Hunterston B in North Ayrshire to begin decommissioning process

The Hunterston B power station in North Ayrshire has been handed over to the Nuclear Authority, who will complete the process.

Hunterston B (Image: UK Government) (Image: Hunterston B (Image: UK Government))

The first-of-its-kind project will see 240 of the plant’s own workers begin the task of dismantling the nuclear facilities and removing radioactive waste, STV News reports.

Most of the workers live locally and have been kept on for the task ahead. It comes after uranium fuel has already been carefully removed from the station's reactors.

Darelle Birt, safety engineer, said: “Everybody’s settled down and knows what they’re doing, everybody’s excited to start decommissioning properly.”

Read next:

• Trial of businessman who held 'Glasgow's biggest party' shocked city
• French rock star hails Glasgow band and venue as she prepares for city show
• I wrote to her for five years until we got married - now we're celebrating 60 years
• Drunk man told shop worker ‘I’ll cut you up’ after being asked to leave
• Disqualified driver banned from roads again after incident in Glasgow

Hunterston is the first station of its kind in the UK to transfer in this way.

Back in 2025, Hunterston B was defueled and has since no longer holds any spent nuclear fuel on the site. The confirmation came following a series of rigorous checks of the power station by EDF and the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR).  

It took two years and 10 months to remove all the fuel from the site, with the work delivered to budget using funds from the Nuclear Liabilities Fund (NLF), a £20.6b fund set up in 1996 specifically to pay for the decommissioning of the current nuclear fleet.  

The Hunterston B power station permanently shut down back in 2022 after 46 years of service. Despite the closure, station radiation checks remain in place.

During its lifetime, Hunterston had generated enough electricity to power every single home in Scotland for more than 30 years.