Dec. 4 (Bloomberg) — Electricite de France SA, Europe’s
biggest power producer, will extend the life of two British
nuclear plants by seven years as the U.K. government seeks to
meet energy demand with low-carbon generation.
EDF Energy, the utility’s local unit, expects the Hinkley
Point B plant in western England and Hunterston B in Scotland to
operate until at least 2023, generating enough power for about 2
million homes, the company said today in a statement. Plans to
build new reactors are also progressing, it said.
“Life extension does not replace the need for new low-
carbon generation,” Chief Executive Officer Vincent de Rivaz
said in the statement. “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.”
EDF, GDF Suez SA and Iberdrola SA are among companies
studying British nuclear expansion as the government seeks to
replace an aging fleet of power stations without adding to
emissions. EDF operates eight U.K. atomic plants with a combined
generation capacity of almost 9 gigawatts, and has proposed to
add new reactors at its Hinkley Point and Sizewell sites.
EDF expects to extend the lifespan of all its so-called
advanced gas-cooled reactors by an average of seven years, it
said in the statement. The utility sees a 20-year extension for
its Sizewell B plant.
‘Makes Sense’
“It’s very much a global trend,” Malcolm Grimston, an
analyst at Chatham House in London, said today. “The main costs
of nuclear are in building the thing in the first place and once
you’ve built it, as long as you can demonstrate you can operate
it safely, it makes a lot of sense to keep operating it as long
as you can because the operating costs are very low.”
Reactor lifetimes depend on the individual plant and
discussions with the safety regulator, according to Grimston.
The Wylfa nuclear power station in north Wales has operated
since 1971 and will close in 2014, while Magnox Ltd.’s Berkeley
facility in Gloucestershire, the first commercial U.K. nuclear
plant to be decommissioned, ran for 27 years.
To contact the reporter responsible for this story:
Sally Bakewell in London at
Sbakewell1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Reed Landberg at
landberg@bloomberg.net
