Britain's most recently completed nuclear power plant will keep generating electricity for another two decades, after the government struck a deal with owner EDF to extend Sizewell B's life until 2055 — a decision that safeguards 900 jobs but has drawn fierce opposition from anti-nuclear campaigners.
Sizewell B, near Leiston in Suffolk, first synchronised with the National Grid in 1995 and was due to shut down within the next decade. Under the agreement, its lifetime has been extended to 60 years, making it the country's only pressurised water reactor and a keystone of the government's push for low-carbon electricity.
“Sizewell B nuclear plant gets 20-year life extension to 2055, securing jobs but sparking opposition over waste and cost.”
The plant produces 3% of Britain's electricity, enough to power more than two million homes, according to EDF. The extension, which involves around £800m of investment, will generate enough electricity to meet the needs of every home in East Anglia for almost 45 years, the company said.
Robert Gunn, station director of Sizewell B, said the deal would safeguard hundreds of jobs and allow EDF to continue recruiting. "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 employs 620 staff and about 300 contractors at the plant. Under the deal, the company will receive £70.50 for every megawatt-hour generated from 2035, when the plant was originally due to close. The additional investment needed will come from Centrica, which owns a 20% share in EDF's UK reactors.
The government has championed the extension as part of a wider nuclear strategy. Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, said: "Nuclear power is vital for our energy security, and this extension will help produce the clean power our country needs." Chancellor Rachel Reeves called it "a real vote of confidence in the hundreds of skilled workers in Suffolk who will power Britain's clean energy future".
Sir Patrick Vallance, minister for science, innovation, research and nuclear, said extending a plant's life was "a normal thing to do" and would provide "two and a half million homes' worth of electricity and 900 jobs".
But campaigners are scathing. Chris Wilson, from Together Against Sizewell C (TASC), said the group applauded the goal to phase out fossil fuels but condemned "the government's continued reliance on dirty and dangerous nuclear power". He 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".
Sizewell B is the latest reactor to win a life extension, following decisions to keep Heysham 2 and Torness running to March 2030, and Heysham 1 and Hartlepool to March 2028. The government hopes a "golden age of nuclear" will help power electric vehicles, low-carbon heating and AI datacentres while meeting climate targets — a vision that critics argue is built on dangerous and costly foundations.