Winfrith
Winfrith nuclear power station | |
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![]() UKAEA sign | |
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Country | United Kingdom |
Location | Winfrith Newburgh,Dorset |
Coordinates | 50°40′55″N2°15′40″W/ 50.682°N 2.261°W |
Status | Decommissioned |
Construction began | 1957 |
Commission date | 1959 |
Decommission date | 2021 |
Operator(s) | UKAEA |
Nuclear power station | |
Reactor type | SGHWR |
Thermal power station | |
Primary fuel | Nuclear |
Power generation | |
Nameplate capacity | 100MW |
External links | |
Website | www |
Commons | Related media on Commons |
grid referenceSY815870 |
Winfrith Atomic Energy Establishment,orAEE Winfrith,was aUnited Kingdom Atomic Energy Authoritysite nearWinfrith NewburghinDorset.It covered an area onWinfrith Heathto the west of the village ofWoolbetween the A352 road and theSouth West Main Line.
Winfrith was set up in order to test a variety of newnuclear reactordesigns with the intention of selecting a new design for power generation and other tasks. The main design built at the site was the demonstrationsteam-generating heavy water reactor(SGHWR) providing power to theNational Grid.A number of smaller designs were also constructed at the site.
The site officially opened with the ZENITH reactor in 1960. SGHWR opened in 1967 and was shut down in 1990. All of the reactors have been shut down and are in various stages of removal. The site is now being re-used for other purposes while decommissioning continues.
Nuclear research
[edit]The initial steps that led to the formation of Winfrith began with the creation of the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (AEA) from the formerAtomic Energy Research Establishment(AERE) in 1954.John Cockcroft,in charge of the Research Group, immediately began pressing for a new site to be set aside for the construction of multiple experimental reactors, with the aim being to try many designs in order to develop the best possible commercial systems. This was opposed byChristopher Hinton,of the Industrial Group, who wanted to pick a single design and focus their energies on that. Cockcroft eventually won the acrimonious argument.[1]
The site in Dorset was selected and led to the formation of the opposition group, the Dorset Land Resources Committee, led byColonel Joseph Weld.The AEA were grantedplanning permissionfor the development byDorset County Council,which was confirmed by a public inquiry, but during the process it was discovered that variousrights of commonmay have existed over the land. In order to enable the development to go ahead as quickly as possible, the government introduced, and Parliament passed, the Winfrith Heath Act 1957, extinguishing any rights of common over the land, and allowing for a compensation process for any commoners whose rights had been extinguished.[2]The AEA acquired 650 acres by compulsory purchase order and another similar size through normal purchases to bring the site to 1,350 acres. To house the staff, they also purchased 153 homes inBournemouthandPoolefor staff to rent, as well as 127 inWeymouth,100 inDorchester,24 inWarehamand 12 inWool.The Durley Hall Hotel at Branksome Chine was bought in 1958 for single staff and temporary accommodation.[3]
Construction began in 1957, and the first low-energy reactor, ZENITH, was completed and in operation by the end of 1959.[4]The site did not officially open until 16 September 1960. This was quickly followed by two new reactors, NESTOR in 1961 and DIMPLE in 1962.[4]Many others followed.[3]Cockcroft also suggested that largerfusion reactorsbe built at Winfrith, but this was met by serious pushback from the scientists involved in the programme. This work instead moved to today'sCulham Centre for Fusion Energy.
Staffing peaked at 2,350 in 1966, but the site slowly wound down and the staff was 1,800 by 1978. The largest reactor at the site (SGHWR), closed in 1990, and the site turned primarily to disposal of nuclear waste. In 1995 the eastern part of the site became the Winfrith Technology Centre, and 218 acres on the western side were decommissioned. The last reactor was shut down in 1995, although decommissioning of the site will not finish till 2021.[5]
Winfrith housed several experimental reactors during its lifetime. There were also impact test facilities, and a used nuclear fuel examination facility with the associated hot cells.
Experimental reactors included:
- ZENITH (Zero Energy High Temperature Reactor) built in 1959. It was a zero-energy reactor which was used to study the physics of high temperature reactors.[6]
- NESTOR (Neutron Source Thermal Reactor) built in 1961. Based on theJASON reactoroperated by theHawker SiddeleyNuclear Power Corporation atLangley, Berkshire.[7]NESTOR was a small research reactor which produced a large amount of neutrons making it a useful tool for investigating the design of power-producing reactors and carrying out sub-critical experiments on core assemblies.[7]
- DIMPLE (Deuterium Moderated Pile of Low Energy) built in 1962. Originally built atHarwellin 1954, Dimple was Britain's first heavy water reactor.[8]It was moved to Winfrith in 1962 and extensively modified and rebuilt for studies of the physics of reactor systems moderated by light or heavy water and by an organic moderator.[9]
- ZEBRA (Zero Energy Breeder Reactor Assembly) built in 1962. Designed for studying the neutron physics of a wide variety of fuel assemblies containing uranium and plutonium.[10]
- HECTOR (Hot Enriched Carbon-moderated Thermal Oscillator Reactor) built in 1963. Designed to examine the suitability of various materials for use in power reactors.[11]
- JUNO, built in 1964. Built from the components of a zero-energy graphite moderated reactor called NERO, and from a sub-critical assembly used for steam generating heavy water reactor investigations, it was used to provide the information needed for the design of small power reactor cores.[12]
- TheDragon reactorwas built in 1964.[4]It was the first power reactor built at Winfrith.[4]It was an experimental reactor built as a European inter-governmental research and development project.[4]It was the first demonstration high-temperaturegas-cooled reactor(HTGR) and had a thermal output of 20MW. It operated until 1976.
