TheBeaconMagazinev2

10 THE BEACON MAGAZINE | INTERVIEW
A win-win for
EDF Energy and
its suppliers
EDF’s Andy Goddard describes the
background to life extensions at
Hartlepool, Heysham 1 and 2 and Torness
In 2015, total output from the UK’s
advanced gas-cooled reactors was the
highest for 10 years and a remarkable
50% up on 2008, when EDF acquired
British Energy. Safety performance was
the best ever with zero reportable nuclear
events, while the number of unplanned
outages was more than 50% down on the
year before.
The life extensions were a triumph
for EDF and its partners in the supply
chain, including Amec Foster Wheeler,
which played a big part in providing the
technical and safety reviews on which the
life extension projections were based.
Andy Goddard, EDF Energy’s Head of
Design Authority, said: “With Amec Foster
Wheeler in particular, we have a long
history; the company and its predecessors
have been involved in the AGR fleet since
design, build and commissioning and have
supported the stations during operation.
As a result, Amec Foster Wheeler have a lot
of site-specific technical and safety case
knowledge.
“The rigs and labs that Amec Foster
Wheeler maintain on our behalf are a key
aspect of our operations, both in terms of
their use on specific projects and also in
supporting our lifetime requirements, such
as monitoring the boilers and cores of the
reactors.”
This deep knowledge and practical
involvement means that we are involved
in everything from periodic safety reviews,
safety case updates and probabilistic
safety assessments, to planning projects
and developing novel engineering solutions
at the stations. Recently, Amec Foster
Wheeler has provided human factors
support for the Sizewell B dry fuel store,
as well as assistance with remote
handling and robotics to assess the
condition of boilers in the AGR fleet as
part of the BLIMP project.
Our support goes beyond helping to
maintain the physical assets, however.
“We need to ensure that we can maintain
the technical skills and capability that are
needed to underpin the AGR lifetimes.
Some of those capabilities are with
partners like Amec Foster Wheeler,”
says Andy.
He describes the Lifetime Agreement,
signed between EDF Energy and Amec
Foster Wheeler in late 2015, as an
important framework to ensure that the
ambitions of both companies are aligned.
Through this agreement, the need to
maintain a lifetime capability in some key
skill areas is recognised.
Andy also highlights that EDF Energy
has been working with the Technical
Work on the transformers
during an outage at Heysham
“The rigs and labs that
Amec Foster Wheeler
maintain on our behalf
are a key aspect of our
operations”
ANDY GODDARD