![Wylfa nuclear power station, from above](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c2/Wylfa_nuclear_power_station%2C_from_above.jpg)
Wylfa nuclear power station ( cy, Atomfa'r Wylfa) is a
Magnox
Magnox is a type of nuclear power/production reactor that was designed to run on natural uranium with graphite as the moderator and carbon dioxide gas as the heat exchange coolant. It belongs to the wider class of gas-cooled reactors. The n ...
nuclear power station
A nuclear power plant (NPP) is a thermal power station in which the heat source is a nuclear reactor. As is typical of thermal power stations, heat is used to generate steam that drives a steam turbine connected to a generator that produces elec ...
undergoing
decommissioning
Decommissioning is a general term for a formal process to remove something from an active status, and may refer to:
Infrastructure
* Decommissioned offshore
* Decommissioned highway
* Greenfield status of former industrial sites
* Nuclear decommi ...
. Wylfa is situated west of
Cemaes Bay
Cemaes () is a village on the north coast of Anglesey in Wales, sited on Cemaes Bay, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty which is partly owned by the National Trust. It is the most northerly village in Wales (excluding the nearby hamlet of L ...
on the island of
Anglesey
Anglesey (; cy, (Ynys) Môn ) is an island off the north-west coast of Wales. It forms a principal area known as the Isle of Anglesey, that includes Holy Island across the narrow Cymyran Strait and some islets and skerries. Anglesey island ...
, off the northwestern coast of
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
. Construction of the two 490MW nuclear reactors, known as Reactor 1 and Reactor 2, began in 1963. They became operational in 1971. Wylfa was located on the coast because seawater was used as a coolant.
In 2012, Reactor 2 was shut down. Reactor 1 was switched off on 30 December 2015, ending 44 years of operation at the site.
Wylfa Newydd (literally New Wylfa) was a proposed new nuclear station on a site adjacent to the old plant. An application to build two
advanced boiling water reactor
The advanced boiling water reactor (ABWR) is a Generation III boiling water reactor. The ABWR is currently offered by GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH) and Toshiba. The ABWR generates electrical power by using steam to power a turbine connected ...
s was submitted by
Horizon Nuclear Power
Horizon Nuclear Power is a British Energy industry, energy company that was expected to build new nuclear power stations in the United Kingdom. It was established in 2009, with its head office in Gloucester, and is now owned by Hitachi.
On 17 Ja ...
to the
on 4 April 2017. , parent company Hitachi has withdrawn from the project. In 2022, the UK parliament expressed interests about the construction of a possible set of two
EPR reactors on the site.
History
Wylfa was the second nuclear power station to be built in Wales after
Trawsfynydd
Trawsfynydd (; Welsh for "across hemountain") is a linear village in Gwynedd, Wales, near Llyn Trawsfynydd reservoir, and adjacent to the A470 north of Bronaber and Dolgellau and 10 km (6 miles) south of Blaenau Ffestiniog.
The total com ...
in 1959. Following the closure of Trawsfynydd in 1991, Wylfa became Wales' only nuclear power station.
Construction of Wylfa, which was undertaken by British Nuclear Design & Construction (BNDC), a consortium backed by
English Electric
N.º UIC: 9094 110 1449-3 (Takargo Rail)
The English Electric Company Limited (EE) was a British industrial manufacturer formed after the Armistice of 11 November 1918, armistice of World War I by amalgamating five businesses which, during th ...
,
Babcock & Wilcox Ltd
Babcock International Group plc is a British aerospace, defence and nuclear engineering services company based in London, England. It specialises in managing complex assets and infrastructure. Although the company has civil contracts, its main b ...
and
Taylor Woodrow Construction
Taylor Woodrow Construction, branded as Taylor Woodrow, is a UK-based civil engineering contractor and one of four operating divisions of Vinci Construction UK. The business was launched in 2011, combining civil engineering operations from the ...
, began in 1963. The reactors were supplied by The Nuclear Power Group (TNPG) and the turbines by
English Electric
N.º UIC: 9094 110 1449-3 (Takargo Rail)
The English Electric Company Limited (EE) was a British industrial manufacturer formed after the Armistice of 11 November 1918, armistice of World War I by amalgamating five businesses which, during th ...
. These were the largest and last Magnox-type reactors to be built in the UK. Wylfa was also the second British nuclear power station, following
Oldbury, to have a pre-stressed concrete pressure vessel instead of steel for easier construction and enhanced safety.
Wylfa's two 490
MW Magnox
Magnox is a type of nuclear power/production reactor that was designed to run on natural uranium with graphite as the moderator and carbon dioxide gas as the heat exchange coolant. It belongs to the wider class of gas-cooled reactors. The n ...
nuclear reactor
A nuclear reactor is a device used to initiate and control a fission nuclear chain reaction or nuclear fusion reactions. Nuclear reactors are used at nuclear power plants for electricity generation and in nuclear marine propulsion. Heat from nu ...
s, Reactor 1 and Reactor 2 became operational in 1971.
They typically supplied 23
GW h of electricity daily when they were both in service.
Although the original design output was 1,190MW, unexpected accelerated ("breakaway") corrosion of
mild steel
Carbon steel is a steel with carbon content from about 0.05 up to 2.1 percent by weight. The definition of carbon steel from the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) states:
* no minimum content is specified or required for chromium, cobalt ...
components of the gas circuit in hot
was detected even before the first reactor began operating. The channel gas outlet temperature, the temperature at which the leaves the fuel channels in the reactor core, had to be reduced, initially dropping the power output to 840MW, which was later raised to 980MW as more experience accumulated. A considerable portion of the output, up to 255MW, was consumed by the nearby
Anglesey Aluminium
Anglesey Aluminium was a joint venture between Rio Tinto and Kaiser Aluminum. Its aluminium smelter, located on the outskirts of Holyhead, was one of the largest employers in North Wales, with 540 staff members, and began to produce aluminium i ...
smelting plant.
