Winfrith

Last updated

Winfrith nuclear power station
Winfrith - geograph.org.uk - 294818.jpg
UKAEA sign
Winfrith
CountryUnited Kingdom
Location Winfrith Newburgh, Dorset
Coordinates 50°40′55″N2°15′40″W / 50.682°N 2.261°W / 50.682; -2.261 Coordinates: 50°40′55″N2°15′40″W / 50.682°N 2.261°W / 50.682; -2.261
StatusDecommissioned
Construction began1957
Commission date 1959
Decommission date2021
Operator(s) UKAEA
Nuclear power station
Reactor type SGHWR
Thermal power station
Primary fuelNuclear
Power generation
Nameplate capacity 100 MW
External links
Website www.ukaea.org.uk/sites/winfrith_site.htm
Commons Related media on Commons
[ edit on Wikidata]

grid reference SY815870

Winfrith Atomic Energy Establishment, or AEE Winfrith, was a United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority site near Winfrith Newburgh in Dorset. It covered an area on Winfrith Heath to the west of the village of Wool between the A352 road and the South West Main Line.

Contents

Winfrith was set up in order to test a variety of new nuclear reactor designs with the intention of selecting a new design for power generation and other tasks. The main design built at the site was the demonstration steam-generating heavy water reactor (SGHWR) providing power to the National Grid. A number of smaller designs were also constructed at the site.

The site officially opened with the ZENITH reactor in 1960. SGHWR opened in 1967 and was shut down in 1990. All of the reactors have been shut down and are in various stages of removal. The site is now being re-used for other purposes while decommissioning continues.

Nuclear research

The initial steps that led to the formation of Winfrith began with the creation of the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (AEA) from the former Atomic Energy Research Establishment (AERE) in 1954. John Cockcroft, in charge of the Research Group, immediately began pressing for a new site to be set aside for the construction of multiple experimental reactors, with the aim being to try many designs in order to develop the best possible commercial systems. This was opposed by Christopher Hinton, of the Industrial Group, who wanted to pick a single design and focus their energies on that. Cockcroft eventually won the acrimonious argument. [1]

The site in Dorset was selected and led to the formation of the opposition group, the Dorset Land Resources Committee, led by Colonel Joseph Weld. The AEA were granted planning permission for the development by Dorset County Council, which was confirmed by a public inquiry, but during the process it was discovered that various rights of common may have existed over the land. In order to enable the development to go ahead as quickly as possible, the government introduced, and Parliament passed, the Winfrith Heath Act 1957, extinguishing any rights of common over the land, and allowing for a compensation process for any commoners whose rights had been extinguished. [2] The AEA acquired 650 acres by compulsory purchase order and another similar size through normal purchases to bring the site to 1,350 acres. To house the staff, they also purchased 153 homes in Bournemouth and Poole for staff to rent, as well as 127 in Weymouth, 100 in Dorchester, 24 in Wareham and 12 in Wool. The Durley Hall Hotel at Branksome Chine was bought in 1958 for single staff and temporary accommodation. [3]

Construction began in 1957, and the first low-energy reactor, ZENITH, was completed and in operation by the end of 1959. [4] The site did not officially open until 16 September 1960. This was quickly followed by two new reactors, NESTOR in 1961 and DIMPLE in 1962. [4] Many others followed. [3] Cockcroft also suggested that larger fusion reactors be built at Winfrith, but this was met by serious pushback from the scientists involved in the programme. This work instead moved to today's Culham Centre for Fusion Energy.

Staffing peaked at 2,350 in 1966, but the site slowly wound down and the staff was 1,800 by 1978. The largest reactor at the site (SGHWR), closed in 1990, and the site turned primarily to disposal of nuclear waste. In 1995 the eastern part of the site became the Winfrith Technology Centre, and 218 acres on the western side were decommissioned. The last reactor was shut down in 1995, although decommissioning of the site will not finish till 2021. [5]

Winfrith housed several experimental reactors during its lifetime. There were also impact test facilities, and a used nuclear fuel examination facility with the associated hot cells.

Experimental reactors included:

Winfrith Steam Generating Heavy Water Reactor

Design

The largest reactor at Winfrith was a steam-generating heavy water reactor (SGHWR) commonly known as the Winfrith Reactor. [4] It was designed by the UKAEA, and was intended to combine the features of the CANDU reactor and PWR. [13] The core consisted of a bank of metal pressure tubes (zirconium alloy) which passed through vertical tubes in a tank of heavy water moderator – allowing the designers to do without the pressure vessel that normally contained the reactor's core. [14] The pressure tubes contained the fuel which was cooled by a flow of light water up the tubes, generating steam. [14] The fuel was slightly enriched uranium. [14] The power level was varied by the level of the moderator. [15] The reactor exported up to 100 MW of electric power to the National Grid. [14] For many years it was the largest water cooled reactor in the United Kingdom. [4]

History

Construction of the reactor began in 1963. [4] It began operating in 1967, [15] and was notable for being built within the allotted timescale (four years), and for being under-budget. [16] It was built as a demonstration reactor, [15] with the intention of building a series of commercial reactors based on the design. [13] However, the SGHWR design was never advanced beyond the prototype at Winfrith, [15] and the design was sidelined in favour of AGR reactors. [13] The Winfrith reactor was shut down in 1990. [15]

The site today

The site is now split between the nuclear licensed site, the extensive Dorset Green Technology Park (formerly Winfrith Technology Centre) and the headquarters of the Dorset Police.

