Charles Hendry (Minister of State (Renewable Energy), Energy and Climate Change; Wealden, Conservative)
The Nuclear Installations Inspectorate of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE/NII) screens incident reports made by licensees to identify those which have had the potential to challenge a nuclear safety system. A search of the raw input data for such screening from January 2005 to the end of December 2010 has been undertaken for details of leaks and fires at nuclear installations.
A 'coolant leak' has been interpreted as being a loss of coolant, including clean coolant, from an item of plant into the working environment of the licensed site. Coolant itself has been interpreted as being water, carbon dioxide or hydrogen on a power station, and water elsewhere.
A 'fire' has been interpreted as being a situation where ignition of material has taken place on the licensed site or instances of smouldering where such ignition could not reasonably be ruled out given the information in the record.
Coolant leaks Date Installation Incident 2005 1 January Heysham 2 Steam leak on Turbine Generator 7 5 February Hinkley Point B Carbon dioxide leak from tank 19 February Hinkley Point B Carbon dioxide leak from tank 25 February Torness Carbon dioxide leak through in-service inspection penetration 15 March Torness Carbon dioxide leak from ring main 25 June Dungeness A Carbon dioxide leak from main CO2 plant 4 July Sellafield Damp patch discovered adjacent to B30 pond wall 25 July Oldbury Steam leak through thermocouple pocket of Boiler 4 on Reactor 1 4 August Hinkley Point B Carbon dioxide leak from vaporiser valve 30 October Dungeness A Carbon dioxide leak through failed isolation valve to pressure gauge 2006 30 January Sellafield Leak of dosed cooling water from B832 cooling tower 18 February Sellafield Leak of pond water through expansion joint above the stainless steel seal in B310 AGR storage pond 24 March Hunterston B Carbon dioxide leak in pipe trench 11 September Hinkley point B Carbon dioxide leak from supply pump 23 September Hartlepool Alternator hydrogen coolant leak 26 September Hartlepool Fracture of emergency cooling water main 2 October Dungeness B Auxiliary cooling water pipe work leak 15 October Sizewell A Steam leak from Turbine Alternator 1 18 November Heysham 2 Steam leak from Reactor 7 2007 7 January Sizewell A Fracture of pond recirculating water system pipe work 18 January Sellafield Waste Vitrification Plant electrical inductor cooling water leak 1 March Hinkley Point B Carbon dioxide leak outside plant room 26 March Dungeness B Carbon dioxide leak in reactor basement 1 June Hunterston B Leak from condensate booster pump 2 June Heysham 2 Leak in low pressure feed heater pipe work 18 July Dungeness B Leak of tritiated water identified 19 September Hartlepool Leak of pressure vessel cooling water identified on boiler closure unit 26 September Dungeness B Carbon dioxide leak from storage tank 28 September Hunterston B Steam leaks in high pressure gland pipe work 27 October Oldbury Carbon dioxide leak from fuelling machine 2008 19 February Oldbury Carbon dioxide leak from storage tank 20 February Torness Carbon dioxide leak from gas bypass plant 26 June Heysham 2 Steam leak in gland steam drain line 26 July Heysham 1 Carbon dioxide leak from storage tank 7 October Wylfa Carbon dioxide leak from storage tank 23 December Torness Carbon dioxide leak from valve in the fuel machine standby CO2 coolant supply. 2009 24 April Hartlepool Hydrogen leak from Unit 2 alternator frame 26 May Heysham 1 Turbine cooling water leak 28 May Hinkley Point B Pressure vessel cooling water leak from Reactor 4 sump 25 June Heysham 2 Loss of Hydrogen from turbo alternator 8 July Torness Leak from spent fuel pond cooling water system 9 December Sellafield Fuel pond chiller water leakage 21 December Heysham 1 Back up cooling water leak soon after start up 2010 22 January Sellafield Leakage of cooling water to active storage tanks 7 June Dungeness B Gland steam leak after start up 26 October Heysham 1 Small water leak from buffer store drain line 8 November Heysham 1 Emergency cooling water pipe failure and leak
Fire Date Site Incident 2005 4 February Heysham 1 Smouldering lagging on turbine 8 March Heysham 2 Fire on reactor basement sump pump 22 April Harwell Capacitor fire in building 459 22 June Torness Variable frequency output transformer fire 30 June Barrow Portacabin fire 14 July Heysham 2 Fire in bearing of fuel handling plant extract fan 16 September Torness Fire in purge air compressor no. 2 31 October Dungeness A Fire in bulk group 4 LF power supply 2006 23 January Sellafield Smoking bitumen seal around pipe on Combined Heat and Power Plant turbine 24 March Dounreay Hydrogen ignition during waste cutting operation in Prototype Fast Reactor 21 April Springfields Uranium shredder fire in building 338 23 October Heysham 2 Smouldering leak management tray beside hot turbine reheat pipe work 23 December Burghfield Smouldering cable in plant room 2007 1 February Hinkley Point B Fire in bund of gas circulator lube system 2 June Hunterston B Bearing fire on turbo generator 7 12 August Heysham 2 Bearing fire in cooling water pump 2008 7 January Dounreay Fire in office suite of D1208 13 March GE Healthcare Fire in inactive recycling plant 15 June Rolls Royce Manufacturing Fire in glove box 2 December Hartlepool Aerosol can fire 3 December Trawsfynydd convector heater fire in ponds office 2009 12 March Heysham 1 Lagging smoke/fire 15 March GE Healthcare Fire in services spine duct 31 March Barrow Fire on the casing of Astute Boat 2 during welding/grinding operations 18 April Barrow Fire on the bridge fin of Astute Boat I 29 April Oldbury Smoking air circuit breaker 18 May Wylfa Fire in Turbine alternator 22 July Sellafield Extract fan bearing fire 23November Dungeness B Boiler annex hydraulic fluid caught fire 2010 28 May Dounreay Small in cell fire of sodium residues 2 July Sizewell B Fire in ductwork in heating and ventilation building 4 July Aldermaston Solvent fire minor bums to one person 2 August Oldbury Lagging fire near turbo alternator 22 September Sizewell B Condensate pump fire 30 September Wylfa Smouldering electrical contactor in Turbine Hall 25 October Hinkley Point B Fire in circulator workshop 8 December Heysham 2 Bearing failure causing smoke in services building