Torness

Situated on the east coast, near Dunbar, Torness power station has been in operation since 1988. It is powered by two advanced gas-cooled reactors and, with an electrical output of 1250MW, is capable of supplying electricity to over 1.5 million homes.

SEPA's role

In December 2005, owners British Energy Generation Ltd asked SEPA to withdraw its authorisation for the on-site waste oil burner, as it had never been used to burn radioactively contaminated waste oil. SEPA cancelled the authorisation in April 2006.

British Energy also asked SEPA to vary the authorisation to dispose of liquid solid and liquid combustible radioactive waste, from the power station to an off-site incinerator. This was to remove specific reference to Rechem International Ltd, the named operator of the incinerator at Hythe. This was granted in June 2006.

In March 2006, SEPA issued a public consultation on six applications from British Energy to change the limits of disposal of radioactive wastes from Torness. Historically, SEPA has granted nuclear sites separate certificates of authorisation for solid, liquid and gaseous discharges, which each require an individual application. However, SEPA has now developed a multi-media certificate for all radioactive wastes from a nuclear site, and this authorisation was granted at Torness on 1 June 2007. 

Variation

In 2009 British Energy Generation Limited (BEGL) applied to SEPA to amend their existing Radioactive Substances Act 1993 (RSA93) authorisation for Torness Power Station at Dunbar, certificate number RSA/A/0070116.

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. The amendment BEGL applied for sought to add a new route to the authorisation.

In addition, in 2010, BEGL requested a further amendment to the Authorisation to reflect changes that had taken place to one of the existing routes. SEPA determined both applications during 2010. In addition to the applications made, SEPA was able to make our own minor amendments to update the existing authorisation, most notably to the record keeping section.

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 February 2011.

Please see the variation decision document and the variation notice (number RSA/A/0070116/VN01) for more information.