Sellafield, formerly known as Windscale, is a large multi-function nuclear site close to Seascale on the coast of Cumbria, England. As of August 2022, primary activities are nuclear waste processing and storage and nuclear decommissioning. Former activities included nuclear power generation from 1956 to 2003, and nuclear fuel reprocessing from 1952 to 2022.
Magnox is a type of nuclear power / production reactor that was designed to run on natural uranium with graphite as the moderator and carbon dioxide gas as the heat exchange coolant. It belongs to the wider class of gas-cooled reactors. The name comes from the magnesium-aluminium alloy, used to clad the fuel rods inside the reactor. Like most other "Generation I nuclear reactors", the Magnox was designed with the dual purpose of producing electrical power and plutonium-239 for the nascent nuclear weapons programme in Britain. The name refers specifically to the United Kingdom design but is sometimes used generically to refer to any similar reactor.
British Nuclear Fuels Ltd, trading as Great British Nuclear, is a nuclear energy and fuels company owned by the UK Government. It is a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.
The United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority is a UK government research organisation responsible for the development of fusion energy. It is an executive non-departmental public body of the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ).
Dounreay is a small settlement and the site of two large nuclear establishments on the north coast of Caithness in the Highland area of Scotland. It is on the A836 road nine miles west of Thurso.
Chapelcross nuclear power station is a former Magnox nuclear power station undergoing decommissioning. It is located in Annan in Dumfries and Galloway in southwest Scotland, and was in operation from 1959 to 2004. It was the sister plant to the Calder Hall nuclear power station plant in Cumbria, England; both were commissioned and originally operated by the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority. The primary purpose of both plants was to produce weapons-grade plutonium for the UK's nuclear weapons programme, but they also generated electrical power for the National Grid. Later in the reactors' lifecycle, as the UK slowed the development of the nuclear deterrent as the cold war came to a close, power production became the primary goal of reactor operation.
The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) is a non-departmental public body of the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero formed by the Energy Act 2004. It evolved from the Coal and Nuclear Liabilities Unit of the Department of Trade and Industry. It came into existence during late 2004, and took on its main functions on 1 April 2005. Its purpose is to deliver the decommissioning and clean-up of the UK's civil nuclear legacy in a safe and cost-effective manner, and where possible to accelerate programmes of work that reduce hazard.
Wylfa nuclear power station is a Magnox nuclear power station undergoing decommissioning. Wylfa is situated west of Cemaes Bay on the island of Anglesey, off the northwestern coast of Wales. Construction of the two 490 MW nuclear reactors, known as Reactor 1 and Reactor 2, began in 1963. They became operational in 1971. Wylfa was located on the coast because seawater was used as a coolant.
Sellafield Ltd is a British nuclear decommissioning Site Licence Company (SLC) controlled by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), a UK government body set up specifically to deal with the nuclear legacy under the Energy Act 2004. From 2008–2016, it was operated under licence from the NDA by a third party Parent Body Organisation called Nuclear Management Partners (NMP). Since the termination of the NMP contract it has been brought back under direct governmental control by making it a subsidiary of the NDA.
The Steam Generating Heavy Water Reactor (SGHWR) was a United Kingdom design for commercial nuclear reactors. It uses heavy water as the neutron moderator and normal "light" water as the coolant. The coolant boils in the reactor, like a boiling water reactor, and drives the power-extraction steam turbines.
Nuclear power in the United Kingdom generated 16.1% of the country's electricity in 2020. As of August 2022, the UK has 9 operational nuclear reactors at five locations, producing 5.9 GWe. It also has nuclear reprocessing plants at Sellafield and the Tails Management Facility (TMF) operated by Urenco in Capenhurst.
Nuclear decommissioning is the process leading to the irreversible complete or partial closure of a nuclear facility, usually a nuclear reactor, with the ultimate aim at termination of the operating licence. The process usually runs according to a decommissioning plan, including the whole or partial dismantling and decontamination of the facility, ideally resulting in restoration of the environment up to greenfield status. The decommissioning plan is fulfilled when the approved end state of the facility has been reached.
The Sizewell nuclear site consists of two nuclear power stations, one of which is still operational, located near the small fishing village of Sizewell in Suffolk, England. Sizewell A, with two Magnox reactors, is now in the process of being decommissioned. Sizewell B has a single pressurised water reactor (PWR) and is the UK's newest nuclear power station. A third power station, to consist of twin EPR reactors, is planned to be built as Sizewell C.
Hunterston A nuclear power station is a former Magnox nuclear power station located at Hunterston in Ayrshire, Scotland, adjacent to Hunterston B. The ongoing decommissioning process is being managed by Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) subsidiary Magnox Ltd.
Trawsfynydd nuclear power station is a former Magnox nuclear power station situated in Snowdonia National Park in Gwynedd, Wales. The plant, which became operational in 1965, was the only nuclear power station in the UK to be built inland, with cooling water that was taken from the artificial Llyn Trawsfynydd reservoir which also supplies the hydro-electric Maentwrog power station. It was closed in 1991. Its ongoing decommissioning by Magnox Ltd was expected to take almost 100 years, but in 2021 the Welsh government arranged for the power station to be redeveloped using small-scale reactors.
Magnox Ltd was a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), responsible for the safe decommissioning of 12 British nuclear sites. Originally created for the management of Magnox nuclear reactors, it went through various forms of organisation throughout privatisation of the nuclear industry, until coming into NDA ownership in 2019.
Nucleus, the Nuclear and Caithness Archives is the national archive of the British civil nuclear industry and the archive for the County of Caithness. The archives were constructed by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) and opened in 2017. Work continues at the facility to bring together all of the NDA's archive material from 16 separate sites. The Caithness county archives, dating from 1589 are also held at the site.
Maentwrog power station was built by the North Wales Power Company and supplied electricity to North Wales, Deeside and Cheshire. It exploits the water resources of the Snowdonia mountains, using water turbines to drive electricity alternators. The 24 MW station has been owned by several organisations; since 2004 it has been owned by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. It generates an annual electricity output of 60.6 GWh.
Calder Hall Nuclear Power Station is a former Magnox nuclear power station at Sellafield in Cumbria in North West England. Calder Hall was the world's first full-scale commercial nuclear power station to enter operation, and was the sister plant to the Chapelcross plant in Scotland. Both were commissioned and originally operated by the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority. The primary purpose of both plants was to produce weapons-grade plutonium for the UK's nuclear weapons programme, but they also generated electrical power for the National Grid.
Gwen Parry-Jones is a British engineer and the current CEO of Great British Nuclear. She has previously held a number of key managerial positions at energy companies, including Magnox Ltd and EDF Energy.
