Adverse weather and seaweed has forced a nuclear power station to partially close.
Bosses at Hunterston B power station made the call to close one of the nuclear reactors at the Ayrshire plant last night.
A spokeswoman for the station operators said storm surges had caused a large volume of seaweed to gather near the station, making it difficult for the reactors to use surrounding seawater as a coolant.
The other reactor is running at reduced capacity as a safety precaution.
A spokeswoman for EDF energy, which runs the plant, said: " We took the decision to take Unit 3 at Hunterston B power station offline at 18.40 on June 1 as a precaution due to high levels of seaweed in the waters around the power station's water intake system.
"The station's second unit continues to operate at a reduced load.
"We will update you when more information becomes available."
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