EDF and Centrica to extend life of two UK nuclear power plants to 2030 (updated)
UPDATE 1-EDF and Centrica to extend life of two UK nuclear power plants to 2030 Changes sourcing to EDF, adds detail from paragraph 2
July 22 (Reuters) - France's EDF Energy and Britain's Centrica CNA.L will extend the lives of the Heysham 1 and Hartlepool nuclear power plants in Britain for a further two years to March 2030, they said on Wednesday.
The extensions will help Britain in its goal to generate about 95% of its electricity from low-carbon sources by 2030.
The Heysham 1 and Hartlepool plants in northeast England have combined capacity of about 2.3 gigawatts and have had several extensions to their operational lifetimes.
The move will support 1,000 jobs across the two sites for a longer period and could boost nuclear output by 28 terawatt hours over the two-year period, enough to power 8.4 million homes, EDF said.
The decision was taken after a detailed review covering technical aspects such as the condition of the boilers and the graphite cores, as well as supply chain resilience and workforce planning.
EDF owns 80% of Britain's operational nuclear fleet while Centrica has a 20% stake in the plants.
(Reporting by Susanna Twidale in London and Ankita Bora in Bengaluru
Editing by Devika Syamnath and David Goodman
)