EDF / 2018 Reference document

PRESENTATION OF EDF GROUP Description of the Group's activities

Radioactive Waste Management In the UK, radioactive waste is classified into four categories: low Level Waste (LLW), for which a near surface disposal route exists – including ■ the LLW Repository at Drigg West Cumbria; intermediate Level Waste (ILW), for which no disposal route is currently available ■ in the UK; high Level Waste (HLW) is defined as radioactive waste in which the temperature ■ may rise significantly as a result of the radioactivity, so this factor has to be taken into account in the design of storage and disposal facilities; higher Activity Waste (HAW) – this is effectively HLW, ILW and any LLW that are ■ unsuitable for near-surface disposal. EDF Energy nuclear generation’s strategy for LLW and HAW reflects that the UK and Scottish governments are focused on application of the waste hierarchy (reduce, reuse¸ recycle, recover). The use of a range of waste recycling and disposal routes will help to make the best use of the UK’s Low Level Waste Repository (LLWR) in Cumbria. Only a disposal route for LLW currently exists in the UK. HAW is stored for the medium-term in safe, purpose built facilities at EDF Energy’s stations while longer term national solutions are being established within England and Scotland. Under historic contractual arrangements, spent fuel from the AGRs is transported to Sellafield nuclear reprocessing site (owned by NDA) for reprocessing or long term storage. Heat generating HAW from the reprocessing of spent AGR fuel are converted into glass blocks for safe, long term storage. Regarding Sizewell B, the spent fuel is stored on site and EDF Energy has built a further spent fuel dry storage facility on the Sizewell B site to allow the station to continue to safely store all of the spent fuel that will be generated over Sizewell B’s life. Following long-term surface storage, the Sizewell B PWR spent fuel will be disposed to a future UK geological disposal facility. The nature of EDF Energy nuclear generation’s business and its historic government link means that the strategy for spent fuel and the management of radioactive waste from EDF Energy nuclear generation’s power stations is approved by the NDA. However, EDF Energy has policies to continually improve and minimise the spent fuel

and waste arising through the company’s wider safety, sustainability and environmental policies. Costs relating to radioactive waste management and decommissioning – Restructuring Agreements Restructuring Agreements were originally entered into in 2005 as part of the restructuring of the former British Energy Group of companies (hereafter referred to as “the EDF Energy Nuclear Generation Group”) and were carried out from 2002 under the aegis of the UK government in order to stabilise the financial situation of the EDF Energy Nuclear Generation Group (EENGG). By virtue of these restructuring agreements: the Nuclear Liabilities Fund (NLF), an independent trust set up by the UK ■ government as part of the restructuring, agreed (at the direction of the Secretary of State) to fund, to the extent of its assets: (i) qualifying uncontracted nuclear liabilities, including liabilities in connection with the management of spent fuel at the Sizewell B power station and (ii) qualifying costs of decommissioning in relation to the existing nuclear power stations owned and operated by EENGG; the Secretary of State agreed to fund: (i) qualifying uncontracted nuclear ■ liabilities (including liabilities in connection with the management of spent fuel at the Sizewell B power station) and qualifying costs of decommissioning, in each case in relation to the existing nuclear power stations owned and operated by EENGG, to the extent that they exceed the assets of NLF and (ii) subject to a cap of £2,185 million (in December 2002 monetary values, adjusted accordingly), qualifying contracted liabilities for the EENGG’s spent fuel (including in particular liabilities for management of AGR waste from spent fuel loaded prior to 15 January 2005); and EDF Energy Nuclear Generation Limited is responsible for funding certain ■ excluded or disqualified liabilities (mainly liabilities incurred in connection with the event of an unsafe or careless operation of the power stations) and the potential associated obligations of its subsidiaries to the NLF and the Secretary of State are guaranteed by the principal members of the EENGG. Certain companies in the EENGG, including EDF Energy Nuclear Generation Limited, entered into a separate contract, now with the NDA for management of AGR spent fuel loaded from 15 January 2005 (termed “new fuel”) and have no responsibility/liability for this fuel after it is received at Sellafield.

1.

Thermal generation and gas storage 1.4.5.1.2.2

Output (TWh) 2018

Year com- missioned

Number of units

Capacity (MW)

Power plant

Location

Type of station

2017

Cottam

Nottinghamshire

1970 1970 2013

4 4

Coal-fired

2,000 1,987 1,332 5,319

2.7 1.8 6.8

3.1 1.7 6.6

Coal-fired and OCGT (1)

West Burton A Nottinghamshire

West Burton B

Nottinghamshire

3 Combined Cycle Gas Turbine

UK

11

11.3

11.4

TOTAL

Open Cycle Gas Turbine. (1)

West Burton B CCGT generated 6.8TWh of electricity in 2018, an increase of 0.2TWh from 2017. This represented a good performance considering the market volatilities, plant challenges and three interim outages during the year. EDF Energy operates also two mid cycle gas storage facilities in Cheshire. Hill Top Farm became commercially operational in mid-January 2015 with three cavities. A fourth cavity became commercially operational in 2018 with the remaining cavity scheduled to come on-line in 2019. During 2018 the decision was made not to return the Hole House Facility to commercial operation for the foreseeable future due to challenging market conditions coupled with imminent requirements for some significant investment to the plant.

In 2018, Cottam and West Burton A coal-fired power plants generated 4.5TWh of electricity. This is 0.3TWh less than last year, and represented a good performance in a year of particularly low dark spreads, in addition to outages at six of the eight coal-fired units. On 7 February 2019, EDF Energy decided to end production on 30 September 2019 at the Cottam coal-fired power plant after 50 years of being in service. This decision reflects market changes and a drive to actively remove carbon from the power generation process.

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EDF I Reference Document 2018