Hunterston

Hunterston A

Hunterston A is a magnox reactor which was opened in 1964. It has two reactors each of which produced 160 megawatts of electricity. The first reactor was closed in December 1989 and the second in March 1990.

When electricity was privatised Hunterston A was placed kept in the hands of the state, in the form of Magnox Electric. A contract was placed with BNFL to reprocess 700 tonnes of spent fuel from Hunterston A at Sellafield.

The initial part of the decommissioning process will take until 2010 and the whole process is expected to last 135 years and involve the removal of around 37,000 cubic metres of nuclear waste.

Hunterston B

Hunterston B consists of two Advanced Gas Cooled (AGR) reactors each of which produces 575 megawatts of electricity. The first reactor started operating in January 1976 and the second in March 1977.

In 2000 the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate gave British Energy permission to run these reactors for three years rather than two between outages.

Detailed information on the AGR design (large pdf file); Summary of AGR reactor design. British Energy Hunterston B webpage

Plans for a third power station at Hunterston

There are indications that plans are afoot for a new power station, Hunterston C, to be build next to the two existing plant at Hunterston.

SEPA said that they had received no formal proposal. However they welcomed a debate on energy provision for Scotland. They said: "SEPA has also pointed out that this issue also brings into sharp focus is the need for the Government to decide how to deal with high and intermediate level nuclear waste."

More information on this issue is also available from the Scottish National Party , Friends of the Earth (Scotland) and an article in The Herald

British Energy said in March 2001: "We would not rule out new nuclear build at some point in the future," a spokesman said. "But the market and financial framework would have to be right."

Radiation from Hunterston contaminates soft drinks February 1997

In 1997 radiation from Hunterston nuclear power station may have found its way into Scottish fizzy drinks, following a leak. The Scottish Office has issued a Food Hazard Warning to environmental health officers.

Carbon dioxide in the power station had become contaminated during maintenance work at the reactor. Tankers visited the plant to top up supplies. But some of the radioactive carbon dioxide blow back into the tankers. The vehicles then went on to supply the gas for soft drinks manufacturers and breweries including the producers of Coca Cola and Irn Bru. Most of the main Scottish drinks companies were potentially affected. A telephone line was set up for members of the public and it had taken 700 calls within the first few hours.

"It is astonishing that our soft drinks can so easily be contaminated. Yet again the nuclear industry has shown a callous disregard for public safety. There are many strange things in our fizzy drinks, but we don't expect to find bubbles of gas which have come out of a nuclear reactor."

It is worrying that after the incident both Scottish Nuclear and the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate said that they had never considered this as a route through which radioactive material could enter the food chain. There are also concerns that there were delays in publicising the incident. In particular the operators failed to disclose the incident to a visit of inspectors on 28 February.

The Scottish Secretary Michael Forsyth gave the following account of what happened in Parliament:

"As the House will know, recently there was an incident at Hunterston B power station in Ayrshire. I understand that Scottish Nuclear first identified contamination in Hunterston's carbon dioxide supply network on 20 February. The staff then investigated the problem and attributed it to a faulty non-return valve in the carbon dioxide supply. As a result of their investigations, it became apparent to Scottish Nuclear staff on 27 February that a possible route existed for contaminated carbon dioxide to move out of the site. That route involved transfer of carbon dioxide from the on-site tanks to road tankers delivering further supplies of the gas. Some similar transfer could occur from the road tankers to the main tank at the supply depot. That main tank also serves a number of food processing companies. When Scottish Nuclear identified that possibility, it reported the problem to the transport company. It then calculated the maximum possible release of radiation and concluded that, although it was of no radiological significance, it should be reported to the regulatory bodies. On 3 March, Scottish Nuclear informed the nuclear installations inspectorate and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, which in turn told the Scottish Office that day. I myself was told at about 6 pm that day. I was, naturally, extremely concerned, and immediately took the advice of the chief medical officer for Scotland.

"...There are, however, a number of aspects which give rise to concern--notably the delays that took place in drawing this problem to the attention of the authorities and the fact that it is possible for carbon dioxide tankers supplying the food industry also to make deliveries to a nuclear power station."

