‘ Lights will stay on’ if nuclear plant shuts

The de commissioning of Hunterston B will not endanger t he supply of energy in Scotland, a minister has said.

The closure of the nuclear power station, which has reduced its output in the last few years after cracks were discovered in its core, was announced on Thursday, with work to take it offline expected to start no later than January 2022, according to operator EDF Energy.

Energy minister Paul Wheelhouse reiterated the Scottish Government’s position that no new nuclear power stations should be built in Scotland, with energy generated by renewable sources instead.

He said: “I think some of t he coverage yester - day implied that Scotland would be in a somewhat desperate state in terms of electricity generation if Hunterston was to close.”

Mr Wheelhouse said that for a two- month period in 2018, Hunterston B was entirely offline and the Torness nuclear power station in East Lothian was operating at reduced capacity, but it caused no issues for the energy supply.

“The lights were still on,” he said. Scotland, in the last year for which we got full statistics, exported a net 15.9 terawatt hours of energy - which dwarfs the output of Hunterston.”