BOSSES at Heysham's nuclear power stations are playing down national newspaper reports concerning an emergency shutdown at the site earlier this year. The incident happened at Heysham Two on Monday January 29. A seven-tonne fuel rod became stuck in its channel during the refuelling process triggering the reactor's protection system which automatically shut the station down. A full scale investigation into the incident is currently under way. This week Nuclear Electric chiefs reacted angrily to national reports suggesting the incident could have placed the public in danger.

Andy Norman, a spokesman for the company, said: "There was no safety risk whatsoever to our own staff let alone the public. Reports suggesting that there was are alarmist. This doesn't even register on the International Nuclear Event Scale."

Re-fuelling at Heysham Two occurs while the reactor is still in operation. Power is reduced to 30 per cent while spent fuel rods are removed and new ones are then lowered into position.

Mr Norman added: "The investigation is being carried out to see if this was a one-off incident or a design fault. Early indications are that it is a one-off.

"Since we started on-load re-fuelling in 1994 we have done it more than 150 times and this is the first time anything like this has happened. Until the investigation is over we will be shutting the reactor down completely when we need to re-fuel."

Both Heysham One and Heysham Two power stations are currently running at full power.

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