That can take up to 135 years.”

The 160 inspectors and 10 support staff of the NII (which is part of the Health and Safety Executive) take their long-lasting task very seriously. With 41 generating reactors and a host of other sites – such as British Nuclear Fuels’ reprocessing plant at Sellafield, and the Royal Navy’s nuclear submarine repair docks at Rosyth and Devonport – there is no shortage of work. The prime concern is the safe operation of the sites, to minimise the risk to workers and the rest of the population.
To that end, several inspectors are assigned to particular sites, where they oversee procedures full-time; others perform random inspections to ensure that procedures are complied with. The older Magnox stations will remain in the government’s hands.Comment, page 21. Joining the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate is probably the best guarantee there is of a job for life – or longer.

“We still visit sites which have shut down their reactors but are in the process of decommissioning them,” said a spokesman yesterday. “The NII can and will check the site until it poses no radiological threat. It adds that no signs of reheat cracking were found at Hinkley B.According to the prospectus, the reheat crack at Hunterston B will cost about pounds 3.7m to replace, excluding lost output.Only the most modern nuclear power stations – the seven AGRs and Sizewell B – are being sold off. The British Energy prospectus listed the main technical issues affecting AGR as reheat cracking, carbon deposition and graphite core integrity.The latest shutdowns relate to the formation of cracks in welds which are subjected to high temperatures.”To date,” the prospectus states, “reheat cracking has been found at Heysham 1, Hartlepool, Dungeness B and Hunterston B”. It also raises questions not only about public safety but also British Energy’s ability to meet the enormous radioactive waste liabilities.”All four reactors, two at Hunterston B and two at Hinkley B, are now out of action following statutory shutdowns for weld inspections at two of the reactors which began last month.British Energy indicated that the timing of the decision to shut down the reactors was a commercial one.

“The inspection programme and, if necessary, any weld repairs, will therefore be undertaken during the summer season when electricity demand and prices are lower.”The company added that the additional work will result in some output loss but said contingency plans had already been made. “The AGRs [advanced gas cooled reactors] have an appaling history of technical problems,” a spokeswoman said. “They are meant to be the cash cows generating dividends for investors, but it doesn’t look like that now. “There was every intention that the announcement was going to be made today,” a spokesman said “It’s a purely a precautionary measure. There are no safety implications.”However, environmental pressure group Friends of the Earth seized on news of the shutdowns to renew its attack on the privatisation. Institutional investors have until tomorrow to decide how much to bid for British Energy.The sell-off is expected to raise between pounds 1.26bn and pounds 1.96bn for the Treasury – less than the pounds 2.6bn it cost to build the Sizewell B pressurised water reactor (PWR), the most modern nuclear station being privatised.British Energy denied that news of the additional shutdowns had been deliberately kept back until the deadline for private investors to subscribe had passed.