Framatome keeps Sizewell B outage work to 2040 as EDF plans a 20-year life extension
Serguey Asael Shinder2 min readFramatome and EDF UK announced on 7 October that they have renewed their long-term service agreement (LTSA) for Sizewell B, the 1,198 MW pressurised water reactor in Suffolk and the only PWR operating in the United Kingdom. The new contract runs to 2040 — 15 years, in Framatome's description — and continues a relationship that began in 2008.
What Framatome will do. The release describes a full scope of outage work: reactor and steam generator services, maintenance of reactor coolant pumps and valves, non-destructive examination, supply-chain coordination and management of outage staff drawn from several countries. Framatome says the work will be carried by UK-based teams backed by resources in France, Germany and the United States, and that it intends to train UK outage specialists for the wider fleet. Outages, as the release defines them, are the planned shutdowns in which fuel is replaced and inspection and maintenance are carried out — the periods that decide how many hours a year a reactor actually runs.
Why 2040 is the interesting date. Sizewell B started in 1995 with a 40-year design life to 2035. According to World Nuclear News, the UK government and EDF agreed terms in July on financing a 20-year life extension, under which EDF will fund about £800 million of refurbishment carried out during planned outages over the next 15 years — new environmental and automated plant monitoring systems, plus replacement of pipework, valves and pumps across the site. That agreement was still subject to finalisation at the time of the report. A service contract that reaches 2040 therefore covers the first five years beyond the original end date, and spans most of the refurbishment window.
A small inconsistency in the release. Framatome's announcement gives Sizewell B's lifetime output as more than 270 TWh in its main text and more than 250 TWh in the plant profile at the bottom of the same page. World Nuclear News uses 270 TWh. Neither figure is dated, and the difference is close to two years of output at full power; it is worth noting only because readers may quote either.
Ownership context. Framatome is owned by EDF (75.5%), Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (19.5%) and Assystem (5%), per its own release — so this is, in part, an agreement inside the EDF group. EDF UK's nuclear operations chief, John Munro, framed the plant as a bridge to the EPR units he described as under construction at Hinkley Point C and Sizewell C.
Sources: Framatome, Framatome and EDF UK renew Long Term Service Agreement for Sizewell B, 7 October 2026 — https://www.framatome.com/medias/framatome-and-edf-uk-renew-long-term-service-agreement-for-sizewell-b/?lang=eng ; World Nuclear News, 9 October 2026 — https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/articles/framatome-to-continue-maintaining-sizewell-b-plant