Power cut at Hunterston 27 December 1998

A full-scale emergency was declared at a Scots nuclear station when fierce winds knocked out the power to cool its reactors. The plant remained shut after bosses pressed the alarm button. They couldn't restart the back-up generators, vital to keep the reactors' two cores from overheating. Frightened staff were called from their homes and battled for five hours to manually try to reset the safety systems before the cores went "critical". A boss was also rushed under police escort to Hunterston B, in Ayrshire, it was claimed. The astonishing situation - sparking fears of a Chernobyl-type reactor meltdown - happened after storms took out the national grid twice in the space of 12 hours. The first time - at 11pm on Saturday - the emergency back-up generators in the nuclear plant switched on automatically. But there were not enough staff on duty to manually reset them before the grid went down a second time at 11am on Sunday - leaving plant bosses helpless.

One Hunterston worker said: "It is the most serious incident I have ever seen. They had to take an emergency roll call of all staff using clipboards and bits of paper because even the computer swipe card system had failed."

A spokeswoman for the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate said: "Two of our inspectors were called in as soon as the alarm was raised on Sunday and our investigations continue. "There was no power to the system that cools the reactor for a number of hours and we do consider this a serious incident." . . . .

See also SEPA report of this incident

Cancer risks

In 1999 The Scottish Express reported local concerns in the town of West Kilbride about Hunterston. Some in the town believe that some of the cases of cancer among the local residents could be a result of their proximity to the nuclear power station. One of them said:

"I have no doubt that Hunterston is connected to the incredible number of cancer deaths in this area. We keep being told that it is totally safe but I just do not believe it. It would not surprise me if incidents had occurred at Hunterston that we were not informed about. But we will probably never find out the extent of the risk until about 50 years later, when it is too late. There have been so many cover ups, it is about time they came clean."

A spokeswomen for North Ayrshire Cancer Care said:

"We give support to more than 4,000 cancer sufferers in the area and they are all concerned that their condition may be linked to Hunterston. We are right behind the campaign to find out the truth."

Scottish Liberal Democrat Health Spokesman Andy Myles said:

"If there is serious concern that there is a cancer cluster in a community near a power station, the Government has a responsibility to carry out research."

In 1999 Ayrshire and Arran Health Board revealed that the results of a report which found no evidence to support concerns about increase cancer levels around the two Hunterston Magnox nuclear reactors in south-west Scotland - the 'A' reactor is being decommissioned while the 'B' reactor is still operating. The report found studied data from 1975 to 1996 and while slightly increased levels of leukaemia and non-Hodgkins lymphoma were found in some areas, lower levels were recorded in others and the researchers said the variations were in line with results in other parts of the country.

Other Accidents and Incidents

The following is a list of incidents, accidents and other safety related stories about Hunterston, the most recent are first. There is further information in the Nuclear Installation Inspectorate Site Reports (2000)

1977 - Sea water runs into the cooling circuit of the second reactor at Hunterston A nuclear power plant. 6,000 gallons of sea water were accidentally pumped into the cooling system of the Hunterston nuclear reactor on the river Clyde. The reactor was undergoing maintenance at the time and had been shut down. Repairs took two and a half years and cost £15 million. The reactor was shut down again in 1982 for further checks because of fears that there was an excess of salt in the reactor.

1987 - Reactor running at 8 per cent power because of a fuel rod problem.

December 1990 -An arial survey revealed high levels of radiation in an unused building at Hunterston. The emissions were ten times higher than normal levels. The building was a 100 metre tall precipitator tower in the old Hunterston A station. The tower is close to the boundary fence. The tower is due to be removed as part of the decommissioning process. The radiation measured was ceasium 137 which has a half life of 30 years. At the time of the survey the plant operators at Hunterston complained that the helicopter was overflying the site.

