Designing Resilience: Seismic Analysis and Civil Design of Hinkley Point C Offshore Heat Sink

Abstract

After nearly 20 years, a new British nuclear power station is being built at Hinkley Point, UK. A significant level of resilience is expected of the nuclear power plant, which is reflected in the UK regulatory requirements. As this takes place post-Fukushima and several other significant seismic events around the world, the expectations for resilience in design are heightened. Therefore, a substantial level of resilience is considered for the water-cooling supply system, which is the subject of this paper. As part of the cooling system, the heat sink consists of several marine structures, including the intake and outfall offshore heads. These offshore structures provide the required level of cooling water at any stage of the power plant operation, including extreme events. Therefore, to ensure an adequate level of resilience, all plausible eventualities must be considered in the design. In this paper, the design of six large offshore civil structures, forming an integral part of the Hinkley Point C (HPC) heat sink is summarized. It discusses the comprehensive soil and structural analyses and innovative civil design undertaken by the designer (Jacobs), the industry leading construction techniques employed by the contractor (Balfour Beatty), and the advanced 3D reinforcement model created by detailer while being supported throughout by the client (EDF's Nuclear New Build NNB).