asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether the statement by the Lord Sainsbury of Turville on 26 January that "the major closedown of nuclear power stations begins in 2020" (
Official Report, col. 1259) is consistent with the existing programme of nuclear power station closures that will result in only three nuclear power stations remaining open by 2020. [HL1257]
I regret that my statement the noble Baroness refers to was misleading. The current estimated closure dates of the existing nuclear power stations are given in the table below. However, on current plans, around 30 per cent. of installed nuclear capacity will be operating after 2020 and these dates do not take account of further possible lifetime extensions for British Energy's AGR and PWR plants. Any decisions to seek extensions would be a matter for the company which would need to evaluate the safety, technical and economic cases, within the overall regulatory framework.
| Nuclear Power Station | Estimated closure date | Type of reactor | Installed capacity MW |
| Dungeness A | 2006 | Magnox | 450 |
| Sizewell A | 2006 | Magnox | 420 |
| Oldbury | 2008 | Magnox | 434 |
| Dungeness B | 2008 | AGR | 1,110 |
| Wylfa | 2010 | Magnox | 980 |
| Hinkley Point B | 2011 | AGR | 1,220 |
| Hunterston B | 2011 | AGR | 1,190 |
| Hartlepool | 2014 | AGR | 1,210 |
| Heysham 1 | 2014 | AGR | 1,150 |
| Heysham 2 | 2023 | AGR | 1,250 |
| Torness | 2023 | AGR | 1,250 |
| Sizewell B | 2035 | PWR | 1,188 |
| Total | 4 Magnox | 1852 MW | |
| 7 AGRs | |||
| 1 PWR |