Blaze Shuts Didcot B Power Plant in U.K.

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland) - One of the U.K.'s leading gas-fired power plants has been shut down following a major blaze over the weekend.

The Didcot B combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) plant in Oxfordshire was shut down after the fire was detected in a cooling tower connected to one of the two operating modules. Up to 25 fire engines had to be marshalled to battle the blaze throughout Sunday night. RWE npower said the fire has been brought under control. No one was injured, and arson and terrorism have been ruled out as possible causes.

Didcot B, which was commissioned in 1997, has a generating capacity of 1,360 megawatts (MW) and supplies enough power for 1 million homes. The country's grid operator, National Grid, said that the plant's shutdown did not affect the country's electricity balance, as demand was typically low on Sunday night.

"We can confirm that no one is injured, which is clearly the most important thing, and also that the fire is now under control," a spokesman for RWE npower told media. "Obviously, the plant has been shut down."

U.K. Energy Secretary Ed Davey said: "First, I want to thank the emergency services who are at Didcot working to tackle the blaze. I've been reassured by National Grid that there is no risk to electricity supplies. I will be keeping in touch with the relevant authorities throughout. My priority is to understand the cause of the fire and get the affected unit back generating electricity as soon as it's safe to do so."

Energy security is a hot topic in the U.K., and sudden plant closures in recent months have increased fears that the country will face electricity shortages this winter.

A fortnight ago, EDF Energy, the U.K. division of French energy giant Electricite de France (EPA:EDF) (EDF) (Paris), was calming fears about nuclear risks to the public after cracks were found in some graphite bricks at the Hunterston B nuclear plant during a scheduled services and maintenance outage. For additional information, see October 8, 2014, article - Cracks at U.K. Nuclear Plant 'No Threat.'

In August, the company shut down four reactors after a fault was discovered at a boiler spine at Unit 1 of its Heysham 1 nuclear power plant in Lancashire, England. For additional information, see August 12, 2014, article - EDF Shuts Four U.K. Nuclear Reactors.

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