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Power cut at Dounreay was down to sub-station fault, meeting hears


By Iain Grant

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Dounreay was hit by the power cut in June. Picture: DSRL/NDA
Dounreay was hit by the power cut in June. Picture: DSRL/NDA

A fault at an electricity sub-station is being blamed for an overnight power failure at Dounreay.

Following the incident on June 7, all but essential staff were sent home while work began to restore the mains supply.

Site licence company DSRL said its emergency generator kicked in and there had not been any hazard caused to staff or the public.

Dounreay managing director Mark Rouse has revealed that the problem was caused at the SSE sub-station.

"The investigation is complete and it's been confirmed as being on the SSE side of things," he told members of Dounreay Stakeholder Group on Wednesday evening.

"For some reason, the full, incoming supply was lost from the SSE sub-station that feeds us."

Mr Rouse said the utility has still to establish what caused the cut to the plant.

He added: "Our side did work as it was supposed to and we're confident that we have a good system which can protect the site."

In June 2019, Dounreay was blacked out for up to an hour after the emergency generator failed to work after the mains supply was disabled by a lightning strike.

That resulted in the purchase of an extra stand-by diesel generator.


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