FOUR fire crews raced to a nuclear power station early today after a blaze broke out.
Crews were called to Torness power station, East Lothian, after lagging on a pipe caught fire.
The station’s on-site fire team was able to put out the fire before the brigade arrived.
Managers insisted there was no risk to the public during the incident at the 24-year-old power plant.
The alarm was raised at 12.25am and the fire brigade response included a specialist incident support unit.
They remained at the station for around three hours in case the fire started up again.
A spokeswoman for the fire service said: “There was a small fire in oil-soaked lagging. It was extinguished prior to arrival, Torness fire team had dealt with it.
She said firefighters “stood by just in case it reignited because of the nature of the building”.
The fire was not in the radiological part of the power plant, which is operated by French firm EDF energy.
Station director Paul Winkle said: “The fire originated on a hot, lagged pipe. There was a small amount of smoke which was noticed by our operations staff.
“The fire was immediately extinguished by the Torness fire team.
“As usual, Torness staff responded impeccably.
“As a precaution the local fire and rescue service were called to site and along with the station fire team declared that the fire was successfully extinguished.
“I wanted to reassure you that at no time was there, or is there likely to be, any danger to the public.
“No persons have been injured and there has been no significant impact to the environment.”
In May this year EDF Energy revealed a faulty component meant they had to shut down one of the station’s two nuclear reactors.
Reactor two shut down and maintenance work began early after a part in the reactor’s protection equipment failed.
In June, both reactors had to shut down after huge numbers of jellyfish were seen entering the plant, which uses sea water for cooling purposes.
The plant’s operators insisted there was no danger to the public or the environment in both incidents.
