Power station now safe from flooding

A £2.3 million wall has been built to protect Dungeness nuclear power station from flooding.
By The Newsroom
Published 6th Jun 2014, 12:00 BST
Flood defence SUS-140406-115649001Flood defence SUS-140406-115649001
Flood defence SUS-140406-115649001

The work has been carried out after concerns that the shingle bank defence would not be enough to protect the site from flooding in the wake of the Fukushima disaster.

A review into the Fukushima incident concluded there was “a theoretical but plausible scenario in an extremely rare case where water could have got on to the site, potentially up to waist height”.

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Improved defences are in place as it was announced this week that the safety limit at Dungeness B has been raised to allow the reactor to keep producing energy for the next four years.

The regulator has agreed to increase the amount of weight of graphite bricks at the core of the reactor at Dungeness B will be allowed to lose.

The bricks, which degrade over time due to radiation, are vital for safety.

The nuclear reactor at Dungeness B would have breached the safety margin within months which could have forced the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) to prosecute or even shut it down.

Turn to page 3 for full story.