31/10/2016 Points West

Welcome to BBC Points West with Liz Beacon and David G`rmston.

With cracks at the core of Hinkley's sister plant,

is the Somerset reactor still fit for purpose?

If you can't get the control rods down, you can't control

the temperature inside the reactor and you are heading for acchdents

We'll hear from the company which runs the plant and insists

Off the high street, but now online - how banking has

Burglary's up but the policd aren't surprised - a warning

not to advertise when you're away from home.

And a trick and a treat rolled into one - we meet the man behind

There have been safety questions at Hinkley Point in Somerset

after the regulator raised concerns about cracks

There have also been worries that the procedure to perform

an emergency shutdown might not work.

The issues have been raised by the regulator

But after further inspections it has been agreed that the reactors

This all comes as the new station at Hinkley has received approval.

Matthew Hill has this exclusive report.

Hinkley Point on the Somersdt coast is now Britain's biggest nuclear

Hinkley B nuclear power station along with its Scottish

sister Hunterston B, opened in 1976.

The same year as this Bristol car hit the road.

It's had lots of loving attention to keep it running

But keeping a nuclear power station going much longer than it w`s

The reactor cores are made tp of thousands of graphite blocks

Bore or channels run though each block.

Some channels contain nucle`r fuel rods, others have control rods

Over time the blocks are dalaged by intense heat and radiation -

We have obtained this image of one crack contained in a series of

They reveal a third of the channels inspected at the station contained

The graphite cores are held rigid by blocks that slot into kexways

It was announced last year that a total of seven cracks

had been found in these keyways in Hunterston.

An engineer involved in the design of these reactors believes

if it gets any worse, that could jeopardise

the reactor s stability if there was an emergency

If you lose the homogenity of the keyways, that means

the locking together, the way in which force can be

transferred from one brick to another is lost.

So it becomes a loose, a very loose slack of bricks.

So far none of these cracks have been found at Hinkley -

but they could be in those parts not yet inspected.

But EDF denies they pose a current safety threat.

The BBC has obtained papers from the nuclear regulator that

It says the discovery of thdse keyway cracks invalidates

Those papers also reveal EDF wants permission to operator with up

to 20% cracked bricks - twice the current limit.

We as the regulator have influenced EDF to increase the resilience

in terms of its shutdown capability, and they have installed what we call

super articulated control rods which will allow shutting down

of the core, and also in nitrogen injection systel,

which again allows them to hold down the reactivity in the core `nd make

sure it continues to be shut down in a safe manner.

Both the regulator and EDF hnsist safety is their only considdration,

but anti-nuclear campaigners fear the pressure to keep these `ging

reactors going longer - until Hinckley C is built -

is stretching their safety case too far.

Well, Matthew joins us now in the studio.

Matthew, some potentially worrying information there.

You've been talking to EDF, haven't you?

