Electricity production at the ageing Dungeness B nuclear power station has ground to a complete halt after routine work revealed steel supports at its two reactors needed repairs.

As owner and operator British Energy reported a drop in profits of more than 60 per cent in the three months to June, a spokesman said that sixties-built Dungeness B, at Romney Marsh, had unexpectedly lost a quarter of its annual electricity output because of the full closure, which she said was an "uncommon" situation.

In a usual routine "outage" or MOT-style closure for three yearly maintenance checks, production would continue from at least one reactor.

But British Energy spokesman Sue Fletcher said on this occasion, following the three-yearly maintenance checks, both reactors have had to be shut for "a number of weeks" for the extra work on the supports, as well as for work to strengthen fuel plugs.

The 500 staff are working as normal and are receiving regular updates.

She said: "There is no safety implication, this work is about dealing with minor issues before they become safety issues. In nuclear power there isn't any grey areas, something is completely right or it is not.

"Dungeness B is not producing electricity at the moment and because of that there is lost revenue. We are not making electricity and because of that we at British Energy have to buy in electricity."

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