Winfrith Steam Generating Heavy Water Reactor
[edit]Design
[edit]The largest reactor at Winfrith was asteam-generating heavy water reactor(SGHWR) commonly known as the Winfrith Reactor.[4]It was designed by theUKAEA,and was intended to combine the features of theCANDU reactorandPWR.[13]The core consisted of a bank of metal pressure tubes (zirconiumalloy) which passed through vertical tubes in a tank ofheavy watermoderator– allowing the designers to do without the pressure vessel that normally contained the reactor's core.[14]The pressure tubes contained the fuel which was cooled by a flow of light water up the tubes, generating steam.[14]The fuel was slightlyenriched uranium.[14]The power level was varied by the level of the moderator.[15]The reactor exported up to 100MW of electric power to theNational Grid.[14]For many years it was the largest water cooled reactor in the United Kingdom.[4]
History
[edit]Construction of the reactor began in 1963.[4]It began operating in 1967,[15]and was notable for being built within the allotted timescale (four years), and for being under-budget.[16]It was built as a demonstration reactor,[15]with the intention of building a series of commercial reactors based on the design.[13]However, the SGHWR design was never advanced beyond the prototype at Winfrith,[15]and the design was sidelined in favour ofAGR reactors.[13]The Winfrith reactor was shut down in 1990.[15]
The site today
[edit]The site is now split between the nuclear licensed site, the extensiveDorset Green Technology Park(formerly Winfrith Technology Centre) and the headquarters of theDorset Police.
Ownership of the Winfrith Nuclear site has now passed to the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA). The site is managed byMagnox Limited,[5]who are contracted to deliver the site decommissioning programme. In 2022 over 1000 drums ofradioactive wastefrom the Steam-Generating Heavy Water Reactor will be transported by 11 trains to theLow Level Waste Repository.The material was onceintermediate-level wastebut had decayed down tolow-level wastewhile being stored at Winfrith.[17]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]Citations
[edit]- ^Crowley-Milling 1993,p. 67.
- ^Mr. Reginald Maudling, The Paymaster-General (30 May 1957)."Winfrith Heath Bill".Parliamentary Debates (Hansard).United Kingdom: House of Commons. col. 621-684.
- ^abSlade 2015.
- ^abcdefghM S Barents (2000). "Decommissioning the Winfrith technology centre - Environmental Restoration with a Purpose".WM'00 Conference, February 27 - March 2, 2000, Tucson, AZ.
- ^ab"Research Sites Restoration Limited website".Archived fromthe originalon 15 September 2000.Retrieved5 March2009.
- ^"Southern Graduates visit Winfrith".The Chartered Mechanical Engineer.7–8.Mechanical Engineering Publications Limited: 462. 1960.
- ^ab"The Rise of the Argonauts".New Scientist.6(159): 1109. 3 December 1959.
- ^"Atomic energy abroad".Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.10–11: 333. 1954.
- ^"Steam Generating Heavy Water Reactor".The Indian & Eastern Engineer.117:111. 1975.
- ^"Zebra at Winfrith".Electronics and Power.6.Institution of Electrical Engineers: 480. 1960.
- ^"Atomic Reactor Research".Mechanical Engineering: The Journal of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.85.American Society of Mechanical Engineers: 70. 1963.
- ^"New AEA Reactor".The Electrical Review.174.Electrical Review, Limited: 68. 1964.
- ^abcBurton, Bob (1990).Nuclear Power, Pollution and Politics.Routledge. pp.38–9.ISBN041503065X.
- ^abcdKenward, Michael (17 August 1972). "Britain's nuclear options".New Scientist:334.
- ^abcdeWood, Janet (2006).Nuclear Power.Institution of Engineering and Technology. pp.38–9.ISBN0863416683.
- ^Burton, Bob (1990).Nuclear Power, Pollution and Politics.Routledge. p.123.ISBN041503065X.
- ^"Rail transfer landmark for UK waste disposal project".World Nuclear News. 28 March 2022.Retrieved28 March2022.
Bibliography
[edit]- Crowley-Milling, M. C. (1993).John Bertram Adams, Engineer Extraordinary.Taylor & Francis.
- Slade, Darren (2 December 2015)."When Winfrith was at the cutting edge of nuclear power".Dorset Echo.
- Fry, Peter (2015).Remembering AEE Winfrith.Amberley Publishing.
External links
[edit]Media related toWinfrith nuclear power stationat Wikimedia Commons
- Energy infrastructure completed in 1959
- Former nuclear research institutes
- Nuclear technology in the United Kingdom
- Former nuclear power stations in England
- Nuclear research institutes in the United Kingdom
- Nuclear weapons infrastructure of the United Kingdom
- Organisations based in Dorset
- Science and technology in Dorset
- 1959 establishments in England