THE cost of the unplanned shut down of Heysham One power station is spiralling towards a £50 million headache for British Energy.

The nuclear power station is now expected to be out of action until the middle of February - four months after it closed when a leak of cooling seawater from cast iron pipes was discovered.

British Energy warned then that the closure could cost up to £30 million. That figure is now expected to rise considerably.

But Andrew Dowler, a spokesman for British Energy, says the company will not need to increase the £275 million overdraft facility that it currently has with the Government.

In June, the company made a reported £4.3 billion loss and the Government threatened to put it into the hands of administrators if it failed to complete a restructure. But it was saved by shareholders in an eleventh hour deal.