EDF has signalled that Britain’s fleet of ageing nuclear power plants can keep running into the next decade amid a scramble to hit Ed Miliband’s clean power targets.
The company on Monday said it aimed to “maximise output” from the remaining gas-cooled nuclear reactors to “2030+”, providing this can be agreed with regulators.
It is the strongest sign yet that EDF, which is owned by the French state, believes the plants can go even further beyond their planned lifespans after extensions were most recently announced in December.
Further extensions would deliver a boost to Mr Miliband, the Energy Secretary, as he seeks to make the electricity grid at least 95pc reliant on “clean” sources of power – including wind, solar, batteries and nuclear – in just five years.
On Monday, EDF pointed to the ability of nuclear plants to keep the lights on when output from wind and solar farms was low due to “dunkelflaute” periods of gloomy, low-wind weather.
EDF said: “This winter there have been prolonged periods of dull, calm weather leading to low output from wind and solar.
“At times, gas provided more than 60pc of our power needs, pushing up electricity prices and adding to our carbon emissions.
“A low carbon future needs a renewables dominated mix along with new British nuclear, for lower electricity costs, energy security and thousands of great jobs which will help to transform communities across the country.”
Two of EDF’s oldest nuclear power stations, Heysham 1 in Lancashire and Hartlepool in Teesside, have had their shutdowns postponed from spring 2026 to 2027, while the other two, Heysham 2 and Torness in East Lothian, were extended from 2028 to 2030.
But in a newly published fleet update, EDF says there is a potential opportunity for all four plants to remain online until at least 2030.
The company said keeping them going for longer would help Britain “achieve its 2030 clean power targets”, support thousands of jobs and “preserve valuable skills” needed as the country builds new nuclear power plants such as Hinkley Point C, Sizewell C and potentially small modular reactors (SMRs).
It added: “The ambition is to continue generating from these stations for as long as it is safe and commercially viable to do so.”
Heysham 1, Heysham 2, Hartlepool and Torness all use advanced gas-cooled reactors (AGRs) and came online in the 1980s.
EDF also owns Sizewell B, in Suffolk, a newer type of plant switched on in the 1990s.
Combined with Sizewell B, which EDF hopes to run into the 2050s, the plants collectively generated around 13pc of Britain’s electricity needs last year.
Seven AGR power plants were in operation originally, with EDF having already shut down Hunterston B, Hinkley Point B and Dungeness B for de-fuelling.
All seven plants would have shut by 2023 under plans made when the French company first acquired them in 2009.
In Monday’s fleet update, EDF said the continued operation of the remaining four AGRs would “most likely be determined by the condition of the graphite making up the reactor cores”.
Hairline cracks can occur in the graphite over time, potentially impeding control rods which must be dropped to lower output – or shut the reactor down in emergencies.
To continue operating, EDF must prove to regulators that this will not happen and that it could still shut down the reactors amidst a “one in 10,000 years” earthquake, much larger than any the UK has ever experienced.
An internal note sent to staff in the UK, EDF stressed that it believed the AGRs could technically go for longer than their latest extensions suggested.
Hartlepool and Heysham 1’s reactors are the oldest, having opened in 1983 and 1984.
Out of an abundance of caution, the company said it opted for short extensions for the two plants last year because of “important milestones” coming up in 2025.
These include reactor core sampling and feedback due from the Office for Nuclear Regulation on the safety case “for operation beyond 2027”.
On their current dates for shutdown, EDF told staff: “While our ambition remains to generate beyond these revised forecasts at all four stations, we will continue to take informed and conservative decisions, utilising the skills and expertise across the company and keeping nuclear safety as our over-riding priority.”
Across the country, EDF’s UK nuclear business employs 5,000 staff although the company estimates that a total of 31,000 jobs are supported by its power stations when supply chains and contractors are included.
Source: The Telegraph
