UK nuclear regulator does not foresee Flammanville reactor flaws at HPC

LONDON (Reuters) - Reactors at EDF's proposed Hinkley Point C nuclear project should not be vulnerable to the same weak spots as found in a reactor vessel at the company's Flammanville site in France, Britain's Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) said on Wednesday. Intractable problems at two nuclear plants under construction in France and Finland have threatened more delays to EDF's plan to build two Areva-designed European Pressurised Reactors (EPR) nuclear reactors in Britain at Hinkley Point in southwestern England. The Hinkley Point C project was first announced in 2013, but an investment decision has been put off repeatedly as EDF struggles to find partners and funding. Flamanville is also years behind schedule and in April last year French nuclear regulator ASN said "very serious anomalies" had been found in its reactor vessel. However, the ONR said it does not anticipate similar anomalies at Hinkley Point C as occurred at the EPR reactor at Flamanville. "EDF will be procuring the dome forgings manufactured from larger ingots using a different casting process designed to eliminate the carbon segregation currently being considered by the French regulator," the ONR said in a statement. "As part of ONR's ongoing regulation, the dome and the whole reactor will need to meet the UK's high standard of nuclear safety to ONR's satisfaction before permissions are given," it added. (Reporting by Nina Chestney, editing by David Evans)