Nuclear power generation could restart at Dungeness under plans being considered by the new Labour government. Both the outgoing MP for Folkestone and Hythe, Damian Collins, and his Labour successor, Tony Vaughan, are campaigning for new nuclear generators to be built on the site of the former A and B reactors. However the local council leader, a Green Party member, is decidedly lukewarm about the idea. In an exclusive interview for HIP, Cllr Jim Martin, leader of Folkestone and Hythe District Council said “nuclear waste is a problem, and it’s a problem that hasn’t been solved”.

The first nuclear reactor, Dungeness A, was a Magnox power station which started producing energy in 1965 and was decommissioned nearly forty years later. It was replaced in 1983 by Dungeness B, an early advanced gas-cooled reactor (AGR) which was beset by a number of safety issues. One of the dual reactors was shut down in March 2009 and remained offline for eighteen months following “unexpected problems”. The plant was ungraded in 2015 and was planned to operate until 2028. However both units were shut down ten years early for scheduled maintenance when the operator EDF encountered “significant and ongoing technical challenges”. It led to their permanent closure on 7 June 2021. 

The former Conservative MP for the area, Damian Collins, campaigned for a series of new Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) to be built on the site, arguing they would bring jobs and economic benefits to the area. 

In the election in July this year he lost his seat to Labour’s Tony Vaughan who has since been busy lobbying the Energy Secretary Ed Milliband for a return of nuclear generation to the area. Shortly after the July election he told Parliament “Dungeness has the land, infrastructure, grid connections and local expertise that make it well placed for new nuclear.” He called for a meeting with the minister “to discuss how we can harness Dungeness’s potential for the local area and the regional community”. To which the secretary of state replied that a ‘potential nuclear programme’ was important to the government.

During the election campaign Tony Vaughn tweeted: “Small Modular Reactors will play an important role in helping the UK achieve energy security and clean power. We desperately need Labour’s Great British Energy company to bring back power generation to Dungeness, for our energy security and to safeguard the hundreds of jobs based here”. 

Leader of the local council, Jim Martin, agrees that job retention for residents is of utmost importance but believes that they can be provided through any type of renewable, carbon free energy generation, including, wind, tidal, or solar. When asked about the possibility of SMRs at Dungeness, he told HIP it would be unwise to pin hopes on an unproven technology and that, in any case, SMRs ‘will not aid in achieving the government’s goal of net zero by 2030’. There is also concern about multinational involvement. It’s understood that the site owner, EDF, is in discussions with various foreign companies about SMRs at Dungeness. As Cllr Martin points out they could end up with “EDF, the French company, with Canadian consultants and Japanese kit”.

Folkestone and Hythe council has been under no overall control since 2019. Following the 2023 election, a minority administration of the Green Party and Liberal Democrats formed to run the council, led by the Green’s Jim Martin. Although nominally the planning authority they have no say over development of ‘strategic sites’ like Dungeness.

The government has said it is committed to nuclear energy and its new organisation GB Energy is considering various sites for the construction of the new SMR mini-reactors.