Torness nuclear power station is a
nuclear power station
A nuclear power plant (NPP) is a thermal power station in which the heat source is a nuclear reactor. As is typical of thermal power stations, heat is used to generate steam that drives a steam turbine connected to a generator that produces elec ...
located approximately east of
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
at Torness Point near
Dunbar
Dunbar () is a town on the North Sea coast in East Lothian in the south-east of Scotland, approximately east of Edinburgh and from the English border north of Berwick-upon-Tweed.
Dunbar is a former royal burgh, and gave its name to an ecc ...
in East Lothian,
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
. It was the last of the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
's
second generation nuclear power plants to be commissioned. Construction of this facility began in 1980 for the then
South of Scotland Electricity Board
The South of Scotland Electricity Board (SSEB) generated, transmitted and distributed electricity throughout the south of Scotland, including the former regions of Strathclyde, Lothian, Fife, Central, Borders and Dumfries and Galloway and a few t ...
(SSEB) and it was commissioned in 1988. It is a local landmark, highly visible from the
A1 trunk road and
East Coast Main Line
The East Coast Main Line (ECML) is a electrified railway between London and Edinburgh via Peterborough, Doncaster, York, Darlington, Durham and Newcastle. The line is a key transport artery on the eastern side of Great Britain running broa ...
railway.
The power station is expected to be shut down in 2028, prior to defueling and then decommissioning.
History
After extensive discussions with the
local planning authority
A local planning authority (LPA) is the local government body that is empowered by law to exercise urban planning functions for a particular area. They exist in the United Kingdom and India.
United Kingdom
Mineral planning authorities
The role ...
and more than twenty other interested organisations, the
South of Scotland Electricity Board
The South of Scotland Electricity Board (SSEB) generated, transmitted and distributed electricity throughout the south of Scotland, including the former regions of Strathclyde, Lothian, Fife, Central, Borders and Dumfries and Galloway and a few t ...
(SSEB) sought approval of the
Secretary of State for Scotland
The secretary of state for Scotland ( gd, Rùnaire Stàite na h-Alba; sco, Secretar o State fir Scotland), also referred to as the Scottish secretary, is a Secretary of State (United Kingdom), secretary of state in the Government of the Unit ...
in 1973 for Torness as a site for a nuclear power station. A public exhibition was held at
Dunbar
Dunbar () is a town on the North Sea coast in East Lothian in the south-east of Scotland, approximately east of Edinburgh and from the English border north of Berwick-upon-Tweed.
Dunbar is a former royal burgh, and gave its name to an ecc ...
in February 1974 to explain the Board's proposals, and in June 1974, a public inquiry was held.
There was widespread public opposition to the building of a nuclear plant at Torness. Diverse campaigning groups came together to highlight the environmental and human cost of nuclear power stations. In May 1978, 4,000 people marched from Dunbar to occupy the Torness site. Many of them signed a declaration to “take all nonviolent steps necessary to prevent the construction of a nuclear power station at Torness”.
The SSEB submitted designs for four types of reactor then being considered by HM Government for the next stage of the
UK civil nuclear programme: the
advanced gas-cooled reactor (AGR), the Steam Generating Heavy Water Reactor (
SGHWR), the Light Water Reactor (
LWR
The light-water reactor (LWR) is a type of thermal-neutron reactor that uses normal water, as opposed to heavy water, as both its coolant and neutron moderator; furthermore a solid form of fissile elements is used as fuel. Thermal-neutron reac ...
) and the High Temperature Reactor (HTR). In February 1975, the Secretary of State for Scotland granted the SSEB statutory consent for the location of future nuclear power stations and, after review of the four alternative reactor types, consent was given on 24 May 1978 for construction of the AGR station.
The construction, which was undertaken by a consortium known as National Nuclear Corporation ('NNC'), began in 1980. The reactors were supplied by NNC, the boilers by
NEI
Nei or NEI may refer to:
*Nei, Iran, a village in Ardabil Province, Iran
*Nei, a character in the ''Phantasy Star II'' roleplaying game
*Nutrition and Education International
*Nuclear Energy Institute, American nuclear industry lobbying group
*N ...
and the turbines by
GEC.
