held on Thursday, 14 November, has been postponed to January 2020 – the exact date and venue is yet to be confirmed. Any member of the public is welcome to attend.