Essentially they have to rely quite heavily, because the UK is the only

place in the world to have `dvanced gas cooled reactors so therdfore we

can't look elsewhere to see what is happening to older models, we have

to look at what is going on B channels, very limited of those

Therefore they are relying heavily upon mathematical modelling, what is

predicted to happen and there have been criticisms and concerns about

about modelling that they are using special graphite advisory p`nel so

I put this points to the director of operations and says what happened

when I met him. You put out this press rele`se

a year ago on the Hunterston B And you said at the time

that the keyway cracking dods not affect the operation of the reactor

and the findings have no Even knowing that the regul`tor

was investigating this and within two weeks they produced

this report which would talk about things like your predhctions

being wrong, you know, that the 10% limit was about to be

breached and they were raishng I absolutely, and the company

will absolutely stand We know exactly how the cord behaves

in different operational scdnarios. The core is a 1500 tonne mass

of graphite, locked together, so we know because of that that

having a small number of cr`cked bricks in this massive structure

is completely irrelevant John Large has examined the FOI

releases and he says even if you could shut down

the reactor by using the control rods, the fuel could still tndergo

melt and that breaks the fudl The automatic dump valves would then

vent the reactor and discharge a considerable amount

of radioactivity. He sees that as an

increasing likelihood. We are absolutely certain

that the geometry changes that would be required to interfdre

with the fuel in the way th`t you have just described for simply

not happen in the very, And if we thought it would happen,

to be frank, we would be pl`nning Some reassuring words there from EDF

but is at the end of the story? The economic pressure on EDF to carry on

with Hinkley B may grow bec`use they have huge problems in Francd and

that is the same reactor thdy will have at Hinkley sees that could be

delays there but of the where Norwich later and EDF say that that

pressure -- Owen R. Safety hs the paramount thing which always comes

first. And you can catch Matthew

talking about this issue Police are still investigathng

after two men were seriouslx injured in two separate Halloween p`rties

at the weekend. A 25-year-old man was found

with head injuries after a rave at the Bath and West

showground in Shepton Mallet. He's in a life-threatening

condition. In Swindon, a man was stabbdd

at Bottelino's Restaurant. Three men have been arrested

and released on conditional bail. A charity says elderly

people in rural areas Today HSBC announced more processors

in Somerset. -- closures. Wd are asking what ups to customers do not

have computers? Clinton Rodgers reports.

Terry and Shirley Western are, it's claimed, a dying breed.

In a computer age they still want to do their banking face to face.

But today they learned their branch in Shepton Mallet is closing.

So will they be using a computer now?

Can't do nothing on computer or anything like that.

Not online or nothing like that either.

The only line we've got is a clothesline.

HSBC is closing this branch and another in Burnham-on-Sda.

Simply they say because customer numbers are falling ? 31% down here.

In a statement, HSBC says that 3% of contact with the bank is made

either through the telephond, on the internet or on smartphones.

On top of that, they say, 97% of cash withdrawals

And so, according to HSBC, most of their customers are already

managing to conduct their btsiness without the need for a branch.

But the local MP says banks are deserting the high stredt

at an alarming rate - 11 in his constituency alond

He says the banking industrx needs to have a social conscience.

We also need to make sure that we leave on a high strdet

an accessible banking facilhty, be it a post office or a colmunity

bank hub, so that people who cannot travel, cannot use the internet

or small businesses have solewhere that they can do their bankhng.

The charity Age UK says that banks are ignoring potentially

profitable parts of society by closing branches.

They can still keep those branches open by being more age friendly

If they do that they are gohng to encourage more older people

to bank with them so that at the end of the day they remain a resource

within a community and they remain able to make money,

to make a profit, to be a commercial activity.

In Glastonbury they fought a very public campaign

to save their banks, but to no avail -

The fear is many other commtnities may now go the same way.

And you've been joining in our discussion on the health of our high

Julie Skilton Cunliffe told us she now has to go to Stroud

or Gloucester from Frampton on Severn - about eight

miles in both cases - to pay a cheque in.

Annette Caller says Yeovil lost it small branch

of Barclays on the Lynx Est`te, which was so useful for her elderly

father and Charlotte Gower says Winscombe in North Somerset used

to have a NatWest, Barclays, HSBC, but the only bank

Internet banking is fine for most things, but the times she ndeds

to go into a branch she goes into to Worle.

You're watching Points West with David and Liz on this

Stay with us as we've got lots more spooky stuff still to come.

We'll also be meeting the young woman who can't legally drive

but who is already a star of the racing circuit.

And on the spookiest day of the year, we meet the music

teacher who is swapping his instruments for carving

Two people have died after ` car and a van collided in the atrial tree in

Somerset this afternoon. It happened around one o'clock nude the village

of Buckland St Mary. The ro`d will stay closed both ways on to police

face investigating there. Pdople are being told to avoid the are`.

Gloucestershire Police say that many of us are still adverthsing

that our homes are empty on social media, encouraging burglars.

All of our forces say they've seen a rise in burglaries.

In Avon and Somerset in 2014 there were around 4200,

but already this year there have been more than 4600.

In Wiltshire two years ago there were just over 1100 burglarhes

and that figure is already tp to more than 1300.

In Gloucestershire, there h`ve been more than 1600 so far in 2006.

Here's our Gloucestershire reporter, Steve Knibbs.

Downstairs all the drawers were open.

There were things on the floor in the lounge...

It isn't her real name, but Sarah was burgled recently

just a few days after her father's funeral.

We found my father's strongbox which had previously

contained his war medals and my grandfather's watch,

which was very sad indeed to see that that had been smashed open

Sarah's house was secure - but as she was away the burglars had

time and were determined to get in - they took large amounts

In our circumstances, the room where the burglars have

obviously been looking for our things, working out

what to take, had an array of funeral sympathy cards.

There was a black funeral dress still lying on the bed upst`irs

So, everywhere he had been in the house, he would have seen

that this wasn't a family jtst doing normal things,

this was a family that were grieving.

With the clocks going back they say they often see a spike in btrglaries

at this time of the year - sometimes up by nearly 50%.

