EDF Energy will tomorrow take one of the two nuclear reactors at Dungeness B power station in Kent out of service for a £30 million maintenance programme.
More than 11,000 separate pieces of work will be carried out during the statutory three-yearly maintenance shutdown, including inspections inside the advanced gas-cooled reactor as well as the installation of new equipment at the plant.
Inspections will be carried out by Babcock International-owned Cavendish Nuclear, which earlier this year signed a £40 million per year deal to provide all eight of EDF’s operational nuclear plants with services including the inspections of graphite in the reactors and maintaining gas circulators.
EDF is also investing an additional £4.5 million this year in key projects at Dungeness B to improve plant performance through to the end of its life.
The company expects the 1050MW plant to remain open for an additional 10 years to 2028, following confirmation in January that EDF will invest £150 million in upgrading the Kent site.
