All four companies served with warning notices by the nuclear regulator over fire-safety failures at Hinkley Point C have now made the improvements required of them, it has been announced.
This week, the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) announced that NNB Generation and Reel UK have made improvements to comply with the notices.
“The ONR can confirm that licensee NNB Generation Company Ltd and contractor Reel UK Ltd have complied with two enforcement notices served on them for shortfalls in fire safety at the Hinkley Point C construction site,” it said.
Bouygues and Laing O’Rourke were deemed to have complied with the notices in April, but NNB Generation and Reel UK had their notices extended until the end of July and August respectively.
In January, Bouygues Travaux Publics and Laing O’Rourke, working at the megaproject as the Bylor JV, were given enforcement notices relating to failings at the Unit 1 HR Building on the site. The subsidiary of client EDF (trading as NNB Generation) and crane company Reel UK were also issued with enforcement notices over fire-safety issues.
At the time, the ONR announced that the notices were given because of “potential for harm and risk of serious injury”.
It did not go into detail but said the companies contravened requirements under Article 22 of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.
The regulator said that pre-planned inspections at the Unit 1 HR Building site in November last year identified the breaches within one building on the site and the notices were issued to “address shortfalls in compliance and prevent reoccurrence”.
In January, EDF revealed that the Somerset facility might not be fully operational until 2031 and could cost it £46bn. Before the Covid pandemic, Hinkley Point C was due to open in 2026, and in 2015 it was expected to cost £15bn.
