Oldbury Nuclear Plant in U.K. Avoids Closure

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--The Oldbury nuclear power plant (NPP) in the U.K. has won another stay of execution and will continue generating power for an additional 18 months.

The U.K.'s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) announced that reactor No. 1 at Oldbury, which is situated on the bank of the Severn River in South Gloucestershire, England, has been cleared to operate until the end of 2012. The site is operated by Magnox Limited (Warrington, England), which runs 10 nuclear sites across the country, and the extension will allow it to use up the remaining fuel already there.

In February this year, the 217-megawatt (MW) Oldbury 2 reactor received an extension to continue generating power until June 30 when it was due to close down with Oldbury 1. Oldbury 2 is still scheduled to close at the end of the month, according to the NDA. For additional information, see October 14, 2010, article - Oldbury 2 Nuclear Plant Gets Life Extension.

"Oldbury's continued generation is good news as it ensures further benefit from one of the NDA's valuable assets," commented Brian Burnett, the NDA's Head of Programme. "The income generated over the extension period will be utilised to support our clean-up mission."

Phil Sprague, Oldbury Site Director, added: "As a result of excellent operation and maintenance by our experienced staff, the plant and equipment are in very good condition. We have worked hard with each of our regulators, and they have no objection to extended generation. We are pleased that this work has been successful and that we will continue to contribute to the country's electricity supply, as we have done for the last 43 years."

Oldbury is already lined up for a new, much larger nuclear plant once the old reactors are taken offline. Horizon Nuclear Power (Gloucester, England), a joint venture between the U.K. subsidiaries of energy majors RWE AG (OTC:RWEOY) (Essen, Germany) and E.ON AG (OTC:EONGY) (Dusseldorf, Germany), plans to build a nuclear plant there with a generating capacity of about 3,300 MW.

Last October, the Wylfa nuclear power plant in Wales received a two year operational lifeline, allowing it to generate until at least 2012. For additional information, see October 14, 2010, article - Welsh Nuclear Plant Gets Two-Year Lifeline.

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