Planned power station outages bring big boost to Lancashire

Two planned outages at the Heysham Power Stations have successfully concluded, bringing a significant economic boost to the local area. 

The essential maintenance work, which has been underway since January, brought hundreds of extra workers to the area, supporting local businesses and ensuring the continued safe and efficient operation of the EDF-owned power stations. 

Heysham, located on the North-West coast of England near Lancaster, is the only site in the UK to have two operating nuclear power stations (Heysham 1 and 2). Each station houses two Advanced Gas-Cooled Reactors (AGR). 

On January 6^th 2025, Heysham 2 took one of its reactors offline for its 13^th statutory outage. It is a statutory requirement to carry out one of these outages on each reactor every three years to enable the continued generation of zero-carbon electricity.

A statutory outage is essentially an MOT for the unit, allowing extensive work and inspections to be carried out that are only possible when the reactor is offline. 

The outage has seen EDF invest £10.5 million into critical infrastructure improvements, enhancing the long-term reliability of power generation for homes and businesses in the local area and beyond. 

Throughout the outage a 1,600-strong workforce, including more than 900 visiting workers has completed more than 15,000 pieces of work, including internal vessel inspections, gas circulator exchanges, electrical system maintenance, and a significant weld inspection program.

The reactor successfully returned to service on Saturday 3^rd May 2025 marking the end of the reactor’s 13^th statutory outage, with planning and preparation for the station’s second reactor’s next major outage in early 2026, already underway.

James McGowan, Strategic Outage Manager at Heysham 2 Power Station, said: “It’s great that this outage, which has been carefully planned over the past two years, not only ensures that the station continues running safely and reliably for the future, but also brings a real boost to the area.

“The hundreds of extra contractors that were brought in have stayed in local hotels and B&Bs, dined at local restaurants and used public transport, proving that our investment in the station also brings great benefits to the local community.”

At the end of last year, it was announced that the generating lives for both Heysham 1 and Heysham 2 power stations had been extended. Heysham 1, by one year to 2027 and Heysham 2, by two years to 2030. 

On January 30^th 2025, one of Heysham 1’s reactors was taken out of service for a refuelling outage, where spent nuclear fuel is replaced with fresh fuel, and other work that is not possible during normal operation can be conducted.

This outage period has seen the station carry out graphite inspections and sampling work, to support the station’s extended generating life.

Over eight weeks, the refuelling, maintenance, and inspection work was successfully completed, and the reactor returned to service on 29^th March 2025.

Mike Davies, Station Director of Heysham 1 Power Station, said: “Graphite inspections are a crucial part of our outage strategy. By carefully analysing material conditions, we can make informed decisions that help to ensure the safe and efficient generation of zero-carbon electricity for the years to come.

“This Heysham outage period has brought in skilled contractors from across the country. Over the years we have built strong relationships with those who come to help us to complete this vital work, while making a positive contribution to the local economy by working and living in the area.”

This positive impact was highlighted in a recent report by independent consultants, Economic Insight which looked at the economic impact of the current fleet of EDF’s eight nuclear power stations during their operational lives. The report shows that together, Heysham 1 and 2 have: 

• Contributed more than £28.9 billion to the UK economy since 1983
• Supported more than 5,400 jobs a year for more than 40 years 
• Avoided 284 million tonnes of carbon so far, which is like taking every car off the UK’s roads for four years

Joe Ruddock, General Manager at the Toll House Inn, in Lancaster, said: “We get a lot of stays from EDF when the outages are on. This financial year we provided around 300 room nights to outage workers, which equates to around 4% of our total rooms revenue and makes EDF our biggest customer this year.”

EDF’s investment in the Heysham stations, alongside others in the fleet over nearly 50 years has yielded a huge return that is more than just power, bringing great benefits to the areas in which they operate.