HUNDREDS of jobs will be saved after a nuclear power station had its life extended by 10 years — but campaigners voiced “grave concerns” last night over safety at the site.

Dungeness B, which operates two advance gas-cooled reactors (AGRs) on the Kent coast, was due to shut in 2018, but EDF announced yesterday it would now run until 2028.

The French energy giant also announced a £40 million-a-year maintenance contract with Cavendish Nuclear and an investment package across its British sites.

The firm said all its AGRs would continue in operation until 2023, when Somerset’s Hinkley Point B station will be decommissioned.

The news was warmly received by nuclear energy union GMB.

GMB national secretary for energy Gary Smith said: “This confirms that nuclear power is essential to keeping the lights on.

“GMB also welcome safeguarding 750 jobs at the station. The £150 million investment programme will also create jobs in the engineering construction supply chain.”

But Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament general secretary Kate Hudson said there were signs Dungeness B was “already struggling to cope.”

She pointed to an increase in the weight-loss limit for graphite bricks at the plant from 6.2 per cent to 8 per cent last year.

“Last June an essential safety limit at the plant was modified as the bricks in the reactor were cracking and losing weight due to radiation,” she said.

“Extending operations there for another 10 years will only make the situation worse.

“Nuclear power is a dirty energy source with no future, and Britain should be investing in new forms of energy, not keeping old nuclear power stations open.”