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French state-owned energy giant EDF will keep Britain’s four aging nuclear power stations open longer than planned, in a bid to boost the UK’s energy security.
The company said the two stations currently due to close in March 2026 – Hartlepool and Heysham 1 – will now remain online until March 2027, while Heysham 2 and Torness, which were due to close in March 2028, will remain open. until March 2030.
The plants, three in northern England and one in southern Scotland, were built in the 1980s and were originally due to close in 2023, but their operating lives have already been extended once.
The latest extension will help make up for the delay Hinkley Point C Power Station which EDF is building in Somerset. It is currently scheduled to start generating in 2029 at the earliest, four years later than the original date.
The government must find ways to meet the increasing demand for low-carbon energy as part of efforts to reduce carbon emissions. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s government aims to decarbonise the UK’s electricity system by 2030.
IN report last month on how this target could be achieved, the state’s National Energy System Operator (NESO) said it assumed at least one in four nuclear power plants would still be available in 2030.
Under the new timetable, all four will be shut down by March 2030, but EDF’s ambition is to keep production running for longer, subject to plant inspections and regulatory oversight.
The new dates represent the “most likely” view of how long the stations will remain open, the company added, although it warned there was a “risk” they could close earlier. He announced the move on Tuesday after a board meeting in Paris.
Mark Hartley, EDF’s director of nuclear operations, said the company had invested around £8bn in its UK nuclear fleet since 2009, and planned to invest a further £1.3bn between 2025 and 2027.
The four advanced gas-cooled reactors are among five nuclear power stations still operating in the UK after several closures over the past few years due to their age.
The fifth, Sizewell B in Suffolk, a pressurized water reactor, began generating in 1995. It is due to close in 2035, but could be extended by an additional 20 years.
Nuclear power accounted for about 14 percent of Britain’s electricity generation last year, down from about 20 percent in 2013, according to British government figures.
But despite efforts to replace dwindling capacity, Hinkley Point C is the only new nuclear power station currently being built in Britain.
EDF and the UK government have yet to make a final investment decision on the second planned plant, Sizewell C, as they try to attract outside investors to the project.
Responding to EDF’s announcement, Fintan Slye, chief executive of NESO, said nuclear power “has an important role to play” in the electricity system.
Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, said the expansions were “a victory for our energy independence”.
