A nuclear power station on the Suffolk coast will keep generating electricity for an extra 20 years after its owner struck a deal with the government. Sizewell B, near Leiston, was due to shut down in 2035, but will now continue operating until 2055.
The extension will safeguard hundreds of jobs, according to Robert Gunn, the plant’s station director. “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 said. EDF, which runs the plant, employs 620 staff and around 300 contractors at the site.
“Sizewell B nuclear plant's life extended to 2055, securing jobs and £800m investment”
The agreement, which is due to be finalised later this year, will enable roughly £800m of investment by EDF in major plant modifications and upgrades. Lord Patrick Vallance, the minister for science, innovation, research and nuclear, described the extension as “good news”, adding that extending the life of a nuclear plant was a “normal thing to do”. “It means we’ve got more clean electricity for that period. That’s two and a half million homes’ worth of electricity and 900 jobs,” he said.
But the plan has drawn sharp criticism from campaigners. Chris Wilson, from the group Together Against Sizewell C (TASC), said future generations would be left dealing with the financial and environmental impact. He argued that the government’s “continued reliance on dirty and dangerous nuclear power” creates a “multi-generational financial and environmental liability”, leaving descendants with years of flood defence maintenance and the “insurmountable challenge of safe, millennia-long, highly radioactive nuclear waste isolation, amid a changing climate”.