A SCOTTISH nuclear power plant has been ordered to boost its defences – against jellyfish.
Last year, Torness nuclear power station was forced to close when jellyfish clogged up the coolant inlets.
Now nuclear industry watchdogs have ordered that it can never happen again.
A report, published by the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR), stated they had “written to Torness requesting further information about the obstruction of the main cooling water drum screens by jellyfish in June”.
It added that the jellyfish blockage “led to the manual shutdown of both reactors that were in service at the time of the event”.
The regulator said the nuclear plant in East Lothian took the right steps following the incident and that operating rules were met throughout.
But the report said the jellyfish incident “presented a challenge to station systems related to safety” and there were “potential areas for improvement”.
Following the Fukushima disaster in Japan last March, safety features at all nuclear power stations in the UK have come under close scrutiny.
The ONR report said: “In general the arrangements made and implemented by the site in response to safety requirements were deemed to be adequate in the areas inspected.”
A spokeswoman for operators EDF said: “We welcome their input and use it to learn and improve.
“Both units at Torness Power Station were manually shut down in June as a precautionary measure in line with normal operating procedures.
“The shut down cooling systems performed in a satisfactory manner and at no point was there a risk to our ability to cool the reactors or nuclear safety in general.”
