Life of four nuclear power stations has been extended.

Scotland’s last nuclear power station and three others in England are to have their lives extended.

EDF Energy says Tournes in East Lothian, and its sister site Heysham 2 in Lancashire, will continue to produce for an additional two years until 2030.

Two other sites – Hartlepool and Heysham 1 – will continue for an additional year until 2027.

The French state-owned company says it will now invest £1.3bn in its operational nuclear estate over the next three years.

Tournais employs approximately 550 people and a further 180 contractors are also working on site.

It started generating electricity in 1988 and was originally supposed to be decommissioned last year.

Construction work on Hartlepool Power Station began in 1968, taking 15 years to complete. Heysham 1 began production in 1983, followed by Heysham 2 five years later.

In 2016, a It was decided to extend the age of Tournais till 2030. – But the discovery of cracks in the graphite bricks, which make up the reactor cores of some modern gas-cooled power stations, prompted a review.

As a result, it was announced in 2021 that the closure dates for Tournais and Heysham 2 would be brought forward again by two years to 2028.

EDF says it has spent years studying the progress of cracking and engineers feel they have a better understanding of the issues.

It says there will be regular inspections to ensure the sites can continue to operate safely.

Norman Hampshire, leader of East Lothian Council, said he welcomed the decision, but warned that decommissioning the facility meant its power baseload needed to change.

He said: “While it has always been recognized that power stations will have a limited life and decisions about energy policy are made at a national level, Tournais will continue to be a major employer in the region beyond its scheduled closure date. Will continue as defiling and then start to finish.

“East Lothian will continue to play a vital role in providing the energy the country needs with the expansion of renewables we have around East Lothian and offshore wind.

“However, the baseload that Tornaise provides needs to be changed and all options need to be explored, including the potential for small modular reactors being considered by the UK government.”

The four power stations support around 3,000 workers and can generate up to 4.6 gigawatts of electricity.

This is enough to power about 4.5 million homes.

The decision to extend the life of the power stations will help fill the gap before EDF’s Hinkley Point C nuclear power station in Somerset starts production around 2030.

The company made the decision after a year-long review across four sites.

A separate review is looking at the possibility of extending its Sizewell B facility in Suffolk for a further 20 years.

Mark Hartley, managing director of EDF’s nuclear operations business, said the decision to operate all four sites was a testament to the workers and its billions in investment.

He added: “When EDF acquired these stations in 2009 they were all due to be decommissioned by early 2023 leaving the UK with just one nuclear power station at Sizewell B.

“Careful stewardship and investment of around £8bn has seen many life extensions for these stations and output far beyond what was predicted.”

The decision has been welcomed by the National Energy Systems Operator, a new publicly owned body tasked with connecting generation projects to the grid.

It says nuclear will play an important role in the UK’s energy mix by 2030 and again by 2050 with new capacity.

EDF says keeping existing facilities in operation will help preserve some of the skills needed for new nuclear.

The UK government says the decision is a “strong endorsement” of its clean power mission.

Energy Secretary Ed Miliband added: “This extension is a major win for our energy independence.

“We cannot achieve clean energy by 2030 without nuclear, which provides the all-important stable supply of domestic clean energy.”