Sizewell B nuclear power station has been switched off for 66 days for refuelling and maintenance work.

Last year, EDF unveiled plans to extend the operational life of the Sizewell B power station by at least 20 years.

The energy company has made an £80 million investment in the power plant, part of which is the station’s 18th refuelling and maintenance outage.

It is expected that engineers will complete more than 10,000 routine maintenance and inspection tasks and replace a third of the fuel during the 66-day outage.

It also marks 28 years of service for the UK’s youngest nuclear power station which will have racked up 243TWH of electricity, the equivalent of meeting the needs of every home in Suffolk for 178 years.

Robert Gunn, Sizewell B Station Director, said: “Sizewell B is vital to the ongoing security of low carbon electricity in the UK and outages such as this are key to delivering the reliable power that the station is recognised for.”