Hinkley Point's nuclear reactor 'tripped' on Thursday morning

Published: May 8, 2008

One of the nuclear reactors at Hinkley Point power station, near Burnham-On-Sea, has been shut down after unexpectedly "tripping" on Thursday morning (May 8th) following an "engineering issue."

British Energy told Burnham-On-Sea.com that Hinkley Point's B8 reactor stopped unexpectedly and engineers at the plant are working on a restart plan.

Spokesman Martin Butlin added: "There is certainly no need for concern. It is not a major issue, just an engineering one."

"I cannot go into the details about the issue as they are commercially sensitive."

A separate spokeswoman confirmed: "The reactor tripped this morning. We are aware of the reason and it's not a major issue."

Hinkley Point has two reactors with a generation capacity of 610MW each.