"Energy Minister Greg Hands said his department did not speak to EDF about prolonging the life of [Hinkley Point B}, which will now shut down this August.

Up until now, ministers had suggested they had been in touch with the French-owned company about keeping Hinkley Point B running to help the country manage with the growing global energy crisis. The reactor provides enough electricity to power more than 1.7 million homes.

But in a response to a parliamentary question from Labour’s Charlotte Nichols, Mr Hands states: “The Department is in regular communication with EDF and the [Office for Nuclear Regulation] ONR but has not written regarding the extension of nuclear power stations.”

The news comes just days after the head of the International Energy Agency, Fatih Birol, urged Europe to “consider postponing closures [of nuclear power plants] as long as the safety conditions are there” amid concerns that Russia is preparing to turn off its gas supplies to the continent.

It emerged last month that a reasonable worst-case scenario briefing drawn up by Whitehall officials showed six million UK households could face blackouts as a result of gas shortages, should Russia cut supplies to the EU.

At the time, culture minister Chris Philp said the dossier had prompted Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng to consider “whether Hinkley B, the large nuclear power station, might continue beyond its planned end of life”.

This now appears to be untrue. EDF subsequently released a statement saying that while an extension to Hinkley Point, near Bridgwater, Somerset, was “technically feasible”, it was too late to carry it out.

Leaked correspondence seen by i shows Mr Hands was urged back in March to take action to prolong the operating lives of nuclear reactors, in an attempt to shore up the country’s energy supplies amid fears of shortages as a result of the war in Ukraine. But he rejected the demands."

"One of the government's top climate advisors also raised doubts this week over the competence of EDF to deliver projects and called the proposed plan for Sizewell C "ridiculous".

Lord Deben, who chairs the climate change committee and lives in Suffolk, was accused of being a NIMBY by EDF after he made the comments, The Times reported.

In May, EDF revealed the nuclear power station it is building at Hinkley Point in Somerset will start operating a year later than planned and will cost an extra £3bn.

Campaign group Stop Sizewell C has asked how much the project will cost via a new set of advertisements on the tube at Westminster.

Reacting to the funding news, Alison Downes, from the group, said: "Why do ministers appear willing to throw more cash at Sizewell C, despite the risk and questionable value for money, when there is none for hard stretched workers and - as Lord Deben pointed out - when the nuclear industry 'doesn’t deliver things on time and it doesn’t deliver them to budget'?

"Nobody is even owning up to how much Sizewell C would cost: the last estimate is more than two years out of date."
#StopSizewellC

As the Sunday Telegraph reports Ministers may be ready to throw more money at #SizewellC we ask how much it might really cost with new ads at Westminster tube.

All the figures used come from the government's own impact assessment on RAB funding, and real life #nuclear project costs. See https://stopsizewellc.org/ad

#StopSizewellC