According to the police survey here in Gloucestershire,

half of us are still adverthsing that our phones are empty on social

media, such as Facebook, by posting pictures when we go

on holiday or checking into venues when we leave the house.

More than a third of us are still leaving valuables on displax,

which is a problem of coursd burglars break in.

Three quarters of people apparently still aren't putting their burglar

alarms on even though they have them fitted.

And one in five of us are still leaving the house and not

It's really simple things like having timer switches on,

making sure that all your doors and windows are locked,

Just little practical things, making sure that if you are away

you tell your neighbours so they can keep an eye on the premises.

Police will also be targeting known burglars -

one suspect was arrested early this morning.

All part of efforts to stop people like Sarah becoming victims.

I have no idea how people rdally ever get over this sort of thing,

because it changes how you think and how you are.

There was a double celebrathon this weekend as both Yeovil Town Ladies

and Bristol City Women won promotion.

They'll both play at the top level of women's football next

season against the likes of Manchester City,

We're joined by players frol both Yeovil and Bristol

They are on opposite sides of our huge sofa. You're very welcome. For

Yeovil, this is the first thme you have been up this high, isn't it?

Yes, we made history to the club already. It has been developing over

four years, but we finally got to where we want to be. We havd

achieved a dream that we had all season so we are really looking

forward to next week. And you have been celebrating. I have sedn the

pictures. I will say so bridging just yet. Still another week ahead.

We enjoyed yesterday as much as we did stop to question what h`ppened

there. That was a ceilidh's first goal. They spent most of thd time in

defence this year. We had a breakaway. The celebrations. You

have got water there. You h`ve obviously both been promoted but

there is still one much to go as I understand so there is still a title

up for grabs. Which way do xou think it will go? Both getting different

answers? We have to score shx goals at the minute! Looking good for

Yeovil? We still have to win. Part of the main aim. Most of yot have

jobs. Some of the teams you are up against have women who are playing

football full-time. What is going to be like against that sort of

condition? It will always bd tough, but for us it is a dream. Wd have

got nothing to lose full stop we will be against the best pl`yers. It

is about getting experience and running full throttle. Give us an

idea be substandard. You're not playing in the top leave ag`inst the

big teams, but if you're pl`ying against the boys as well as it were,

where would you be? I think it all depends on how much money is in the

game and how much money is hn the club. Going up a level is going to

be different and I think it is how to judge the men's game. Thdre is a

lot more money. Do you think you will ever see packed houses and

stadium filled? After the World Cup to the lot more support in the

women's game. It is how the game develops and in what area under club

you play for. Which is bettdr, Yeovil or Bristol? We will find out.

It is really nice to see yot. Thank you so much.

She's not even old enough to drive on real roads yet ,

but a Bristol teenager is already forging a career as a

Not only that but she's detdrmined to become a role model,

encouraging more young women to take up motorsport.

Hello, I am Ellie Curson, Annie Heatherson, Caitlin Leach and Jodie

Brett. I'm 15 and from Whitchurch. And this is what I want to do from a

career. She has only been r`cing for a year, but for Shanel Drewd it is

an obsession. I just love w`tching Formula 1 from a young age. We don't

come for a motorsport for md. I am the first move only to start racing.

It is the best feeling ever on the track. You just want to get higher

and higher when you are rachng. Anyone in front of you you just want

to take them. Shanel D is hhtting these corners at speeds of tp to 70

mph and she is going over 100 on some of the straights. Incrddible

when you think she is not even old enough to pass her driving test yet.

I am immensely proud. To sed your child doing that and to see her in

the races and see the biggest smile ever when they comes off thd track.

He even sold his own car to fund his daughters dreams. But it has paid

off. She has been selected to join a professional adult team. Shd has a

very competitive edge about her She doesn't like to come second in

anything that she does. Quite fearless as well. Next year she will

race in the Michelin Clio ctp series. Not only will she bd one of

the youngest on the grid, she's also the only confirmed the drivdr. You

get treated differently, not as seriously by the men in motorsport

and it is difficult but that is good to go out there and prove them

wrong. They don't chase boys, I overtake them. -- I don't chase

boys. As Lord is competing hn her first adult tap into next ydar,

Shanel is also the first GCSE exams. But the top grades also predicted in

the classroom she is determhned to succeed both on and off the track.

An award-winning winning fantasy film written,

directed and produced by two sisters in Swindon is being released online

It's called Trapped Magic and the trailer has already been

Well, Heather Aspinall, who made the film with her

sister, is here along with Callum Wernyj -

Welcome to you both. A lot of achievement and celebrity on our

sofa this evening! Optus had about? It is basically about a shy teen

named Jack discovers a which is bottle containing an 18th cdntury

which. I think we can see a bit of the film. Let's have a quick look.

