U.K.'s Magnox Nuclear Reactors at 980-Megawatt Wylfa Station to be Decommissioned after 2010

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The 980-megawatt (MW) Wylfa Power Station in north Wales is expected to start the decommissioning process in 2010. The plant, which entered commercial operation in 1971, is currently owned by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), a public entity created in 2004 to manage the decommissioning and clean-up of first-generation nuclear power stations in the U.K. Wylfa is operated by Magnox North, a subsidiary of Magnox Electric Limited.

The facility is currently one of two U.K. nuclear sites equipped with two Magnox reactors that are still operational and is one of two of the 11 sites owned by the NDA currently generating electricity. These carbon-dioxide-cooled reactors are considered the precursors of modern gas-cooled reactors. They were built in the 1950s and 1960s and were the first nuclear facilities to produce commercial electricity in the U.K. The reactors had an expected commercial life of 20 to 25 years.

Wylfa I and Wylfa II, which represent the last phase of the Magnox design, each have a net capacity of 490 MW and are equipped with two turbo-generators. At present, Block 2's steam turbines are undergoing a biennial overhaul, which is expected to be completed in the first week of August.

With the decommissioning of the last two operational Magnox reactor sites, Wylfa and Olbury, a new phase for the country's nuclear energy program will begin. As officially expressed by the government earlier this year, a nuclear reactivation plan will be implemented, and new foreign investors, such as French state-owned EDF, the world biggest nuclear electricity producer, will be participating in the acquisition of 39 % of state-owned British Energy.

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