Hunterston B

About Hunterston B

Hunterston B is a nuclear power station on the west coast of Scotland. It is capable of supplying electricity to approximately 1.7 million UK homes.

Station Director: Colin Weir
Total supply to the national grid: 965MW
Reactor type: 2 Advanced Gas-cooled Reactors
Coolant: Carbon dioxide gas (CO2)
Start of construction: 1968
Start of generation: 1976
Estimated decommissioning date: 2023
People: Approximately 520 full time EDF Energy employees plus over 250 full time contract partners

Power station - Hunterston B

Hunterston B is a nuclear power station on the west coast of Scotland. It is capable of supplying electricity to approximately 1.5 million UK homes.

Daily status

Reactor 3

Turbine Generator 7

Offline

-8MW

Shutdown category

Planned

Expected return to service

17-Nov-18

Status

Graphite inspection outage

Next statutory outage

Feb-2019

Reactor 4

Turbine Generator 8

In service

492MW

Status

Nominal full load

Next statutory outage

Sep-2020

Notes

Nominal full load refers to the nominal maximum generation in megawatts from a reactor. The output from a reactor can fluctuate even when at full load for many reasons (e.g. plant conditions, sea water temperatures, operating limits/constraints etc). Where the output of a reactor is reduced by approximately 10% or more of its maximum, the reason for this will be shown. Generation figures are net of any imports into the station and may be negative when a unit is not generating.

Return to service dates are provided to the same accuracy as provided to National Grid under the requirements of the Grid Code and refer to the first full day of operation. Where a return to service date falls within approximately two weeks of the date of this report, the exact date will be shown. Where a return to service date is expected to fall more than two weeks into the future, the week commencing in which a reactor is due to return to service will be indicated (shown as “w/c”).

Additional information on the availability of our nuclear power stations can be found on our REMIT page.

Community

EDF Energy and the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority hold regular joint meetings (Site Stakeholder Group or SSG) with local people, the media, council and emergency services representatives and local politicians to maintain regular communications about the nuclear site. This meeting is independently chaired.

The next SSG meeting is on 7 June 2018 at the Waterside Hotel, Ardrossan Road, West Kilbride. Lunch will be at 1pm followed by the meeting at 1.30pm.

Read our latest community report (PDF)

Read the latest letter to the Site Stakeholder Group (PDF)

Visit us

Drop into our visitor centre or book a station tour to see for yourself how we generate electricity in a nuclear power station.

Our visitor centre has an interactive exhibition where you can find out more about nuclear power generation. We also offer pre-booked tours of the power station and it's all free of charge.

Find out more about tours

Latest news

Wednesday, May 2, 2018

Hunterston B Update

EDF Energy has been in discussion with the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) to agree the return to service of Reactor 3 at Hunterston B following the completion of a recent inspection programme

Read more about Hunterston B Update

Staff and contractors at Hunterston B holding balloons showing the number of hours worked at the station,18,232,371, without anyone having to take time off of work due to an injury at the station.

Tuesday, April 3, 2018

Hunterston celebrates decade of safe working

Staff at Hunterston B power station are celebrating a significant safety milestone as the station reached 10 years without anyone having to take time off due to an injury at work.

Read more about Hunterston celebrates decade of safe working

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Contact us

Address:
EDF Energy
Hunterston B power station
West Kilbride
Ayrshire
KA23 9QX
Reception: +44 (0)1294 826000,
Media requests: F iona McCall, +44 (0)1355 846281
Community requests: Nikki Thomson, +44 (0)1294 826157