Ownership of the Winfrith Nuclear site has now passed to the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA). The site is managed by Magnox Limited, [5] who are contracted to deliver the site decommissioning programme. In 2022 over 1000 drums of radioactive waste from the Steam-Generating Heavy Water Reactor will be transported by 11 trains to the Low Level Waste Repository. The material was once intermediate-level waste but had decayed down to low-level waste while being stored at Winfrith. [17]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CANDU reactor</span> Canadian heavy water nuclear reactor design

The CANDU is a Canadian pressurized heavy-water reactor design used to generate electric power. The acronym refers to its deuterium oxide moderator and its use of uranium fuel. CANDU reactors were first developed in the late 1950s and 1960s by a partnership between Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL), the Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario, Canadian General Electric, and other companies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nuclear reactor</span> Device used to initiate and control a nuclear chain reaction

A nuclear reactor is a device used to initiate and control a fission nuclear chain reaction or nuclear fusion reactions. Nuclear reactors are used at nuclear power plants for electricity generation and in nuclear marine propulsion. Heat from nuclear fission is passed to a working fluid, which in turn runs through steam turbines. These either drive a ship's propellers or turn electrical generators' shafts. Nuclear generated steam in principle can be used for industrial process heat or for district heating. Some reactors are used to produce isotopes for medical and industrial use, or for production of weapons-grade plutonium. As of 2022, the International Atomic Energy Agency reports there are 422 nuclear power reactors and 223 nuclear research reactors in operation around the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pebble-bed reactor</span> Type of very-high-temperature reactor

The pebble-bed reactor (PBR) is a design for a graphite-moderated, gas-cooled nuclear reactor. It is a type of very-high-temperature reactor (VHTR), one of the six classes of nuclear reactors in the Generation IV initiative.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neutron moderator</span> Substance that slows down particles with no electric charge

In nuclear engineering, a neutron moderator is a medium that reduces the speed of fast neutrons, ideally without capturing any, leaving them as thermal neutrons with only minimal (thermal) kinetic energy. These thermal neutrons are immensely more susceptible than fast neutrons to propagate a nuclear chain reaction of uranium-235 or other fissile isotope by colliding with their atomic nucleus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nuclear power plant</span> Thermal power station where the heat source is a nuclear reactor

A nuclear power plant (NPP) is a thermal power station in which the heat source is a nuclear reactor. As is typical of thermal power stations, heat is used to generate steam that drives a steam turbine connected to a generator that produces electricity. As of 2022, the International Atomic Energy Agency reported there were 422 nuclear power reactors in operation in 32 countries around the world, and 57 nuclear power reactors under construction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Breeder reactor</span> Nuclear reactor generating more fissile material than it consumes

A breeder reactor is a nuclear reactor that generates more fissile material than it consumes. Breeder reactors achieve this because their neutron economy is high enough to create more fissile fuel than they use, by irradiation of a fertile material, such as uranium-238 or thorium-232, that is loaded into the reactor along with fissile fuel. Breeders were at first found attractive because they made more complete use of uranium fuel than light water reactors, but interest declined after the 1960s as more uranium reserves were found, and new methods of uranium enrichment reduced fuel costs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Atomic Energy Research Establishment</span> Former UK nuclear power research and development site

The Atomic Energy Research Establishment (AERE) was the main centre for atomic energy research and development in the United Kingdom from 1946 to the 1990s. It was created, owned and funded by the British Government.

NRX was a heavy-water-moderated, light-water-cooled, nuclear research reactor at the Canadian Chalk River Laboratories, which came into operation in 1947 at a design power rating of 10 MW (thermal), increasing to 42 MW by 1954. At the time of its construction, it was Canada's most expensive science facility and the world's most powerful nuclear research reactor. NRX was remarkable both in terms of its heat output and the number of free neutrons it generated. When a nuclear reactor is operating its nuclear chain reaction generates many free neutrons, and in the late 1940s NRX was the most intense neutron source in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Magnox</span> Type of nuclear reactor

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority</span> UK government research organisation

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 Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bhabha Atomic Research Centre</span> Nuclear research facility in Mumbai, India

The Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) is India's premier nuclear research facility, headquartered in Trombay, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. It was founded by Homi Jehangir Bhabha as the Atomic Energy Establishment, Trombay (AEET) in January 1954 as a multidisciplinary research program essential for India's nuclear program. It operates under the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), which is directly overseen by the Prime Minister of India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aqueous homogeneous reactor</span> Type of nuclear reactor

Aqueous homogeneous reactors (AHR) are a type of nuclear reactor in which soluble nuclear salts are dissolved in water. The fuel is mixed with the coolant and the moderator, thus the name "homogeneous". The water can be either heavy water or ordinary (light) water, both of which need to be very pure.

