Letter to the Torness Local Liaison Committee - 25 June

25 June 2020

Dear LLC member

Torness power station unit 2 shut down

As a member of our community, I believe it is important to keep you updated on any developments at Torness power station.

On Tuesday, 23 June Reactor 2 came off-line after a 552 day operating run, the unit’s second longest, bringing to an end a 1205 day cumulative run across the two reactors.

The shutdown was due to the closure of a governor valve in the conventional non-nuclear part of the power station. Our systems are designed to “fail safe” and as our operators worked to resolve the issue, the unit automatically shutdown.

As a result, steam was released from the vents which made a loud noise. This was perfectly normal and expected in a safe shut down like this.

The reactor shut down and cooled safely, which is our overriding priority when a reactor goes offline, and there were no health or environmental impacts.

The unit will be returned to service once an investigation has been carried out.

Torness power station’s two nuclear reactors generate enough electricity to power more than 2 million homes and started operating in 1988. The station employs more than 500 full time staff and around 200 full time contract partners.