Sizewell B, the nuclear power station on the Suffolk coast, will keep producing electricity until 2055 – 20 years beyond its original closure date – after its owner, EDF, reached an agreement with the government. The plant, near Leiston, started operating in 1995 and was due to reach the end of its life in 2035.
Robert Gunn, station director of Sizewell B, said the deal would ensure hundreds of jobs were safeguarded. “Securing another 20 years also safeguards existing jobs and allows us to continue to recruit another generation of Suffolk young people for the nation’s nuclear renaissance,” he added.
“Sizewell B nuclear plant will continue generating electricity for another 20 years after a deal between EDF and the government.”
But Chris Wilson, from the campaign group Together Against Sizewell C (TASC), condemned the extension. He said TASC applauded the goal to phase out fossil fuels, but condemned “the government’s continued reliance on dirty and dangerous nuclear power”. Wilson warned of a “multi-generational financial and environmental liability”, leaving future generations with flood defence maintenance and “the insurmountable challenge of safe, millennia-long, highly radioactive nuclear waste isolation, amid a changing climate”. He cited “global instability and conflicts in Iran and Ukraine” as highlighting the risks.
EDF runs the plant and employs 620 staff and about 300 contractors. The agreement will enable about £800m of plant investment by EDF, with the deal due to be finalised later in the year. Sizewell B is the country’s only pressurised water reactor and provides energy to more than two million homes, producing 3% of the UK’s energy. According to EDF, the extension would generate enough electricity to meet the needs of every home in East Anglia for almost 45 years.
Gunn said “major plant modifications and upgrades” would be made. The government described keeping the plant open as “good news”, while Lord Patrick Vallance, minister for science, innovation, research and nuclear, said extending the life of a nuclear plant was “a normal thing to do”. “It means we’ve got more clean electricity for that period,” he said. “That’s two and a half million homes’ worth of electricity and 900 jobs.”
Wilson, however, argued that future generations would be left dealing with the financial and environmental impact, as the plant’s waste remains a long-term challenge.