Generation IV reactors are six nuclear reactor designs recognized by the Generation IV International Forum. The designs target improved safety, sustainability, efficiency, and cost.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gas-cooled fast reactor</span> Type of nuclear reactor cooled by a gas

The gas-cooled fast reactor (GFR) system is a nuclear reactor design which is currently in development. Classed as a Generation IV reactor, it features a fast-neutron spectrum and closed fuel cycle for efficient conversion of fertile uranium and management of actinides. The reference reactor design is a helium-cooled system operating with an outlet temperature of 850 °C using a direct Brayton closed-cycle gas turbine for high thermal efficiency. Several fuel forms are being considered for their potential to operate at very high temperatures and to ensure an excellent retention of fission products: composite ceramic fuel, advanced fuel particles, or ceramic clad elements of actinide compounds. Core configurations are being considered based on pin- or plate-based fuel assemblies or prismatic blocks, which allows for better coolant circulation than traditional fuel assemblies.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Graphite-moderated reactor</span> Type of nuclear reactor

A graphite-moderated reactor is a nuclear reactor that uses carbon as a neutron moderator, which allows natural uranium to be used as nuclear fuel.

Dragon was an experimental high temperature gas-cooled reactor at Winfrith in Dorset, England, operated by the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority. Its purpose was to test fuel and materials for the European High Temperature Reactor programme, and it was built and managed as an Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development/Nuclear Energy Agency international project. It operated from 1965 to 1976.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carolinas–Virginia Tube Reactor</span> Decommissioned experimental pressurized water reactor in South Carolina, US

Carolinas–Virginia Tube Reactor (CVTR), also known as Parr Nuclear Station, was an experimental pressurized tube heavy water nuclear power reactor at Parr, South Carolina in Fairfield County. It was built and operated by the Carolinas Virginia Nuclear Power Associates. CVTR was a small test reactor, capable of generating 17 megawatts of electricity. It was officially commissioned in December 1963 and left service in January 1967.

A gas-cooled reactor (GCR) is a nuclear reactor that uses graphite as a neutron moderator and a gas as coolant. Although there are many other types of reactor cooled by gas, the terms GCR and to a lesser extent gas cooled reactor are particularly used to refer to this type of reactor.

The EGP-6 is a Russian small nuclear reactor design. It is a scaled down version of the RBMK design. As the RBMK, the EGP-6 uses water for cooling and graphite as a neutron moderator. EGP is a Russian acronym but translated into English stand for Power Heterogenous Loop reactor. It is the world's smallest running commercial nuclear reactor, however smaller reactors are currently in development. The EGP-6 reactors are the only reactors to be built on perma-frost.

References

Citations

  1. ↑ Crowley-Milling 1993, p. 67.
  2. ↑ Mr. Reginald Maudling, The Paymaster-General (30 May 1957). "Winfrith Heath Bill". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard) . United Kingdom: House of Commons. col. 621-684.
  3. 1 2 Slade 2015.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 M S Barents (2000). "Decommissioning the Winfrith technology centre - Environmental Restoration with a Purpose". WM'00 Conference, February 27 - March 2, 2000, Tucson, AZ.
  5. 1 2 "Research Sites Restoration Limited website". Archived from the original on 15 September 2000. Retrieved 5 March 2009.
  6. ↑ "Southern Graduates visit Winfrith". The Chartered Mechanical Engineer. Mechanical Engineering Publications Limited. 7–8: 462. 1960.
  7. 1 2 "The Rise of the Argonauts". New Scientist. 6 (159): 1109. 3 December 1959.
  8. ↑ "Atomic energy abroad". Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. 10–11: 333. 1954.
  9. ↑ "Steam Generating Heavy Water Reactor". The Indian & Eastern Engineer. 117: 111. 1975.
  10. ↑ "Zebra at Winfrith". Electronics and Power. Institution of Electrical Engineers. 6: 480. 1960.
  11. ↑ "Atomic Reactor Research". Mechanical Engineering: The Journal of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. American Society of Mechanical Engineers. 85: 70. 1963.
  12. ↑ "New AEA Reactor". The Electrical Review. Electrical Review, Limited. 174: 68. 1964.
  13. 1 2 3 Burton, Bob (1990). Nuclear Power, Pollution and Politics . Routledge. pp.  38–9. ISBN   041503065X.
  14. 1 2 3 4 Kenward, Michael (17 August 1972). "Britain's nuclear options". New Scientist: 334.
  15. 1 2 3 4 5 Wood, Janet (2006). Nuclear Power . Institution of Engineering and Technology. pp.  38–9. ISBN   0863416683.
  16. ↑ Burton, Bob (1990). Nuclear Power, Pollution and Politics . Routledge. p.  123. ISBN   041503065X.
  17. ↑ "Rail transfer landmark for UK waste disposal project". World Nuclear News. 28 March 2022. Retrieved 28 March 2022.

Bibliography

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.