UK reactor shutdowns could impact winter power supply: academics

摘要

The nuclear power reactors being shut in the UK for additional testing — totaling 2,700 MW of capacity — are likely to be offline longer than the current eight-week estimate, which means winter generation capacity could be adversely impacted in the UK, two professors said August 11. “They said the testing will take at least eight weeks, and those are always underestimates. And that’s just testing, not repairs,” Stephen Thomas, a professor of energy policy at the University of Greenwich, said in an interview August 11. UK’s EDF Energy should seek to return the two Heysham A and two Hartlepool nuclear power reactors to the grid by the mid-October target set August 11, as any delays into the colder winter months could add significant pressure to UK supply margins, Jonathan Stern, professor and senior research fellow at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, said in an interview August 11.