Britain to extend life of ageing nuclear plants to keep the lights on
Two of Britain’s oldest nuclear power plants could be kept running for an extra two years because of an acute electricity shortage in the UK.
Hartlepool and Heysham 1, 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 “a dangerous gap” in power supplies if they shut.
Both have already been operating for 42 years despite being scheduled to close for safety reasons in 2008.
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 £8.6bn in the fleet.
The fate of Heysham 1 and Hartlepool is less certain and will depend on the results of safety assessments.
Full story here.
It is all very well keeping them going till 2030, but what happens after that?
The four stations, Hartlepool, Heysham 1+2 and Torness have a combined capacity of 4.8 GW. Hinkley Point may not be fully up and running till 2032, and will only offer 3.2 GW.
By 2030, we will have more wind power, but that will be useless when the wind does not blow. Meanwhile, electricity demand is projected to be higher and early closure of CCGTs will likely outweigh the two CCGT/CCS plants being planned for Teesside and Connah’s Quay, which have capacity of 1.3 GW.
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