Hunterston B

Power station Hunterston B is situated near West Kilbride, on the Hunterston Peninsula of the Ayrshire, owned by British Energy.

Powered by a pair of advanced gas-cooled reactors, Hunterston B is currently operating at a reduced level of 70% and is capable of supplying electricity to over 1 million homes.

The site is scheduled to cease production in 2011; however, a life extension is being investigated and will be presented in 2008. SEPA authorises all waste disposal from the site through a multi-media certificate.

Variation

In September 2010 British Energy Generation Limited (BEGL) applied to SEPA to amend their existing Radioactive Substances Act 1993 (RSA93) authorisation for the Hunterston B Power Station, certificate number RSA/A/0070022. The RSA 93 Authorisation is a license which permits the disposal of limited amounts of radioactive wastes from the authorised site to specified disposal routes.

BEGL requested an amendment to the Authorisation to reflect changes that had taken place to one of the existing routes and to add the RADSAFE scheme to the existing conditions covering the NAIR scheme. SEPA determined the application during 2011. In addition to the application made, SEPA was able to make our own minor amendments to update the existing authorisation.

The process for determination and the rationale for the decisions made are set out in a single decision document. The changes to the authorisation are made through a variation notice which was issued to BEGL in May 2011.

Please see the variation decision document  (237k) and the variation notice  (391k - number RSA/A/0070022/VN01 for more information).