Advanced Gas-cooled Reactor (AGR)

Torness nuclear power station

Posted Mon, 27/09/2010 - 9:39pm by admin

Torness nuclear power station was the last of the United Kingdom's second generation nuclear power plants to be commissioned. Construction of this facility began in 1980 and it was commissioned in 1988. Torness nuclear power station is located approximately 30 miles east of the city of Edinburgh at Torness Point near Dunbar in East Lothian, Scotland.

Source: Wikipedia

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Hunterston nuclear power station

Posted Mon, 27/09/2010 - 9:36pm by admin

Hunterston A nuclear power station was a Magnox power station located at Hunterston in Ayrshire, Scotland, adjacent to Hunterston B and is currently being decommissioned.

Hunterston A closed in 1990, with Reactor 2 shutting down on 31 December 1989 and Reactor 1 on 31 March 1990.

Hunterston B consists of two AGR reactors of 1215MW in total. In 2007 the reactors were restricted to operating at a reduced level of around 70% of full output (around 850 MWe net). Subsequent work during maintenance shutdowns have resulted in Reactor 3 operating at around 75% (460Mwe net) in early 2011, and Reactor 4 at around 71% (430 MWe net). In total this equates to around 980MWe gross.

The graphite moderator core in each of the twin advanced gas-cooled reactors (AGR) at Hunterston B has recently developed structural problems in the form of cracking of the bricks.

Hunterston B is currently scheduled to be decommissioned in 2016.

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Heysham nuclear power station

Posted Mon, 27/09/2010 - 9:34pm by admin

Heysham Power Station is a nuclear power station located in Heysham, Lancashire, England, operated by British Energy. The site is divided into two separately-managed stations, Heysham 1 and Heysham 2, both of the advanced gas-cooled reactor (AGR) type, with two reactors each. In January 2009, EDF Energy bought out British Energy, and the Heysham sites have now been made into EDF Energy existing nuclear sites.

On 18 October 2010 the British government announced that Heysham was one of the eight sites it considered suitable for future nuclear power stations.

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Hartlepool nuclear power station

Posted Mon, 27/09/2010 - 9:32pm by admin

Hartlepool power station is a nuclear power station situated on the northern bank of the mouth of the River Tees, 2.5 mi (4.0 km) south of Hartlepool in County Durham, North East England. The station has a net electrical output of 1,190 megawatts.

Electricity is produced through the use of two advanced gas-cooled reactors (AGR).

The power station was originally expected to shut down in 2009, but was given permission by the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII) for an extension of five years in 2007, meaning that it can continue to generate until 2014. In 2010, the lifetime was further extended by another five years, so that generation can continue until 2019.

In July 2008, the plant's then operator British Energy, suggested that the site would be a good location for a replacement nuclear power station. Then a year later in July 2009, the UK government named Hartlepool on a list of eleven sites in England and Wales, where new nuclear power stations could be built. On 9 November 2009, the government announced that ten of these sites, including Hartlepool, had been given the go-ahead for the construction of new reactors.

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Calder Hall and Sellafield nuclear power station and factory

Posted Mon, 27/09/2010 - 9:25pm by admin

Sellafield (formerly known as Windscale) is a nuclear processing and former electricity generating site, close to the village of Seascale on the coast of the Irish Sea in Cumbria, England.

Facilities at the site include the THORP nuclear fuel reprocessing plant and the Magnox nuclear fuel reprocessing plant. It is also the site of the remains of Calder Hall, the world's first commercial nuclear power station, now being decommissioned, as well as some other older nuclear facilities.

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