{"id":422838,"date":"2026-01-24T11:35:37","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T10:35:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=422838"},"modified":"2026-01-24T13:06:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T12:06:16","slug":"britain-to-extend-life-of-ageing-nuclear-plants-to-keep-the-lights-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=422838","title":{"rendered":"Britain to extend life of ageing nuclear plants to keep the lights\u00a0on"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"A<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two of Britain’s oldest nuclear plants- Hartlepool and Heysham 1 (both Advanced Gas-cooled Reactors, or AGRs, operated by EDF Energy)- could see their lives extended by an additional two years to around 2030. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This comes due to an acute electricity shortage risk, as the UK transitions toward more intermittent renewables like wind while facing retirements of older capacity.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Workers<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Hartlepool and Heysham 1 licenses prolonged to 2030 due to \u2018dangerous gap\u2019 in power supplies<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two of Britain\u2019s oldest nuclear power plants could be kept running for an extra two years because of an acute electricity shortage in the UK.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hartlepool and Heysham 1<\/a>, owned by EDF, were due to shut down in 2028, but ministers want to extend the operating licences to at least 2030 because the UK faces \u201ca dangerous gap\u201d in power supplies if they shut. The Telegraph<\/a> has the story.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both have already been operating for 42 years despite being scheduled to close for safety reasons in 2008.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

EDF, France\u2019s state-owned power utility, which operates all five UK nuclear stations, said it was working to keep the stations operational without compromising safety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark Hartley, from EDF, said: \u201cIn November, the UK Government said that the retirement of these Advanced Gas-Cooled Reactors (AGRs) risks leaving a dangerous gap in Britain\u2019s low-carbon energy supply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is our ambition to generate from the remaining AGR stations for as long as it is safe and commercially viable to do so, and we will keep their lifetimes under review to assess whether further life extensions can be achieved.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

EDF will invest \u00a31.2bn in the latest extensions, which will keep enough power on the grid to power about four million homes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That power is vital to Energy Secretary Ed Miliband\u2019s plans to decarbonise the UK\u2019s power supplies by 2030<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year, nuclear stations generated 12pc of the UK\u2019s electricity. This was 12pc lower than in 2024 because of an extended outage at Hartlepool power station.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Losing two nuclear stations would leave the UK dependent on imports via subsea interconnectors, but these might not always meet the nation\u2019s needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sizewell B, the UK\u2019s largest nuclear plant, is already due to operate until 2035, and EDF hopes to extend this to 2055.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two other stations, Torness and Heysham 2, were originally scheduled to close in 2023 and have been cleared to generate until March 2030 after EDF invested \u00a38.6bn in the fleet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fate of Heysham 1 and Hartlepool is less certain and will depend on the results of safety assessments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read the full story here<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"A<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two of Britain’s oldest nuclear plants- Hartlepool and Heysham 1 (both Advanced Gas-cooled Reactors, or AGRs, operated by EDF Energy)- could see their lives extended by an additional two years to around 2030. This comes due to an acute electricity shortage risk, as the UK transitions toward more intermittent renewables like wind while facing retirements of older capacity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":422847,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9jbGltYXRlLXNjaWVuY2UucHJlc3NcL3dwLWNvbnRlbnRcL3VwbG9hZHNcLzIwMjZcLzAxXC9BUU1KWmZZTE01eDd4T2gxb0VCVUNhejVzV2NlZ2pqM29Ma0lFUnNuYy1sVjVJSVVtNEI0MVloSC00SVhucmdGQzBIZE5sQ1dqMVRvOGJKdFJqZWk4UlR3TkctNXowYkhMY1dnY1FfWGNLZ0psdVhNNDJGQU55eDZKM1NtN3lVLmpwZWc_Zml0PTcyMyUyQzQxMyZzc2w9MSIsInR4dCI6IkJyaXRhaW4gdG8gZXh0ZW5kIGxpZmUgb2YgYWdlaW5nIG51Y2xlYXIgcGxhbnRzIHRvIGtlZXAgdGhlIGxpZ2h0c1x1MDBhMG9uIiwidGVtcGxhdGUiOiJoaWdod2F5IiwiZm9udCI6IiIsImJsb2dfaWQiOjE1NTgxMjQ0OX0.OYZWdVtJ_xEWCAIMSQ46_ljfaKZFbsZE3zXF3VitaLkMQ"},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691829913,691840904,691818206],"class_list":{"0":"post-422838","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-energy-industry","9":"tag-hartlepool-and-heysham-1","10":"tag-nuclear-power","12":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/AQMJZfYLM5x7xOh1oEBUCaz5sWcegjj3oLkIERsnc-lV5IIUm4B41YhH-4IXnrgFC0HdNlCWj1To8bJtRjei8RTwNG-5z0bHLcWgcQ_XcKgJluXM42FANyx6J3Sm7yU.jpeg?fit=1480%2C846&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1LZY","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":237325,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=237325","url_meta":{"origin":422838,"position":0},"title":"Nuclear plants face shutdown over tax on windfalls","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"02\/01\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Two nuclear power stations crucial to keeping Britain\u2019s lights on risk being closed next year as a result of Jeremy Hunt\u2019s windfall tax, their French owner warns today.","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/image-27.png?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/image-27.png?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/image-27.png?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/image-27.png?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/image-27.png?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":237318,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=237318","url_meta":{"origin":422838,"position":1},"title":"Nuclear plants face shutdown over tax on windfalls","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"02\/01\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"The UK government is running short of electricity supply options due to net zero policies based on climate obsessions, as well as years of reluctance to believe that renewable energy is, and will always be, too erratic and unreliable. 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