OLDBURY Power Station has helped to brew more than 100 billion cups of tea in the last 12 months.

In the last year the power station, which is owned by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, has supplied 2.05TWh (Terawatt Hours) of electricity to the national grid, enough to power 500,000 homes for 12 months.

This achievement is particularly significant for the site as, for the first time in its history, Oldbury completed two major reactor outages, during which statutory maintenance and routine checks were carried out.

The outage of Reactor One involved one of the site's huge turbines, one of the largest in use in the country, being removed and transported along the M5 to Rugby for maintenance work.

Joe Lamonby, Oldbury site director, said: "This year has been a very successful one for Oldbury, we have effectively completed our largest programme of work to date and generated a significant amount of electricity for the UK.

"The most important achievement though has been maintaining our excellent safety record with the help of our dedicated workforce."

The reactors at the 40-year-old power station were due to be switched off at the end of 2008 but after thorough industry safety checks, the station was granted permission to keep powering the nation well into next year.

This move not only protected the 470 workers at the site but also meant the site kept generating income for the Decommissioning Authority to help with the national nuclear clean-up.

The eventual shutting down and decommissioning of the Oldbury site is due to be discussed at the next Oldbury Site Stakeholder Group meeting, which updates local people on issues surrounding the station.

The meeting will be held at The Park Hotel, Falfield, on Wednesday, January 20 (1pm).

Items on the agenda also include a review of the Oldbury post-decommissioning end-state.