Oldbury power station closes

Oldbury power station, near Bristol, was finally switched off yesterday after 44 years of power generation. Reactor One’s shut-down follows the closure last June of Reactor Two. 

Since it opened in 1967, Oldbury’s twin reactors have generated 137.5 TWh of electricity - enough to power one million home for over 20 years.

Originally scheduled to stop generating in 2008, the site’s owner, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), took the decision to extend Oldbury’s operating life following reviews with the regulators. The site is operated by Magnox Ltd, which is owned by EnergySolutions.

Oldbury was the first nuclear site to have a concrete pressure vessel. It is one of 11 Magnox power stations in the UK and the first in the world to generate electricity on a commercial scale.  Ten are now closed and in various stages of decommissioning, with only Wylfa on Anglesey still operating.

Oldbury and Wylfa are both named as potential sites for new reactors in the government’s nuclear national policy statement. The Horizon consortium has said that it intends to build at least 6GW of new nuclear capacity at those sites.

and is the world’s oldest operating nuclear reactor.  During its lifetime, Oldbury has starred in several television shows, including Doctor Who and Blake 7, and even featured on Top of the Pops when the group Slade recorded a performance for the show on the pile cap.

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