Dungeness B enters defuelling phase with immediate effect

The power station has been in extended outage since September 2018 and during this time EDF has managed ‘a range of unique, significant and ongoing technical challenges that are not found at the other six AGR power stations’.

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A number of those challenges were overcome but faults remained within some key components, including parts within the fuel assemblies, the company said.

Consequently, EDF has cancelled restart of the plant and moved it into defueling, which is the first stage of decommissioning a nuclear power station.

Dungeness B came online in 1983 and final generation of electricity in 2018 means the plant ran for 10 years longer than its original design life.

Construction began at Dungeness B in 1967 and the plant connected to the electricity grid in 1983. The original design life was 2008 and this was extended following investment in the plant. According to EDF, Dungeness had its most successful year in 2016, generating enough energy to meet the needs of two million homes.