§ Mr. Home Robertsonasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement on the progress of the Torness power station, and on the likely timetable for loading fuel into the reactor.
§ Mr. Allan StewartI am advised by the South of Scotland Electricity Board (SSEB) that work on completing Torness advanced gas-cooled reactor nuclear power station is proceeding to programme with the intention of providing power output to the Scottish grid early next year. A small quantity of nuclear fuel has, with the approval of Her Majesty's Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII), been loaded into reactor 1 for testing purposes as part of the commissioning procedure. A further approval will be required from NII to allow the board to load the balance of the fuel into that reactor and the inspectorate is being provided by the board with all the information it requires.