AROUND 350 full-time jobs in Hinkley Point A nuclear power station should be safe for at least another five years, owners British Nuclear Fuels Ltd confirmed this week.

The company was responding to speculation about Hinkley's future following news of the closure of Bradwell nuclear power station, in Essex.

BNFL said the Magnox reactors at Bradwell would be decommissioned when they reached their 40th anniversary in 2002.

It said the £72 million cost of further safety work at Bradwell was not economically justified.

Spokesman Robin Thornton said a similar formula for calculating possible electricity profits against operating costs would be applied to Hinkley.

However, Mr Thornton said: "There is one major difference - Bradwell is half the size of a station like Hinkley Point."

Mr Thornton said Hinkley's size meant it could generate far more electricity than Bradwell, making it much more economic to operate.

He said Hinkley A's two Magnox reactors had another five years before its present ten-year operating licence expired in 2005.

"No doubt they will already planning, although at an early stage, to see whether it can go from 2005 to 2015," said Mr Thornton.

"There is nothing that is threatening the power station from either an economic or a technical point of view."

Hinkley Point A was opened in 1965 and was designed to have an operating life of only 25 years.

Its twin reactors are now among the oldest in the country and have been beset with problems forcing a number of shutdowns in the past two to three years.

Earlier this year, both reactors were taken off line when faults in the original construction of their boilers were discovered.

Repair work has been going on for the past eight months with other faults coming to light in the meantime.

Reactor number two has twice been restarted only to be shut down again, while the reactor number one has remained out of use.

The most recent shutdown of reactor number two was at the beginning of this month.

Station manager Andy Corrigan said: "Some work being undertaken on the ongoing reviews of reactor pressure vessel safety cases questioned the conservatism of one aspect of the many parts of the safety cases.

"I took the entirely conservative decision to shut down reactor two until a full review of this information has been completed.

"As always, safety is my paramount consideration and whenever anything challenges information I will always take the decision to ensure I am in the safest condition possible."

Mr Corrigan said he would shortly be applying to the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate for consent to restart reactor number one.

He said an outage review meeting with the NII was completed satisfactorily.

Mr Corrigan said the decision to close Bradwell was based entirely on economics.

He said: "The generation income for a small station half our size is challenged by the necessary investment costs for continuing operation.

"As well as our regular reviews, NII requires all nuclear operators to undertake major reviews for continued operation beyond various stages of our lifetime.

"It is this additional cost for Bradwell that has regrettably resulted in this economic decision in what is now a very tough and competitive electricity market."