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 June 7, 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: May Output Statement dated 7 June, 2004 7 June 2004 BRITISH ENERGY plc - OUTPUT STATEMENT A summary of net output from British Energy's power stations in May 2004 is given in the table below, together with comparative data for the previous financial year:- 2003/04 2004/05 May Year to Date May Year to Date Output Load Output Load Output Load Output Load (TWh) Factor (%) (TWh) Factor (TWh) Factor (TWh) Factor (%) (%) (%) UK Nuclear 5.97 84 11.49 82 4.94 69 10.07 72 UK Other 0.35 25 0.73 26 0.45 32 1.04 37 Planned Outages - A statutory outage was completed on one reactor at Heysham 2 and another started on one unit at Hartlepool. - Low load refuelling was carried out on one reactor at Heysham 2 and on both reactors at Hinkley Point B. Unplanned Outages - One generating unit at Sizewell B has been shutdown since 19th April to replace the alternator rotor which had an earth fault. It is expected to return to service later this month. The other generator unit continues to operate at nominal full load. - The planned outage at Torness to carry out planned boiler instrumentation modifications was extended to carry out additional work to restore boiler performance. As a result one reactor was shutdown for most of May. - Heysham 2, Dungeness B and Hunterston B were each affected by less significant unplanned outages during the month. Overview - The outages to date this year are within the Company's planning contingencies. For this reason the Company's indicative target for nuclear output for 2004/05 of 64.5TWh remains unaltered. Contact: Andrew Dowler 020 7831 3113 (Media Enquiries) Paul Heward 01355 26 2201 (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: June 7, 2004 BRITISH ENERGY PLC By:____Paul Heward____ Name: Paul Heward Title: Director - Investor Relations