Calder Hall nuclear power station

Last updated
Calder Hall Nuclear Power Station
Calder Hall nuclear power station, after opening.jpg
Calder Hall nuclear power station, after opening
Calder Hall nuclear power station
CountryEngland
LocationSeascale
Coordinates 54°25′07″N03°29′29″W / 54.41861°N 3.49139°W / 54.41861; -3.49139
Statusin decommissioning
Construction began1953
Commission date 1956
Decommission date2003
Owner(s) Nuclear Decommissioning Authority
Operator(s) Sellafield Ltd
Thermal power station
Primary fuelNuclear
Cooling towers4 (demolished 2007)
Power generation
Units operational4 x 60 MWe (1956–2003)
Make and model C.A. Parsons & Company
UKAEA
Nameplate capacity 240 MWe
Capacity factor 79%
Annual net output 360 GWh
External links
Commons Related media on Commons
[ edit on Wikidata]

grid reference NY034036

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, [1] and was the sister plant to the Chapelcross plant in Scotland. [2] 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.

Contents

Decommissioning by Sellafield Ltd started in 2005. The site is partially demolished and is expected that only the reactor cores and associated radiation shielding will remain by 2027, when it will enter a period of extended care and maintenance using the "safestore" principle, before final demolition.

Description

Fuel loading at Calder Hall power station Calder Hall, fuel loading.jpg
Fuel loading at Calder Hall power station

It was decided by the UK Government to proceed with the civil nuclear power programme in 1952, and construction at Calder Hall began the following year. The station was designed by a team led by Christopher Hinton, Baron Hinton of Bankside,

Calder Hall initially had two cooling towers, with two further added at the opposite end of the power station in 1958 and 1959. [3] Each were 88 metres (289 ft) in height. [4] The four Magnox (magnesium non-oxidising, referring to the alloy used for the fuel element cladding) 180 MWth graphite moderated, carbon dioxide cooled nuclear reactors were fuelled by natural uranium enclosed in magnesium-aluminium alloy cans. [5] The layout was largely emulated at Chapelcross in 1958, [6] though at Calder Hall, the four units are divided by A and B each with their own turbine hall, unlike Chapelcross where all four units share a turbine hall. The Calder Hall and Chapelcross design was codenamed PIPPA (Pressurised Pile Producing Power and Plutonium) by the UKAEA to denote the plant's dual commercial and military role. [7]

The reactors each weighed 33,000 tonnes, had four heat exchangers and 1,696 nuclear fuel channels. 8 x 3,000 rpm turbines, each 75 metres (246 ft) long, 20 metres (66 ft) wide and 25 metres (82 ft) high were installed to generate the electricity. [5] The reactors were supplied by UKAEA, the turbines by C. A. Parsons and Company, and the civil engineering contractor was Taylor Woodrow Construction. [8]

History

Calder Hall was an early development of the existing Windscale site, and due to its size required considerable extension of the site to the south east across the River Calder. It was named after Calder Hall farm, which had farmed the land it was built on, and bridges were built over the River Calder to link to the existing site. It was divided into two operating units, Calder "A" and Calder "B", each having a turbine hall and two cooling towers shared between reactors 1–2, and reactors 3-4 respectively. [9]

Construction began in 1953 [3] and was carried out by Taylor Woodrow Construction and was completed in 1956. [10]

The primary purpose was to produce plutonium for the UK's nuclear weapons programme, for weapons including the WE.177 series. Electricity was always considered to be a by-product. [11]

Calder Hall was officially opened on 17 October 1956 by Queen Elizabeth II. [12] It was initially owned and operated by the Production Group of the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) until the creation of British Nuclear Fuels Limited (BNFL) in 1971. [13] Restructuring by the British government later resulted in a new company, Sellafield Ltd, gaining responsibility for operations of the Sellafield site. [14]

Originally designed for a life of 20 years from respectively 1956-1959, the plant was after 40 years until July 1996 granted an operation licence for a further ten years. [15] Initially, most of the produced heat was used on the site itself for the production of plutonium for nuclear weapons. Its military use, which meant it was shut down for periods of its life, contributed to its long lifetime. Due to embrittlement from years of exposure to radiation, it was decided to close the plant three years sooner than planned. [16]

Closure and decommissioning

The station was closed on 31 March 2003, the first reactor having been in use for nearly 47 years. [17] Decommissioning started in 2005. The cooling towers were demolished by controlled implosions on 29 September 2007. A period of 12 weeks was required to remove asbestos in the towers' rubble. [18] The reactors were fully defueled by 2019 and the spent fuel was taken across the Sellafield site to be reprocessed within the Magnox Reprocessing Plant. It is planned that by 2027 only the four reactor buildings will be left, and they will be dismantled to the point where only the concrete bio-shield that contains the reactor core remains. The site is expected to be in safe storage by 2027 or later, using the "safestore" principle, which utilises an extended period of care and maintenance to reduce overall decommissioning costs. [19] [20] There had been proposals in 2007 for transforming the station into a museum, involving renovating Calder Hall and preserving the cooling towers, but the costs were found to be too high. [21]

Ownership of all of the site's assets and liabilities was transferred to the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), a regulatory body created by the Energy Act 2004. While operations were transferred from BNFL to Sellafield Ltd. [22]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sellafield</span> Nuclear site in Cumbria, England

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.

<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">Great British Nuclear</span> Nuclear energy and fuels company

Great British Nuclear, officially British Nuclear Fuels Ltd 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.

