Hinkley Point

[knitware]

MrCarPark said:

So with the EU nearly getting to the point of letting us build a power station,

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/en...

my question is: Why is it so bloody expensive?


£16bn vs. £4bn for the original 90s British design, at original costs, say £8bn now adjusted for inflation.

So it's twice the price for a simplified design. Can anyone shed any light?

My salary, or to be precise most people who work in the nuclear industry, because it's the nuclear industry, command more money and this goes for suppliers too.

Scenario:
If I were to design a 'widget' for Joe Bloggs engineering to fit into a building then that would take me one month and cost £100.
I would design and produce drawings, do the calcs and get the widget machined and supplied.


If I were to design a 'widget' for Joe Bloggs Nuclear to fit into a building then that would take me six months and cost £1000 (not £600).

It’s more expensive due to the quality management system which includes many teams of many people, engineers, managers, health physics, procurement which in turn deal with the design, manufacture, assurances and delivery. Within the design process other processes take place.


Design justification, verification, validation, safety, health and environment, design quality control plan, optioneering and option selection, technical quires, whole life costing, design reviews, all the calculations, hazard and operability studies, project risk assessments, production of designs, examination, Inspection and maintenance, CDM regulations, human factor assessments and integration and functional safety reports.


And if any changes to the design are made by the client then we go around again.


The nuclear industry is wrapped up in so much traceability and accountability there is no room to move. Right first time comes at a vast price.

[knitware]

In the 90's there was no costing for the decommissioning of nuclear plant. The new builds take into account the removal and disposal of spent fuel and the decommissioning, ie the demolition, of the site to be returned one day to green field (in around 100 years ish) .

[MrCarPark]

knitware said:

In the 90's there was no costing for the decommissioning of nuclear plant. The new builds take into account the removal and disposal of spent fuel and the decommissioning, ie the demolition, of the site to be returned one day to green field (in around 100 years ish) .

I figured this might be it. There are myriad other insurances too:

http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/NP-Hinkley-Point...

[anonymous-user]

knitware said:

Design justification, verification, validation, safety, health and environment, design quality control plan, optioneering and option selection, technical quires, whole life costing, design reviews, all the calculations, hazard and operability studies, project risk assessments, production of designs, examination, Inspection and maintenance, CDM regulations, human factor assessments and integration and functional safety reports.

You are Sir Humphrey AICMFP!

[hidetheelephants]

fblm said:

knitware said:

Design justification, verification, validation, safety, health and environment, design quality control plan, optioneering and option selection, technical quires, whole life costing, design reviews, all the calculations, hazard and operability studies, project risk assessments, production of designs, examination, Inspection and maintenance, CDM regulations, human factor assessments and integration and functional safety reports.

You are Sir Humphrey AICMFP!

To be fair most of that occurs in any large scale engineering project, it's a necessary part of managing things; the extra cost comes from the resultant paperwork mountain and the admin needed to keep it from falling over and killing someone.