4 Dec (NucNet): EDF Energy has announced it will extend the expected commercial operating life of four of its nuclear reactor units at two plants in the UK by seven years.
The advanced gas-cooled reactor (GCR) units – two at the Hinkley Point B plant in Somerset, England, and two at Hunterston B in Scotland – are expected to remain operational until at least 2023, the company said today. All four units had been scheduled to be shut down in 2016.
The decision follows the five-year extensions to Heysham 1 and Hartlepool announced in 2010 and comes after “extensive reviews” of the plants’ safety cases and continuing work with the nuclear regulator, EDF Energy said.
The announcement was made as EDF Energy chief executive officer Vincent de Rivaz re-opened a visitor centre for Hinkley Point B as part of an initiative to make the nuclear industry “more open and accessible”.
He said EDF Energy is investing 300 million pounds (GBP) (483 million US dollars, 370 million euro) each year on capital expenditure in the nuclear fleet, and spends an additional GBP 350 million on plant operations with 90 per cent of the total spent in the UK.
He said life extensions do not replace the need for new generation. “Even as we agree to extend the life of our existing plants, we are moving forward with plans to create the next generation of nuclear power stations.”
Last week the UK’s Office for Nuclear Regulation granted to a subsidiary of EDF Energy the first new site licence for a UK nuclear power station in 25 years. The licence is for a new plant at Hinkley Point.
EDF Energy said it expects an average of seven-year life extensions across all its GCR stations and a 20-year extension for Sizewell B, the only pressurised water reactor in the UK.