<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 Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dounreay</span> Location of two former nuclear research establishments in northern Scotland

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chapelcross nuclear power station</span> Decommissioned nuclear power plant in Scotland

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nuclear Decommissioning Authority</span> Public body sponsored by the United Kingdom Government

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.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thermal Oxide Reprocessing Plant</span> Waived nuclear fuel reprocessing plant in England, UK

The Thermal Oxide Reprocessing Plant, or THORP, is a nuclear fuel reprocessing plant at Sellafield in Cumbria, England. THORP is owned by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority and operated by Sellafield Ltd.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Magnox Reprocessing Plant</span> Nuclear reprocessing plant at Sellafield

The Magnox Reprocessing Plant is a former nuclear reprocessing facility at Sellafield in northern England, which operated from 1964 to 2022. The plant used PUREX chemistry to extract plutonium and uranium from used nuclear fuel originating primarily from Magnox reactors. The plant was originally constructed and operated by the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA), but in 1971 control was transferred to British Nuclear Fuels Limited (BNFL). Since 2005 the plant has been operated by Sellafield Ltd.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dragon reactor</span> UK experimental HTR, operated from 1965 to 1976

Dragon was an experimental high temperature gas-cooled reactor at Winfrith in Dorset, England, operated by the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA). Its purpose was to test fuel and materials for the European High Temperature Reactor programme, which was exploring the use of tristructural-isotropic (TRISO) fuel and gas cooling for future high-efficiency reactor designs. The project was built and managed as an Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development/Nuclear Energy Agency international project. In total, 13 countries were involved in its design and operation during the project lifetime.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hinkley Point A nuclear power station</span> Decommissioned nuclear power plant in England

Hinkley Point A nuclear power station is a former Magnox nuclear power station. It is located on a 19.4-hectare (48-acre) site in Somerset on the Bristol Channel coast, 5 miles (8 km) west of the River Parrett estuary. The ongoing decommissioning process is being managed by Nuclear Decommissioning Authority licensee Magnox Ltd.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hunterston A nuclear power station</span> Decommissioned nuclear power plant in Scotland

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Springfields</span> Nuclear site in Lancashire, England

Springfields is a nuclear fuel production installation in Salwick, near Preston in Lancashire, England. The site is currently operated by Springfields Fuels Limited, under the management of Westinghouse Electric UK Limited, on a 150-year lease from the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. Since its conversion from a munitions factory in 1946, it has previously been operated and managed by a number of different organisations including the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority and British Nuclear Fuels. Fuel products are produced for the UK's nuclear power stations and for international customers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trawsfynydd nuclear power station</span> Decommissioned nuclear power plant in Wales

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Magnox Ltd</span> Government nuclear decommissioning company in the United Kingdom

Magnox Ltd, currently trading as Nuclear Restoration Services, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), responsible for the safe decommissioning of 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. It rebranded to NRS in October 2023.

Sir John McGregor Hill, was a British nuclear physicist who was chairman of the UK Atomic Energy Authority for 14 years.

References

  1. ↑ Wydler, John. W. (1981). Oversight of Breeder Reactor Development in the United Kingdom. U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 13.
  2. ↑ "Nuclear Power's Crisis of Confidence". New Scientist. Vol. 92, no. 1280. Reed Business Information. 19 November 1981. p. 516. ISSN   0262-4079.
  3. 1 2 "Calder Hall Nuclear Power Station". Engineering-timelines.com. Retrieved 3 October 2022.
  4. ↑ "Going, going, gone: towering icons of nuclear power are reduced to rubble". The Guardian. 30 September 2007. Retrieved 3 October 2022.
  5. 1 2 "Build the world's first commercial nuclear power station". Ice.org.uk. Retrieved 3 October 2022.
  6. ↑ Knowles, P. (July 1958). "Chapelcross Power Station". Nuclear Power. 3. OSTI   4302171.
  7. ↑ "The Nuclear Businesses". Archived from the original on 27 September 2007.
  8. ↑ "Calder Hall Nuclear Power Station". Engineering Times. Archived from the original on 7 March 2012. Retrieved 19 September 2010.
  9. ↑ "Reminiscences of an atom pioneer". H.G. Davey, Works General Manager Windscale and Calder Works 1947-1958. Edited, Margaret Gowing, published Ca 1960 UKAEA, Risley, Lancs.
  10. ↑ Indictment: Power & Politics in the Construction Industry, David Morrell, Faber & Faber, 1987, ISBN   978-0-571-14985-8
  11. ↑ Taylor, Simon (2007). Privatisation and Financial Collapse in the Nuclear Industry. Taylor & Francis. p. 14. ISBN   978-1-134-08348-0.
  12. ↑ "1956: Queen switches on nuclear power". BBC. 17 October 1956. Retrieved 3 October 2022.
  13. ↑ John Barry; E. Gene Frankland (2014). International Encyclopedia of Environmental Politics. Taylor & Francis. p. 416. ISBN   978-1-135-55396-8.
  14. ↑ Plunkett, Jack (2007). Plunkett's Renewable, Alternative and Hydrogen Energy. Plunkett Research. p. 190. ISBN   978-1-59392-100-2.
  15. ↑ Calder Hall Celebrates 40 Years of Operation. BNFL, 1996 (archived)
  16. ↑ First nuclear power plant to close. The Guardian, 21 March 2003
  17. ↑ Brown, Paul (14 April 2003). "First nuclear power plant to close". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 25 October 2021. Retrieved 21 August 2006.
  18. ↑ "Sellafield towers are demolished". BBC News. 29 September 2007. Archived from the original on 25 October 2021. Retrieved 29 September 2007.
  19. ↑ Decommissioning the world's first commercial nuclear power station. NDA, 3 Sep 2019. Archived
  20. ↑ Nuclear Engineering International November 2021
  21. ↑ Feasibility Study with many pictures of the complex: Calder Hall Nuclear Power Station Feasibility Study. NDA/ATKINS, March 2007
  22. ↑ "Energy Act 2004" (PDF). Gov.uk. Retrieved 3 October 2022.
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.