The other reactor at the supplier’s Kent-based plant will continue operating normally throughout the period, during which 500 extra workers will be employed.
The extensive programme of more than 11,000 separate pieces of maintenance work will include inspections inside the reactor, as well as the installation of new equipment at the plant.
Maintenance periods, known as ‘statutory outages’, take place every three years and are planned years in advance.
During these outages, EDF advises National Grid to “ensure that there is no impact on the national electricity supply”.
Dungeness B plant manager Steve Coates said: “The team here at Dungeness B is ready for what will be a busy time for the station and they will be supported by many hundreds of contractors.”
This year the station is also investing an additional £4.5 million in key projects to improve the performance of Dungeness B through to the end of its life, with an announcement in January that the plant will remain open for an a further 10 years, until 2028, as a result of £150 million extra investment.
In June last year, EDF successfully applied to loosen safety limits at Dungeness B, meaning an extended limit on how much degradation can take place to the bricks surrounding the nuclear core at the nuclear site.
In February, EDF announced that another of its nuclear plants, Sizewell B, will also continue operation for a further 10 years to 2025.