Hunterston B nuclear plant handed over as major decomissioning under way

The Hunterston B power station in North Ayrshire has officially been signed over to the Nuclear Authority for decommissioning.

In a first-of-its-kind project, the transfer also includes more than 240 of the plant’s own workers who will begin the mammoth task of dismantling the nuclear facilities and removing radioactive waste.

It’s been four years since the site permanently shut down, but station radiation checks remain in place.

Uranium fuel has already been carefully removed from its reactors, and the workforce is now focused on decontaminating the site.

Most of the workers live locally and have been kept on for the huge task that lies ahead.

Safety engineer Darelle Birt told STV News: “Everybody’s settled down and knows what they’re doing, everybody’s excited to start decommissioning properly.”

Hunterston is the first station of its kind in the UK to transfer in this way. Torness, Scotland’s last active nuclear power plant will follow in 2030.

During its lifetime, Hunterston has generated enough electricity to power every single home in Scotland for more than 30 years.

With the Scottish elections imminent, nuclear power remains a politically divisive topic with the SNP strongly opposed.

Scotland has an effective ban on new nuclear facilities on environmental grounds.

But the UK government aims to revive the sector.

Michael Shanks, the minister for energy, said: “We should be looking at sites where we can build SMRs (small modular reactors), keep that skillset in Scotland and indeed bring on the next generation of people who might be looking at opportunities in energy.”

Experts say our energy demands will continue to rise in the coming years.

Professor David Ireland from the University of Glasgow said: “There are lots of concerns around the safety of it or the environmental impact, and those are not trivial concerns.

“We still have to get things from one place to another, there’s transport, we have to grow food, we have to heat places that are not your home, so it’s only going to require more electricity production in the future.”