Torness power station maintenance boosts local business
A programme of work is underway at Torness power station bringing a boost to the East Lothian economy.
One of the station’s two units (Unit 1) has been taken offline for a major maintenance programme called a statutory outage. This planned 10 week outage is like an MOT for the unit, allowing work to be carried out that cannot take place while the reactor is at power.
At its peak, around 800 additional workers will join the 750 strong site team to deliver this outage, supporting local business as they stay in the area’s hotels, B&Bs and caravan parks and eat in restaurants.
During the outage workers will carry out more than 12,500 separate pieces of work – each carefully planned during the last two years of preparation. Some of the largest jobs include turbine rotor exchange, gas circulator exchanges and inspections, graphite core inspections and generator load switch replacement.
Station Director, Paul Forrest, said: “This £40m maintenance programme supports our ambition to make sure Torness remains a top performing station that can continue to support the UK’s net zero goals.
“This will be the 25th statutory outage we have carried out at the station. We are very well practised at them and over the years, we have built great relationships with the extra workers who come and support us during the outages. These workers will be staying in local hotels and B&Bs, eating in the area’s restaurants and using taxi firms. It is great that our investment in the power station can also benefit our local community.”
EDF carries out a statutory outage on each of its reactors every three years. These are planned in advance with the National Grid to ensure that there is no impact on the national electricity supply. The other reactor at Torness is due to continue operating normally throughout the period.
Over its lifetime Torness has generated enough zero carbon electricity to power every home in Scotland for 29 years and the amount of carbon avoided, compared to gas generation, is the equivalent of taking every car off Scotland’s roads for 20 years.
For further information contact: fiona.mccall@edf-energy.com.
About EDF
EDF is driving the transition towards An Electric Britain – a secure, affordable, low-carbon future for everyone. As Britain’s biggest generator of zero carbon electricity, we are investing more than £100 million weekly in Britain’s electricity infrastructure. We supply millions of customers with electricity and help homes and businesses switch to electricity for heating, transport and industrial processes.
We operate five nuclear power stations and more than 35 onshore wind farms and three offshore wind farms. Since 2009, EDF has invested almost £9 billion in the nuclear fleet to improve reliability and extend station lifetimes. The five generating stations currently supply about 12% of the UK’s electricity demand.
EDF is building the UK's nuclear renaissance with the construction of a new nuclear power station at Hinkley Point C. We are a minority investor (12.5%) in and major supplier to a replica plant at Sizewell C in Suffolk. Hinkley Point C and Sizewell C will provide low carbon electricity to meet 14% of UK demand and power around 12 million homes. EDF Group companies Framatome and Arabelle Solutions have a presence in the UK and manufacture critical equipment such as reactor pressure vessels and turbines.
EDF is enabling its 5 million customers, both in business and at home, to choose electric solutions that save cash and carbon, whether it is buying an electric car, generating and storing electricity, selling energy back to the grid or installing solar panels or a heat pump. In 2025, EDF’s Customers business was ranked as one of the Sunday Times’s Best Place to Work.
It is also one of the UK’s leading developers of renewable energy through EDF power solutions UK and Ireland. We have more than 2GW of renewable generation in operation and over 10GW in construction, planning and development across a range of technologies including onshore and offshore wind, solar and battery storage.
We are one of the largest suppliers to British business and a leading supplier of innovative energy solutions that are helping businesses become more energy independent. In addition, the company’s energy services business, Dalkia, one of the UK and Ireland’s largest technical service providers.
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