27 Aug 19
Hunterston B - Graphite

Letter to the Hunterston Site Stakeholder Group - 27 August 2019

Dear SSG Member,

I am writing to inform you that Hunterston B, Reactor 4  / Turbine Generator 8 was safely and successfully resynchronised to the grid on 25 August 2019.

This was following the ONR’s decision to give permission for the unit to resume generating electricity which I informed you about on 20 August 2019.

As I outlined in my previous letter, it is important that we continue to monitor the core and so will perform frequent graphite inspections.  These will enable us to continue to demonstrate that the reactor operates with large margins to ensure safe operation at all times. 

We will continue to demonstrate this safety-first  approach throughout the operating lives of our nuclear fleet, up to and beyond the point when we decide to end the generation phase and begin defueling and decommissioning.

The ONR continues to consider the safety case for Reactor 3 at Hunterston B and I will keep you updated on our progress in the usual way.

Reactor 4 has a capacity of 500MW and is capable of producing enough low carbon electricity for almost 1 million homes.

As always, please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions and I look forward to updating you further at our next meeting.

Colin Weir

Station Director