The Magnox Graduates Programe

Hunterston A

Hunterston A, covering an area of 65 hectares on the scenic North Ayrshire coast, is one of the most advanced decommissioning sites in the country. The site was Scotland's first civil nuclear generating station and, at the time of opening in 1964, the largest in operation anywhere in the world.

Throughout its 25 year operational life Hunterston A generated enough electricity to supply 700,000 homes and featured at or near the top of the World Nuclear Performance charts.

Since generation ceased in 1990, and defuelling of both reactors aws completed in 1995. Site personnel have introduced a range of innovations to accelerate major hazard reduction using value for money solutions. Dismantling, demolition and waste management work is currently ongoing to remove radioactive and non-radioactive plant, buildings and legacy waste residues on Site.

Chapelcross

Chapelcross, located within four miles of the Solway Estuary, is a four-reactor station with eight 30 MW turbines now undergoing early decommissioning.

At full power when operational, the station produced enough electricity to supply every home in South West Scotland, the Borders and Cumbria. Magnox North is the management and operations contractor responsible for the day-to-day operation of the site under contract to the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority.

Wylfa

Wylfa Site is an operational power station on a 20.79 hectare site on the north coast of Anglesey between Holyhead and Amlwch. The site has two Magnox design nuclear reactors and four turbine generators. It meets more than 40% of Wales' electricity needs and on a typical day, the station supplies 23 million kilowatt hours of electricity, enough to meet the needs of a city, twice the size of Liverpool and Manchester combined.

Our primary objective at the site as the tier 1 management and operations contractor is to continue to generate electricity to the national grid for public consumption as well as maximise economic return, while maintaining a safe and secure working environment. At the same time, we are preparing the power station for a seamless transition to the defuelling phase, the start of the power station’s decommissioning programme.

Trawsfynydd

Trawsfynydd decommissioning site, located on a 15.4 hectare site, on the northern bank of an inland lake in the heart of Snowdonia National Park, North Wales, is a twin reactor station now defuelled and being decommissioned. When operational the station produced enough electricity to meet the needs of a city the size of Manchester in the UK. The decommissioning programme on site started in 1993 when defuelling commenced and is progressing well.

Trawsfynydd comprised twin Magnox reactors, a cooling pond building and a multitude of ancillary buildings. Following 26 years of successful generation Trawsfynydd was taken off-line in 1991 for repairs which were deemed to be uneconomic. Defuelling of the reactors commenced in 1993 and was completed 21 months later during 1995, four months ahead of schedule and under budget. This operation saw 99.99% of radioactive material removed from site. Trawsfynydd has been undergoing decommissioning since 1995. Currently working towards the Care and Maintenance Phase in the Life Time Plan, Trawsfynydd is the only UK Magnox Site to be recovering waste from all its waste streams, and the only UK Site to be recovering certain types of waste.

All recovery operations centre around Low-Level and Intermediate-Level legacy wastes, the by-products of the operational phase of the station and are categorised as follows:- Fuel Element Debris (FED), Miscellaneous Activated Components (MAC), Resins, Sludges, Active Waste, Scabbled Ponds materials – there are no high-level wastes at the Site. To house the processed and packaged wastes, an Intermediate Level Waste Store (ILW) has been constructed which was completed in 2008 and commissioned in 2009.

Oldbury

Oldbury power station, located on a 71 hectare site 15 miles north of Bristol on the south bank of the River Severn in South Gloucestershire, is an operating twin reactor station. Since 1967, the station has produced electricity around the clock supplying on a typical day 435MW of electricity - enough to meet the needs of a city one and a half times the size of Bristol. The station with two reactor vessels each containing 26,400 fuel elements draws unlimited supplies of cooling water from the River Severn.

Our primary objective at the site is to continue to generate electricity and maximise income from electricity sales, while maintaining a safe and secure working environment. Work is also underway on the site to ensure a seamless transition to the defuelling phase and the start of the power station’s decommissioning programme.

Berkeley

Berkeley Site in Gloucestershire, is the first commercial nuclear power station in the UK to be decommissioned. Its location on the eastern bank of the UK’s River Severn Estuary was chosen because of its easy access to unlimited supplies of cooling water.

It came into service in 1962 and after 27 years of successful operation - generating enough electricity on a typical day to serve an urban area the size of Bristol - the twin reactor station closed in 1989.The station is now proceeding through a measured and calculated programme of work to decommission the site and Magnox South Ltd is working on behalf of the NDA to manage and progress the work plan on site safely, efficiently and with due care for the environment.

Bradwell

Bradwell Site, located in the South East of England, one and a half miles from the Essex coastline, is a twin Magnox reactor, now undergoing decommissioning following shutdown in March 2002 after 40 years of operation.

The station generated nearly 60 TWh of electricity during its operational life and on a typical day could supply enough electricity to meet the needs of three towns the size of Chelmsford, Colchester and Southend put together.

Hinkley Point A

Hinkley Point A, located on a 19.4 hectare site on the Somerset coast, five miles west of the River Parrett estuary, is a twin reactor station currently being decommissioned. During its 35 years of operation, Hinkley Point A generated more than 103 TWh of electricity, finally ceasing electricity generation in 2000.

Dungeness A

Dungeness A Site occupies about a quarter of a 91 hectare civil nuclear site on the Kent coast in an area of Special Scientific Interest.

Dungeness A ceased generation at the end of 2006 after 40 years of safely supplying electricity to the national grid. As part of the decommissioning process, both Magnox reactors are currently being defuelled with the spent fuel being dispatched to Sellafield in Cumbria for reprocessing.

At the end of decommissioning the area is due to be left as a brownfield site in keeping with the world-renowned shingle peninsula of Dungeness. Magnox South Ltd is working on behalf of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority to manage the work safely, efficiently and with due care for the environment.

Sizewell A

Sizewell A site, located on the Suffolk heritage coast ended 40 years of safe, compliant electrical generation on 31 December 2006. A number of enabling projects are currently taking place as part of the site's Defuelling and Decommissioning preparations.

During the station’s operational lifetime its twin Magnox reactors produced over 110 TWh of electricity. This is enough to continually supply England and Wales for six months. A typical day’s generation saw the station supply more than 10 million kWh of electricity:- enough to serve the demand of a third of East Anglia.

Immediately to the north of Sizewell A is Britain’s newest nuclear power station Sizewell B, which is operated by British Energy.