nuclear-news

Decades to clean up former Oldbury nuclear power station?

Final nuclear fuel flask leaves former Oldbury power station, BBC News 8 Jan 16  The last flask of nuclear fuel from the former Oldbury power station reactor has been sent for reprocessing.

The site was shut in 2012 after 44 years of operation, during which it produced 137.5TWh of electricity.

Operators Magnox said the final fuel shipment marked the “end of an era” but added “work was far from complete”.

Oldbury now moves to a decommissioning phase aiming to make the site “safe and secure” and free of radioactive hazard by 2027. Mike Heaton, the site director, said: “It has not been an easy task and the work at Oldbury is far from complete, but today is a significant landmark in the journey towards care and maintenance.”

Each flask carried some 200 fuel elements, and since de-fuelling began four years ago 286 flasks have been taken away from the site to be reprocessed at Sellafield in Cumbria.

This final batch of fuel elements has been in storage in a cooling pond at the site since being removed from the reactor last October. ………http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-bristol-35245781

January 7, 2016 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | general