FORM 6-K SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION Washington, D.C. 20549 Report of Foreign Issuer Pursuant to Rule 13a-16 or 15d-16 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 January 09, 2004 BRITISH ENERGY PLC (Registrant's name) 3 Redwood Crescent Peel Park East Kilbride G74 5PR Scotland (Address of principal executive offices) Indicate by check mark whether the registrant files or will file annual reports under cover Form 20-F or Form 40-F. Form 20-F..X.. Form 40-F..... Indicate by check mark whether the registrant by furnishing the information contained in this Form is also thereby furnishing the information to the Commission pursuant to Rule 12g3-2(b) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Yes ..... No ..X.. If "Yes" is marked, indicate below the file number assigned to the registrant in connection with Rule 12g3-2(b): Exhibit Index The following document (bearing the exhibit number listed below) is furnished herewith and is made a part of this Report pursuant to the General Instructions for Form 6-K: Exhibit Description No. 1 RNS Announcement, re: December Output Statement dated 09 January 2004 BRITISH ENERGY plc DECEMBER OUTPUT STATEMENT A summary of net output from British Energy's UK power stations in December is given in the table below, together with comparative data for the previous financial year: 2002/03 2003/04 December Year to Date December Year to Date Load Load Load Load Output Factor Output Factor Output Factor Output Factor (TWh) (%) (TWh) (%) (TWh) (%) (TWh) (%) Nuclear 5.91 83 45.93 73 5.18 73 47.99 76 Coal 0.85 59 3.80 30 0.91 63 4.77 37 Nuclear Planned Outages - Low load refuelling was carried out on both reactors at Torness and on one reactor each at Hunterston B and Heysham 2. - A refuelling outage was completed on one reactor each at Dungeness B and Hartlepool. Unplanned Outages - Both units at Heysham 1 remained shutdown following the failure of a seawater cooling pipe. We believe that the outage on both units is likely to continue into mid-February 2004 as previously advised. AmerGen - The sale of British Energy's 50% interest in AmerGen to Exelon was completed on 22 December. The annual output from AmerGen up to 21 December was 14.1 TWh. CONTACTS Andrew Dowler 0207 831 3113 (Media Enquiries) Paul Heward 01355 262 201 (Investor Relations) Find this News Release on our web-site: www.british-energy.com SIGNATURES Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized. Date: January 09, 2004 BRITISH ENERGY PLC By:____Paul Heward____ Name: Paul Heward Title: Director - Investor Relations