Nuclear power plant in Scotland, United Kingdom. Approximate location 55.7204, -4.8964.
NuclearScotlandUnited KingdomMAGNOXgas-cooled reactor
Hunterston B is a 965 MW nuclear power station in Scotland, United Kingdom. It is operated by British Energy (now part of EDF). Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 2.2 million homes (estimated). It ranks #51 of 2,860 United Kingdom power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1964, it is around 62 years old — an older, legacy facility. As a non-combustion source, it has no direct CO₂ emissions from generation. In context, nuclear supplies about 12.4% of United Kingdom's electricity; the national grid averages 217 gCO₂/kWh (64.4% low-carbon) (2025).
Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id GBR1000057.
Known, modelled and calculated values are kept separate. Missing fields are shown as unavailable.
The capacity and/or fuel fields on this page include a source-backed provenance label from GEM, an official registry, Wikidata, OSM, or a cross-source match.
capacity: Wikidata P2109 nameplate capacity; fuel: WRI source-record fuel
At 965 MW, Hunterston B is around the median nuclear plant in United Kingdom (965 MW). Technically it is described as gas-cooled reactor. Nuclear plants split uranium to raise steam with no direct CO₂; they run as steady baseload with very high capacity factors and the longest operating lifetimes of any thermal plant.
Capacity comparison computed from the WRI Global Power Plant Database; fuel-type context is general engineering background.
Installed capacity (MW), WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0).
Operated by British Energy (now part of EDF).
This nuclear plant uses heat from nuclear fission to raise steam for a turbine-generator. It sits in a temperate oceanic climate (Köppen Cfb) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 55.7°N — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.
Monthly mean temperature
Heating degree-days here run 31% above the median power plant in this dataset — a proxy for how much extra energy heated equipment must replace through its surfaces in winter.
Climate heat-demand index: 68/100 — this site sits in the top third of the power plants we cover by heating degree-days.
Climate normals: WorldClim 2.1 (1970–2000 monthly normals, 10 arc-min, CC BY 4.0); zone: Köppen-Geiger world climate classification (Kottek et al. 2006, 0.5° grid). Degree-days & heat-demand index computed by PowerAtlas — a modelled heat-demand proxy, not a measured site figure.
For a plant’s outdoor hardware — heat-recovery steam generators (HRSG), expansion joints, valves, flanges and their insulation — the local climate sets how fast unprotected steel and coatings degrade. This site sits in a mild atmospheric environment (estimated ISO 9223 class C2 — Low), with humidity / wetness the leading environmental stress.
Higher environmental severity is exactly where protective removable insulation pays back most: a sheltered micro-climate slows corrosion, UV and thermal-cycling damage and extends outdoor hardware service life. This is an indicative site-climate context — not a condition assessment of any specific plant or operator.
Indicative estimate via the ISO 9223:2012 informative method (atmospheric corrosivity from temperature, time-of-wetness and airborne salinity), using WorldClim climate normals, the Köppen-Geiger class and coast distance. Indicative, not a measured corrosion rate.
The #13 largest nuclear power plant of 25 in United Kingdom by capacity.
United Kingdom has 25 nuclear power plants in this dataset, together about 27,683 MW of capacity.
Coordinates 55.7204, -4.8964 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.
Hunterston B is a 965 MW source-record nuclear power plant in Scotland, United Kingdom, commissioned in 1964.
Its output is enough to supply roughly 2,173,731 homes (estimated).
Hunterston B is operated by British Energy (now part of EDF).
