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."