Didcot B power station fire: Unit to generate electricity again

The unit at the Didcot B Power Plant in Oxfordshire that was hit by a fire last week is to start generating electricity from Wednesday.

It is understood the unit will produce about 350MW - roughly half its normal capacity of around 700MW.

The other unit at the plant has continued to operate normally.

At its height, 25 fire engines and about 100 firefighters tackled the huge blaze on 19 October, which started in a cooling tower.

The full extent of the damage is not yet known

BBC industry correspondent John Moylan said for the foreseeable future the plant would provide around three quarters of its full power capacity.

That is 1 to 1.1GW of power compared to its full capacity of just under 1.4GW.

The fire spread to three other cooling towers because of strong winds.

No-one was injured in the blaze, which is believed to have been started by an electrical fault.

The Oxfordshire power station supplies a million homes with electricity.

The fire began in a cooling tower and spread to three others because of strong winds

Three cooling towers were seriously damaged by the blaze