Dungeness B nuclear station temporarily shutdown due to blaze

Two reactors at the Dungeness B nuclear plant had been shutdown after a fire took place at the station on Monday. The fire was first reported by a staff in the boiler annexe’s Unit 22. Immediately, Kent firemen and the emergency control centre of British Energy at Barnwood were called. Authorities informed that the fire had been extinguished by 02:00.

British Energy said that the blaze was a minor incident and that the nuclear rector was temporarily shutdown as a preventative measure. In addition, the other Dungeness B reactor, Unit 21, was also shutdown for maintenance.

As outcome, the nuclear station is not currently generating electricity for the UK’s national grid. Normally when operational, both nuclear reactors in Dungeness B produce sufficient power for 1.5 million consumers.

Fire officials inform that an investigation is now underway to pinpoint the cause of the blaze. No one was injured during the incident.

Gordon Bell, a spokesman of British Energy, informed that the fire at Unit 22 released no radioactive material and was not risky to Dungeness residents. The energy firm further stated that the incident had been rated as Level 1 on the International Nuclear Event Scale (INES). The alerts of INES run from zero to seven, with Level 7 being the most serious accident.

Dungeness B is an Advanced Gas-cooled Reactor (AGR) nuclear power plant. It was the world’s first commercial scale AGR power plant to be built. The £89 million deal was awarded to Atomic Power Construction (APC) in 1965.