Sellafield afternoon shift was told not to come to work. This was the first lock-down in the history of the plant. On 18 October 2010, the UK government announced that Sellafield was one of the eight possible sites it considered suitable for future nuclear power stations. On 23 June 2011 the government confirmed the suitability of the site, and hoped an electricity generating company would choose to build a power station near Sellafield at Moorside by 2025. In 2003, it was announced that the Thorp reprocessing plant would be closed in 2010 (later extended to 2018 to allow completion of agreed
Hartlepool Nuclear Power Station urban area. Originally planned in 1967, with construction starting in 1969, the station started generating electricity in 1983, and was completed in 1985, initially being operated by the Central Electricity Generating Board. With privatisation of the UK's electric supply industry in 1990, the station has been owned by Nuclear Electric and British Energy, but is now owned and operated by EDF Energy. On 18 October 2010 the British government announced that Hartlepool was one of the eight sites it considered suitable for future nuclear power stations. With the economic success of another advanced gas-cooled reactor (AGR) nuclear power station at