Seaweed stops Scottish EDF nuclear plant

By John McGarrity

LONDON (Reuters) - A rising tide of seaweed halted a nuclear power station near Edinburgh late on Thursday, threatening to clog up its cooling system.

EDF Energy took both reactors offline at its 1,280MW Torness nuclear plant, the company said in a statement on Friday.

"Around 1130 (BST) last night, Thursday 23 May, Unit 2 at Torness power station came offline due to increased seaweed levels as a result of the severe weather and sea conditions in the area," EDF said.

It added: "This was followed by a decision to take Unit 1 offline just after 3am today, Friday 24 May, as a precautionary measure when it was clear that the seaweed levels weren't reducing."

According a regulatory update on EDF's website, the 640-MW reactor 1 will be offline for the next 14 days while reactor 2, which also has a capacity of 640-MW, will not generate electricity for at least a week.

The EDF statement said power plant staff are trained to deal with high seaweed levels resulting from weather conditions in the Forth Estuary, and that the plant can be taken offline if there are signs that the cooling system could be affected.

The Torness plant was forced to shut down in 2011 after large numbers of jellyfish were found in the sea water entering the plant.

(Editing by William Hardy)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/seaweed-stops-scottish-edf-nuclear-plant-102940742.html

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