Torness was the last of the United Kingdom's second generation nuclear power plants to be commissioned (25 May 1988).
The station consists of two advanced gas-cooled reactors (AGR) capable of producing a peak rating of 1,364
MWe
The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James Watt ...
. Upon deregulation of the United Kingdom's electricity generation market it passed to the state-owned
Scottish Nuclear
Scottish Nuclear was formed as a precursor to the privatisation of the electricity supply industry in Scotland on 1 April 1990. A purpose-built headquarters was built in 1992 in the new town of East Kilbride.
It consisted of the nuclear assets ...
, privatised as part of
British Energy
British Energy was the UK's largest electricity generation company by volume, before being taken over by Électricité de France (EDF) in 2009. British Energy operated eight former UK state-owned nuclear power stations and one coal-fired power ...
which was sold to the French company
Électricité de France
Électricité de France S.A. (literally ''Electricity of France''), commonly known as EDF, is a French multinational electric utility company, largely owned by the French state. Headquartered in Paris, with €71.2 billion in revenues in 2 ...
(EDF) in January 2009, and incorporated in the latter's UK subsidiary
EDF Energy
EDF Energy is a British integrated energy company, wholly owned by the French state-owned EDF (Électricité de France), with operations spanning electricity generation and the sale of natural gas and electricity to homes and businesses through ...
. It was expected to operate until 2030. Cracking is now expected to cause the closure of the plant in March 2028.
Plant design
![Torness Nuclear Power Station - view from the parking lot](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a2/Torness_Nuclear_Power_Station_-_view_from_the_parking_lot.jpg)
Torness shares its design with
Heysham 2 nuclear power station. The station was designed by NNC, a company created from the gradual amalgamation of five consortia that were formed in the 1950s and 1960s to build the UK's commercial nuclear power stations. NNC is now part of
Jacobs Engineering Group
Jacobs Solutions Inc. is an American international technical professional services firm. The company provides engineering, technical, professional and construction services, as well as scientific and specialty consulting for a broad range of cli ...
.
The graphite-moderated,
gas-cooled design was proven at the WAGR – the Windscale experimental AGR facility – and is a significant evolution of the
Magnox
Magnox is a type of nuclear power/production reactor that was designed to run on natural uranium with graphite as the moderator and carbon dioxide gas as the heat exchange coolant. It belongs to the wider class of gas-cooled reactors. The n ...
reactor designs.
When first operated Torness probably had the most sophisticated and complex computerised control system for a nuclear power station worldwide, and far more sophisticated than earlier members of the advanced gas-cooled reactor fleet. Over 70
Ferranti Argus
Ferranti's Argus computers were a line of industrial control computers offered from the 1960s into the 1980s. Originally designed for a military role, a re-packaged Argus was the first digital computer to be used to directly control an entire fact ...
700 computers are used in the control and instrumentation systems, which included Digital Direct Control (DDC) of the reactors.
In 2020, the staff training simulator was replaced, partly to reflect plant upgrades and to simulate interactions between the two reactor systems and with auxiliary systems, and to provide modern simulation capabilities. The original reactor control system was unchanged.
Nuclear fuel for Torness power station can be delivered and removed via a loading/unloading facility on a branch from the adjacent
East Coast Main Line
The East Coast Main Line (ECML) is a electrified railway between London and Edinburgh via Peterborough, Doncaster, York, Darlington, Durham and Newcastle. The line is a key transport artery on the eastern side of Great Britain running broa ...
.
Incidents
In November 1999, a
Panavia Tornado F.3 of the
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
crashed into the
North Sea
The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...
less than 1km from the power station following an engine failure. The
UK Ministry of Defence
The Ministry of Defence (MOD or MoD) is the department responsible for implementing the defence policy set by His Majesty's Government, and is the headquarters of the British Armed Forces.
