EDF Energy has revealed it shut down both Dungeness B 1&2 for two months last summer while it improved flood defences.
The advanced gas-cooled reactor is located on the English channel on a shingle (pebble) peninsula, protected by a sea wall. A post-Fukushima review found that this sea wall would be inadequate to resist a 1-in-10,000 year storm, the utility said after a report in the UK's Independent newspaper.
According to the Independent, EDF Energy first improved sea defences in early 2013, but a further review in May 2013 found that they were insufficient.
EDF Energy said that the flood defence wall around the site is due to be completed this month.
Martin Pearson, station director at Dungeness B confirmed: "the recent adverse weather has had no impact on existing infrastructure and the power station has operated normally in the recent high tides and stormy weather."
Photo: Dungeness B (Source: EDF Energy)
