Industry news
EDF has extended the life of Britain's two nuclear power sta
release time：2023-03-10
EDF Energy said on Thursday it would extend the operating life of its Hartlepool and Heysham 1 nuclear power stations in Britain by two years to March 2026, boosting the country's energy security amid volatile gas and electricity markets. The two plants, which have a combined capacity of 2.3 gigawatts and supply about 5% of Britain's electricity, were due to close in 2024, but EDF said last year it would review whether there was a case for keeping them open beyond that. EDF Energy, part of French state-owned EDF(EDf.PA), said the decisions had been taken after a rigorous review of the technical and business case for the extension. Matt Sykes, managing director of generation at EDF Energy, said: "Delivering zero-carbon and affordable electricity is more important than it is now, whatever the weather." Earlier this week, Britain was forced to switch on two coal-fired power units to help ensure power supplies during the cold weather. Sykes said the two-year extension would save 6 billion cubic meters of gas and 10 million tons of carbon dioxide. The Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) said that while formal approval was not required to extend the life of the plant, EDF would need to provide the plant with up-to-date safety cases, which would be assessed. In a statement, ONR said: "Some of the current safety cases at these stations will need to be updated to meet EDF's stated objectives, while investing in the plant to maintain the reliability of the equipment. EDF, which operates all eight of Britain's nuclear power stations and provides about 13 percent of the country's electricity, said it had invested more than 7 billion pounds ($8.4 billion) in British nuclear plants since 2009, 30 percent more than it had originally forecast for production. Heysham 1 in north-west England and Hartlepool in North-East England, both of which celebrate 40 years of power generation this year, were due to end in 2014. EDF added that the plants have the potential to continue generating power for 12 months beyond March 2026. The projected end date for the other two plants, Tonis and Heysham 2, remains unchanged at March 2028. Britain, like the rest of Europe, has faced high gas and electricity prices over the past year following the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Britain is looking to step up low-carbon nuclear generation to help shore up its electricity supply, while also meeting its climate goal of net-zero emissions by 2050, and has set a target of meeting about 25 percent of its electricity needs with nuclear power by the same date. EDF's Hinkley Point C is the first new nuclear power station in the UK for more than 20 years, but has been frustrated by delays and soaring costs and is not expected to open until 2027. Several countries in Europe, including France, Belgium and Sweden, have announced plans to extend the operating life of their aging nuclear reactors amid fears of power shortages in coming years. However, Belgium's nuclear regulator advised the government this week not to do that with the country's three oldest reactors.
Service Hotline：133-9305-7858，If you are interested or in doubt, please call!
YuHe Technology - dedicated to serve you!
Keywords：Nuclear Industry，Nuclear medicine，Intervention protection，Lead material
