The UK government and Electricité de France have agreed draft Head of Terms for a 20-year life extension of the Sizewell B nuclear power station in Suffolk, keeping the plant operational until 2055 under a Contract for Difference priced at £70.50 per megawatt hour in 2025 prices. The CfD is set to begin in 2035, when Sizewell B had previously been scheduled to close, and will extend its total operating life to 60 years from its first synchronisation with the National Grid in 1995. The agreement remains subject to the development of a long-form contract and all regulatory approvals, according to the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero [Source: GOV.UK (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)].
EDF said it will fund a refurbishment of the plant through planned outages over the next 15 years at a cost of around £800 million. Centrica (CNA.L), which holds a 20% stake in Sizewell B, has backed the agreement and the investment required to support operations through to 2055. The plant currently provides around 3% of the UK's total electricity needs, generating roughly 1.2 GW and powering approximately 2.5 million homes.
The £70.50/MWh strike price agreed for Sizewell B is more than £10 per megawatt hour below the previous contract signed for the station, and also below the £91.20 per megawatt hour the government agreed to pay for new offshore wind farms earlier this year. The government estimated that if Sizewell B had operated under a comparable arrangement during the energy price crisis that followed Russia's invasion of Ukraine, consumers would have saved roughly £2 billion in 2025 values [Source: GOV.UK (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)]. The extension is also estimated to support around 900 skilled nuclear jobs on site in Suffolk.
The Office for Nuclear Regulation stated that safety cases at Sizewell B are likely to require updating to achieve EDF's stated ambition, alongside plant investment to sustain equipment reliability [Source: Office for Nuclear Regulation]. The agreement comes against the backdrop of significant change in the UK's nuclear fleet: many existing reactors have already shut down, while others have received shorter life extensions to the end of this decade. EDF's new Hinkley Point C plant has experienced repeated delays and rising costs, with its first reactor now expected to start up around 2030. Sizewell C, the other proposed new UK nuclear plant, won project approval last year after securing investment. Since becoming operational in 1995, Sizewell B has produced 270 terawatt hours of electricity, according to EDF calculations using ONS and other data.
Sources: Bloomberg, The Guardian, BBC Business, GOV.UK (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero), Office for Nuclear Regulation, Reuters, Global Banking and Finance, City AM, East Anglian Daily Times