Regulator Steps Up Scrutiny as Hartlepool Nuclear Station Records 36 Incidents...

Hartlepool Nuclear Power Station

36 Incidents Reported at Hartlepool Nuclear Power Station as Regulator Steps Up Scrutiny

21st August 2026

Hartlepool Nuclear Power Station has reported 36 site incidents to the UK’s nuclear regulator since the beginning of 2025, adding fresh scrutiny to a facility which has already been placed under the regulator’s highest level of enhanced attention.

Recent figures reported show that EDF notified the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) of 36 incidents between 1 January 2025 and May 2026 at the Hartlepool site.

The station, which has been generating electricity since 1983, was moved into “significantly-enhanced regulatory attention” by the ONR back in March following a number of safety concerns.

The regulator said that decision followed targeted work at the site which identified areas where improvement was required, including conventional health and safety, the number of incidents taking place at the station and the delivery of previously agreed performance improvements, with the ONR maintaining that the Hartlepool Nuclear Site remains safe to operate.

Three incidents led to improvement notices

In February 2025, a scaffolder working at the station suffered a burn to the back of the neck after coming into contact with a defective light fitting while erecting scaffolding inside the reactor hall.

The regulator subsequently found that the defective fitting had been identified several months earlier back in October 2024, but said EDF had not correctly assessed the risks associated with it. An improvement notice then followed with EDF later satisfying the regulator that the required changes had been made.

A second significant incident reportedly occurred back in May 2025, when an EDF employee opened the wrong valve during maintenance work, releasing high-pressure, high-temperature steam with the worker suffering hearing damage.

The ONR said its investigation concluded that EDF had failed to take appropriate measures to protect employees from risks associated with boilers and pipework. It led to Another improvement notice being issued, which EDF subsequently complied with in September 2025.

Then, on 9 November 2025, its claimed two EDF technicians carrying out maintenance disconnected a joint containing hydraulic oil which remained under pressure. The oil was released and came into contact with the workers, with both attending hospital as a precaution.

The regulator said its enquiries found the employees had not been provided with the information necessary to carry out the work safely, resulting in a further improvement notice in January this year with EDF demonstrating compliance with that notice in May.

In all three cases, the ONR stressed that there was no risk to nuclear safety, the public or the environment.

From enhanced to significantly-enhanced scrutiny

The Chief Nuclear Inspector’s annual report shows the station had already been moved into enhanced regulatory attention during 2025, with the regulator citing conventional health and safety, the number of incidents and the production of adequate nuclear safety cases among the areas requiring improvement.

That position was then escalated further in March 2026 to significantly-enhanced attention.

ONR director Dan Hasted said when announcing the move that the regulator uses significantly-enhanced attention where improved performance is required and confirmed EDF had committed to delivering a programme of improvements.

A separate unannounced inspection of an emergency training exercise in May judged the station’s emergency-training arrangements to be adequate, although inspectors identified matters requiring continued management attention.

Station is now expected to operate until 2030

The increased scrutiny comes at a particularly important time for Hartlepool where EDF announced only last month that the life of the ageing power station would be extended by a further two years, meaning it is now expected to continue generating electricity until March 2030.

EDF says the decision followed a detailed examination of issues including the condition of the station’s boilers and graphite reactor cores, workforce planning and supply-chain resilience. The company says Hartlepool and Heysham 1 continuing to operate for an additional two years could produce another 28TWh of electricity between them.

Hartlepool currently operates two Advanced Gas-cooled Reactors and has a generating capacity of around 1,185MW, with EDF saying the plant is capable of supplying electricity equivalent to the needs of more than two million homes. Around 530 EDF employees work at the station alongside more than 200 permanent contracting partners making the station enormously important to both the regional economy and Britain’s electricity supply.