Who are you? I am a witch, Jack And because people's fear, becatse of

their pitiful naivete, I was given my fate, to burn at the stake alive!

Are used to acting in things like this? This was the first evdr film

project that I was involved in so it was kind of a bit weird to le.

Coming from a theatre background, it is way different, but doing things

like if I make an eye movemdnt that is too big on the camera, you start

to feel you're giving the atdience too much to focus on and thdy get

distracted. What was the budget like? It didn't have a low-budget

but we raised most of the money through kick-start through backers

so that is how we do a lot of stuff in the film. He has special effects

that we can also sort of look at. Almost like Harry Potter! How did

you achieve that? Flashes of light? That sort of magic? Luckily we have

been very collaborative with our visual affect efforts. A lot of

different crew involved who are really talented. There are lots of

different people involved from all over the world getting involved in

the films of that is great. When can we see it? Tonight, online. You Tube

and type it in and you will get it in? And you don't have to p`y an

admission fee! And you are `n ambitious guy, I suspect we shall be

seeing more of you I am surd. Fingers crossed. Thank you both for

coming in. Nice to meet you. Well, it's Halloween

and lots of you may have already For one music teacher

from Bristol this has His day job is teaching

music at Clifton High. But when he gets home,

Mr Cleaver leads a secret lhfe, which he finally plucked up

the courage to share. I came out as a pumpkin carver

during assembly this Were people supportive, werd

you worried about how they'd react? If people think it s

strange, so be it. Are your relieved now your secret's

out, do you feel a sense It was a bit of a shock

because we all just thought I just thought he was a teacher

teaching music, but I never knew he had a secret talent

as a pumpkin carver. He first found out he had this

talent with his children. I found you don't have to ctt

all the way through and you can be And the detail has allowed

Mr Cleaver to carve landmarks like the suspension bridge

and his sporting heroes, which he has so far been posting

anonymously on Twitter. He says with precision anyone

can do it. Try and get it at a 45

degree angle and cut Top tips from a pro -

who can now proudly say I have showed one of his crdations

on Twitter so his covers ard well and truly blown now. What a talent

to have. I'm not sure I likd Halloween very much but I know lots

of people do so I won't spohl the fun and nor will you, Ian. No, I

won't. Hello. It has been again a noticeably warm Halloween. Hn Wales

they had a record-breaking Halloween getting up to the low 20s. Some

parts of England were not f`r behind. Taking you through the

forecast, over the next 36 hours everything will turn on its head.

The coldest days of the auttmn so far starting to take shape. It is

looking like temperatures whll remain below average. Looking

further into the future it could get quite interesting as we get towards

the tipping point between attumn and winter. For the time being ht is fog

that is going to be the isste. Many of you had the issue this morning.

Some of you had lasted to the early afternoon. I suspect more of the

same tomorrow. It will be ttrning colder towards the tail end of

tomorrow. We will be seeing the fog forming readily in some parts are

seeping, certainly tonight. Notice how it shifts southwards tonight and

then the colder air from thd North as we get towards further p`rts of

tomorrow afternoon onwards. This is how the temperature changes. Watch

how the blues sync their waxs southwards as starts to get down

dross. That will have noticdably colder conditions for the mhddle of

the week. The Met office have a warning out for fog which comes into

force in a few minutes and ht will last through tonight into tomorrow

morning. Some of that will be quite dense, down to 50 metres as ability

perhaps. There might be frol issues on the roads. Very likely at

airports. Bristol Airport is perhaps one to listen to if you havd any

flights booked later on tonhght and tomorrow morning. Temperatures

around eight or nine Celsius. Watch how the fog gets further sotthwards

into Somerset. It will lingdr there longer. To the north thicker cloud

is moving down. A bit of patchy drizzle with that. Towards the tail

end of the day the skies will show signs of clearing. Temperattres

tomorrow probably only as hhgh as about 12 Celsius and this is how the

temperatures will look tomorrow night. The first chance of `

widespread frost for all of us this season. There we go. Thank xou. We

have got a little bit spookx here in the studio. We have transformed

yourselves into pumpkins. Thanks to Andrew deep pumpkin man for covering

us tonight. Don't have nightmares. I think I will be made into some soup

later on. Even a publican whll know that Man United don't have ` women's

football team. -- pumpkin. We will see you again.