A key safety limit at one of Britain’s nuclear power stations is being raised to allow the life of the reactor to be extended, the BBC has learned.
The regulator has agreed to increase the amount of weight graphite bricks at the core of the reactor at Dungeness B in Kent will be allowed to lose.
The bricks, which degrade over time due to radiation, are vital for safety.
The Office for Nuclear Regulation said it was a “robust” body but one expert accused it of “moving the goalposts”.
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Steve Thomas, professor of energy policy at the University of Greenwich, said: “It doesn’t feel good when we come up against limits and the first thing they [the ONR] do is to move the goalposts.”
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