UK Extends Sizewell B Nuclear Plant to 2055 with £800 Million Investment

EDF and the UK government reached a deal to extend the operating life of Sizewell B nuclear power plant until 2055. The plant near Leiston, Suffolk, began operating in 1995 and had been scheduled to close in 2035. The agreement enables EDF to invest about £800 million in the facility and will be finalised later this year.

Sizewell B is the UK's only pressurised water reactor, supplies power to more than two million homes and accounts for 3 percent of national electricity generation. Robert Gunn, station director of Sizewell B, said the extension would safeguard hundreds of jobs and allow recruitment of another generation of Suffolk workers.

Lord Patrick Vallance, minister for science, innovation, research and nuclear, described extending nuclear plant lives as a normal step that would deliver clean electricity for two and a half million homes and support 900 jobs.

A spokesperson for the Office for Nuclear Regulation said it works constructively with EDF on life-extension plans while ensuring required safety and security standards through inspection and assessment. Chris Wilson of the campaign group Together Against Sizewell C welcomed the goal of phasing out fossil fuels but criticised continued reliance on nuclear power, citing long-term financial and environmental liabilities including radioactive waste management and flood defence needs.

Under a contract for difference signed with the government, Sizewell B will receive a guaranteed £70.50 per MWh from April 2035 to March 2055 in 2025 prices.

The 1.2 GW plant, commissioned in 1995, involves Centrica in the extension agreement.