June 1992 - There was a serious fire inside a reactor at Hunterston. The reactor was shut down at the time. 18 men feared that they would be trapped inside the reactor area where they had been working. One of the workers said: "This fire should not have happened, but it showed how inadequate procedures are. It took a full half hour to clear the reactor. Access and escape hatches are so small that only one person at a time can squeeze through them. Men had to queue up while flames licked around their feet." The fire occurred about 25 feet from the fuel core.

14 July 1993 - A blocked drain led to a build up of radiation which was detected in a plant room.

8 December 1993 - There was a leak of radiation from a valve. This occurred on the same day that as a nuclear accident exercise, "Lomond" was taking place involving the emergency services.

8 February 1994 - Radioactive contamination was found on the floor and on the clothing of some staff in the separating room. This was near Reactor 1 at Hunterston B which was closed for defuelling at the time. The incident was only made public in March.

1995 - Plans to build a dry store for used fuel at Hunterston were abandoned under pressure from BNFL for the fuel to be reprocessed at Sellafield. This will result in an increase in nuclear waste discharged into the sea in Cumbria.

April 1996 - One of the reactors in Hunterston B was shut down after a steam leak associated with a weld in a boiler pipe within the pressure vessel. Local MP Brian Wilson said: "This cracked weld has already led to a substantial loss of output and could be repeated in other reactors."

June 1996 - A leaked confidential report revealed that there were concerns that a shortage of key staff was affecting operations at Hunterston and could have led to a series of unplanned "trips" at the plant.

24 January 1997 - A fire took place inside Hunterston nuclear power. It was reported that the fire took place inside the turbine hall and that the nuclear reactor would remain shut down for several days.

February 1997 - Soft drinks contaminated by radiation from Hunterston

27 March 1997 - Two reactors were shut down following an "inadvertant switch off" during routine safety checks. One of them was returned to power using a "hot start" the other remained off for 3 days. Workers said of the incident: "There was steam everywhere. People were running up and down corridors wondering what was happening."

27 December 1998 - Power cut at Hunterston

1998 - Hunterston A power station had to call a nuclear alert after a hedgehog got into an over flow pipe causing 70,000 litres of contaminated water to seep into a decommissioned site.The hedgehog had jammed itself into the pipe that usually takes the overflow waste to a third tank fitted with an alarm. The blockage stopped both the overflow and the circuits sounding the alarm. A spokesperson from the station said there was no health risk to staff or the public.

February 1999 -Scottish Express reveals cancer risks around Hunterston

October 1999 -A nuclear accident exercise was held at Hunterston and revealed weaknesses in overall planning.. This was the top level nuclear accident exercise held in the UK in 1999. It centred on a reactor containment failure with a release of radioactivity to the atmosphere. The British Government (at Ministerial level) and Scottish Executive participated along with North Ayrshire Council, SEPA, West of Scotland Water, NII, NRPB and British Energy. It was a 2 day, level 3 exercise. In its report SEPA said: "The exercise was a useful test of SEPA's systems and highlighted the ongoing lack of a defined nuclear emergency policy or plan."

December 1999 - There was an undisclosed leak of radioactive waste to the Clyde from the Hunterston B nuclear power station in Ayrshire operated by British Energy.British Energy was sent a warning letter by SEPA for breaking radiation safety rules by allowing a 20-40 feet high fountain of contaminated cooling water to escape down the drains and into the Clyde estuary.

August 2000 - The Nuclear Installations Inspectorate issued two formal notices to British Nuclear Fuels after it was found that four radioactive sources, containing strontium-90 and caesium 137, have been lost at the Hunterston A nuclear plant in south-west Scotland. The material was described as high energy beta sources. The Hunterston A Magnox station is being decommissioned. The lost was discovered on 9th August. Searches inside and outwith the site have failed to find the sources. It was concluded some 6 weeks later that it was deemed to be 'lost', perhaps exported from the site as part of a consignment of scrap metal. The incident has been classified as Level 2 on the International Nuclear Event Scale (INES), indicating that it involved a significant failure in safety provisions. The incident was confirmed in the HSE's latest Statement of Nuclear Incidents at Nuclear Installations for the third quarter of 2000.