The UK is looking at a 20-year extension of the Sizewell B nuclear power plant on England’s east coast to 2055 as prime minister Boris Johnson aims to bolster domestic energy supplies following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Financial Times reported.

The extension is one of several options under consideration as Mr Johnson draws up a new energy supply strategy, which will be published next week against the backdrop of rising international gas prices and an escalating cost-of-living crisis in the UK.

Sizewell B, a 1,198 MW pressurised water reactor unit that began commercial operation in 1995, can meet about 3% of the UK’s electricity demand. It is the only one of Britain’s existing fleet of 11 reactors, which supply about 15% of the country’s electricity, that will continue generating beyond the end of the decade.