What's going on at Dungeness nuclear power station?

BBC News in the south-east reported last night that neither of the two nuclear reactors at Dungeness in Kent had been operational for months – one since summer 2009, forcing EDF to buy in electricity to meet their contract with National Grid. It is estimated this could be costing them somewhere around £2M a week to provide power for the 1.5 million homes in the area.

Rather cryptically they quoted EDF as saying they could not reveal any details as it might adversely effect the UK electricity market. EDF did say they expected both reactors to be working again “soon”.

Unfortunately this story has not appeared on the BBC News website so no link.

This yet again highlights the precarious situation the UK electricity market is in, with many nuclear reactors nearing (or already at) the end of their working lives.