HARTLEPOOL power station operator British Energy will invest a share of £250m in the plant this financial year, it confirmed last night.

The nuclear power station has been plagued by operating problems over the past year, which have led to a drop in output.

A failure this month forced the closure of one of the plant's boilers.

This has forced British Energy to bring forward a planned programme of investment, which had been due to take place in April.

The company, which has gone from the brink of bankruptcy to the FTSE 100 in two years, plans to invest £250m across its eight stations to help overcome operating problems.

The nuclear power generator said its performance in the first nine months of its financial year had been slightly below expectations, following a number of unplanned shutdowns across its plants.

British Energy recently blamed under-investment in previous years for its failure to improve output to acceptable levels.

The company meets about a fifth of the UK's energy needs and has capacity of 10,000 megawatts.

The group said it continued to benefit from rising wholesale prices as adjusted operating profits reached £377m for the first nine months of the financial year, including £242m for the third quarter.

Most of the company's power stations will have reached the end of their life by about 2020.

The company has welcomed the Government's energy review and has indicated it would be keen to help the UK meet its future energy requirements.