EDF Energy Plans to Extend Life of Four UK Nuclear Power Plants

The French company also considers running Sizewell B for an additional 20 years, pending regulatory approval.

EDF Energy, the French company that owns all five of the UK’s current nuclear power sites, is planning to extend the life of four aging nuclear power stations: Heysham 1 and Hartlepool, due to close in March 2026, and Heysham 2 and Torness, due to shut in March 2028.
The company is also considering running its Sizewell B nuclear power station in Suffolk, which uses pressurized water reactors, for a further 20 years beyond its current closure date in 2035.
Any extensions would require approval from the Office for Nuclear Regulation, the industry regulator.
EDF plans to invest a further £1.3bn in its UK nuclear fleet between 2024 and 2026, taking the total investment to nearly £9bn since 2009.
The company is currently building Hinkley Point C in Somerset, the country’s first new nuclear power station since Sizewell B was completed in the 1990s, and is jointly developing proposals for another power station, Sizewell C, with the UK Government.