• EDF’s Torness has one of the best rates of generation per annum in the fleet.
• In the 35th year of generation – remain a strong generator and integral part of East Lothian
• Over its generating life, Torness has produced almost as much zero-carbon energy as Hunterston B did in its 46 years: equivalent to powering every home in Scotland for 29 years.
• Torness supports around 500 staff and 250 contractors.
• Each year Torness contributes around £45m to the East Lothian economy
• During scheduled maintenance periods, that workforce is larger with an additional 800 contractors visiting site – these shutdowns are known as an outage
• While supporting this work these contractors boost the local economy, staying in local hotels and B&Bs and using other local services like taxis and restaurants.
• This is something that has been happening throughout the 35-year life of the station but we are conscious that alongside the increasing volume of projects in the area there may be an added strain on local suppliers.
• 2023 is a non-outage year, our next stat outage is March 2024 and then July 2025

Defueling

• Torness is currently due to end generation in March 2028
• Defueling begins when a station stops generating. EDF will remove all spent fuel from the site using the same methods used during generation
• Defueling is expected to last for approx. four years – during this time staff numbers onsite will remain largely the same and there will be no change to the site’s footprint.

Decommissioning

• Once all spent fuel has been removed, site ownership will be transferred, to the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA). Its subsidiary, Magnox, will carry out the rest of the decommissioning job.
• Current plans will see most plant, equipment, services and buildings removed within around 12 years of end of generation.
• The reactor building will remain in situ for a further period until final site clearance.

Contact:

Decommissioning of Torness

EDF

Ashleigh.dickson@edf-energy.com

Project Proposal

The site is located approximately 6km southeast of Gifford in East Lothian. The site is currently used as a managed grouse moor for shooting and sheep grazing.

In November 2021 a scoping request was submitted which comprised a layout of 23 turbines with tip heights varying from 180m to 230m. Following feedback from the public and statutory consultees we now believe that the project will comprise of up to 17 turbines with tip heights ranging from 180m to 200m. Our revised proposals include moving turbines outside the extent of the original scoping request and therefore we resubmitted a scoping request for the project in August 2022.

Summary of the Second Exhibition

The following in-person exhibitions as part of a second 2022 consultation event for the community to meet the project team and find out more.

Gifford Village Hall – Wednesday, 9 Nov, 2pm-8pm
Garvald Village Hall – Thursday, 10 Nov, 11am-3pm
Stenton Village Hall – Thursday, 10 Nov, 4pm-8pm
John Gray Centre, Haddington – Friday, 11 Nov, 10am-2pm

Get involved

Belltown Power recognise a fundamental part of good project development is early consultation to ensure local communities and stakeholders are given the opportunity to provide feedback and are kept informed of a project’s progress.

The official feedback period for the second round of consultations has now ended, but if you have any questions, please email the team at newlandshill@belltownpower.com.

Belton Power website https://www.newlandshillwindenergyhub.com/