Top praise for Hartlepool power station's 700-plus staff after an excellent year

The nuclear power station has produced more than 8.5 terawatt hours of electricity which one of the best annual outputs in the station’s history.

Bosses say that, like every other industry the station has had to make changes and have brought in a range of Covid precautionary measures to protect the site’s 750 workforce.

But it has all been done to ensure that the station has played its part in keeping the UK supplied with electricity.

Station Director Craig Dohring said: “I am very proud of the team here who have adapted to the new ways of working and have maintained the supply of low carbon electricity for the country.”

“2020 has been a great year for the station and that is because of the team we have here who have met the Covid challenge and also the goals we set ourselves in terms of output and reliability.”

In 2020, the station set an ambitious target to run efficiently and restriction free all year. Up to Christmas, the site had reached the goal which was the first time this had happened for 10 years.

Hartlepool also ended the year with an excellent final refuelling outage which was safely completed almost a day ahead of plan. The site has to shutdown its reactors to refuel, and after 13 days the station returned reactor 1 safely back to full power.

Plant manager Ross McAllister said: “Bringing the reactor back to power a day ahead of plan was an excellent effort by all involved,

“Most importantly the outage was carried out safely with to the highest quality standards, demonstrating the professionalism and focus of our staff and contractors.”

Ross added: “Meeting refuelling and operational targets does not happen by accident. It is a team effort and the support and active participation of everyone on the site has been the difference this year.”

“We will continue to identify areas for improvement across the station for 2021. Our people are, without doubt, our most valuable asset when it comes to ensuring Hartlepool is one of EDF’s most productive power stations.”

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