The MOD states that its principal objectives are to d ...
commended the two crew members for demonstrating "exceptional levels of airmanship and awareness in the most adverse of conditions", because they ensured that the Tornado was clear of the power station before abandoning the aircraft.
In May 2002, a gas
circulator pump
A circulator pump or circulating pump is a specific type of pump used to circulate gases, liquids, or slurries in a closed circuit. They are commonly found circulating water in a hydronic heating or cooling system. Because they only circulate liq ...
failed.
Forensic evidence
Forensic identification is the application of forensic science, or "forensics", and technology to identify specific objects from the trace evidence they leave, often at a crime scene or the scene of an accident. Forensic means "for the courts".
Hu ...
suggested an undetected
fatigue
Fatigue describes a state of tiredness that does not resolve with rest or sleep. In general usage, fatigue is synonymous with extreme tiredness or exhaustion that normally follows prolonged physical or mental activity. When it does not resolve ...
crack in part of the impeller led to failure. In August, another gas circulator on the other Torness reactor showed signs of increasing vibration and was promptly shut down by the operators. Its subsequent disassembly revealed a fully developed fatigue related crack in a similar position to the first failure, but the prompt shutdown had prevented consequential damage.
In August 2005, screens within the seawater cooling intake system were completely blocked by
seaweed
Seaweed, or macroalgae, refers to thousands of species of macroscopic, multicellular, marine algae. The term includes some types of '' Rhodophyta'' (red), ''Phaeophyta'' (brown) and ''Chlorophyta'' (green) macroalgae. Seaweed species such as ...
. This possibility had been foreseen for the plant and preprepared plans were activated, leading to both reactors being shut down.
In June 2011, both reactors were manually shut down due to reduced flow of seawater after intakes were clogged by a large mass of
jellyfish
Jellyfish and sea jellies are the informal common names given to the medusa-phase of certain gelatinous members of the subphylum Medusozoa, a major part of the phylum Cnidaria. Jellyfish are mainly free-swimming marine animals with umbrella- ...
.
See also
*
Nuclear power in Scotland
Scotland has a long history of nuclear research and electricity generation. Nuclear energy consistently accounts for 20-80% of the electric supply in Scotland depending on weather conditions for wind power generation and electricity demand. As of ...
*
Nuclear power in the United Kingdom
Nuclear power in the United Kingdom generated 16.1% of the country's electricity in 2020. , the UK has 9 operational nuclear reactors at five locations (8 advanced gas-cooled reactors (AGR) and one pressurised water reactor (PWR)), producing 5. ...
*
Energy policy of the United Kingdom
The energy policy of the United Kingdom refers to the United Kingdom's efforts towards reducing energy intensity, reducing energy poverty, and maintaining energy supply reliability. The United Kingdom has had success in this, though energy int ...
*
Energy use and conservation in the United Kingdom
Energy in the United Kingdom came mostly from fossil fuels in 2021. Total World energy supply and consumption, energy consumption in the United Kingdom was 142.0millionTonne of oil equivalent, tonnes of oil equivalent (1,651TWh) in 2019. In 20 ...
*
James L. Gray (SSEB Chief Engineer)
*
List of places in East Lothian
''Map of places in East Lothian compiled from this list''
The List of places in East Lothian is a list for any town, village, hamlet, castle, golf course, historic house, hill fort, lighthouse, nature reserve, reservoir, river, and other place of ...
References
External links
Heysham 2/Torness Nuclear Engineering International wall chart, 1981
by
Charlie Stross
Charles David George "Charlie" Stross (born 18 October 1964) is a British writer of science fiction and fantasy. Stross specialises in hard science fiction and space opera. Between 1994 and 2004, he was also an active writer for the magazine ' ...
Tornesspage of operator EDF's website
Torness Visitor Centrewhich offers public tours of the facility
{{British nuclear power plants
Buildings and structures in East Lothian
Energy infrastructure completed in 1988
Nuclear power stations in Scotland
Nuclear power stations using Advanced Gas-cooled Reactors
1988 establishments in Scotland