The graphite cores each weigh ; 6,156 vertical fuel channels contain 49,248 natural uranium
magnox
Magnox is a type of nuclear power/production reactor that was designed to run on natural uranium with graphite as the moderator and carbon dioxide gas as the heat exchange coolant. It belongs to the wider class of gas-cooled reactors. The n ...
-clad fuel elements, hence the name magnox reactor. A further 200 channels allow
boron
Boron is a chemical element with the symbol B and atomic number 5. In its crystalline form it is a brittle, dark, lustrous metalloid; in its amorphous form it is a brown powder. As the lightest element of the ''boron group'' it has th ...
control rods to enter the reactor and control the nuclear reaction. The primary coolant in the reactors is
carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide (chemical formula ) is a chemical compound made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in the gas state at room temperature. In the air, carbon dioxide is transpar ...
gas.
The site is managed by
Magnox Ltd
Magnox Ltd is a nuclear decommissioning Site Licence Company (SLC) under the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), a government body set up specifically to deal with the nuclear legacy under the Energy Act 2004. In September 2019, it became a ...
, formerly Magnox North, formerly British Nuclear Group, formerly Magnox Electric, formerly Nuclear Electric, formerly National Power, formerly the Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB); which is a subsidiary of the site owner, the
Nuclear Decommissioning Authority
The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) is a non-departmental public body of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, formed by the Energy Act 2004. It evolved from the Coal and Nuclear Liabilities Unit of the Department o ...
(NDA). The NDA's purpose is to oversee the decommissioning and clean-up of the UK's civil nuclear legacy.
During its operational life substantial works were needed to strengthen the reactors against deteriorating welds discovered in the safety review in April 2000. Amid public controversy, Greenpeace issued an independent safety appraisal, commissioned a report from Large Associates, critical of the plant and its restart plans, but the permit to restart operation was given in August 2001. In addition to welding weaknesses, radiolytic depletion of the graphite moderator blocks was still of concern and PAWB continue to campaign for early shut-down of the plant as well as against any nuclear replacement.
Closure and decommissioning
On 20 July 2006, the NDA announced that the station would be shut down in 2010 to enable the closure and decommissioning of the Magnox spent fuel reprocessing plant at
Sellafield
Sellafield is a large multi-function nuclear site close to Seascale on the coast of Cumbria, England. As of August 2022, primary activities are nuclear waste processing and storage and nuclear decommissioning. Former activities included nucle ...
.
Springfields Fuels Limited ended production of Magnox fuel elements in 2008 due to these plans. In 2010, the NDA announced an extension to 2012, beyond Wylfa's 40th anniversary as a generating power station in January 2011, due to schedule slippage at Sellafield which would allow Wylfa additional time before final defuelling. At this time, a strategy was also devised to maximise the generation from the remaining fuel stock given that new fuel could no longer be manufactured. This required a change in the distribution of fuel within the reactors, as well as the closure of Reactor 2 in 2012 to allow this fuel to be transferred into Reactor 1. Reactor 2 ceased generating on 25 April 2012 at 19:02 BST, allowing Reactor 1 to continue to operate. A license extension to operate Reactor 1 until 31 December 2015 was granted in September 2014.
Reactor 1 was shut down on 30 December 2015. Defueling started in 2016, and was completed in 2019. Defueling and removal of most buildings is expected to take until 2025, followed by a care and maintenance phase from 2025 to 2096. Demolition of reactor buildings and final site clearance is planned for 2096 to 2101
Future nuclear plant plans
![Wylfa nuclear power station - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9d/Wylfa_nuclear_power_station_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1717137.jpg)
A second plant named
Wylfa Newydd (previously referred to as Wylfa B) has been proposed. Wylfa Newydd's proposal has been the subject of local opposition, led by the group
People Against Wylfa B (PAWB
– "pawb" is Welsh for "everyone"). In March 2006 the local council voted to extend the life of Wylfa A and to support the construction of Wylfa B, citing the potential loss of employment in the smelter works and nuclear station.
Horizon Nuclear Power
Horizon Nuclear Power is a British Energy industry, energy company that was expected to build new nuclear power stations in the United Kingdom. It was established in 2009, with its head office in Gloucester, and is now owned by Hitachi.
On 17 Ja ...
, originally an
E.ON and
RWE
RWE AG is a German multinational energy company headquartered in Essen. It generates and trades electricity in Asia-Pacific, Europe and the United States. The company is Europe's most climate threatening Company, the world's number two in offsh ...
joint venture, bought by Hitachi in 2012, announced in 2009 intentions to install about 3,000MWe of new nuclear plant at Wylfa. Horizon planned to build two
advanced boiling water reactor
The advanced boiling water reactor (ABWR) is a Generation III boiling water reactor. The ABWR is currently offered by GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH) and Toshiba. The ABWR generates electrical power by using steam to power a turbine connected ...
s (ABWRs) at a site to the south of the existing Wylfa station.
On 18 October 2010, the British government announced that Wylfa was one of the eight sites it considered suitable for future nuclear power stations.
In January 2012, three hundred
anti-nuclear
The anti-nuclear movement is a social movement that opposes various nuclear technologies. Some direct action groups, environmental movements, and professional organisations have identified themselves with the movement at the local, natio ...
protesters took to the streets of Llangefni, against plans to build a new nuclear power station at Wylfa. The march was organised by organisations including Pobl Atal Wylfa B, Greenpeace and Cymdeithas yr Iaith, which are supporting farmer Richard Jones who is in dispute with Horizon.
In 2013, Horizon planned initial site work to start at Wylfa in 2015, with building work starting in 2018 and generation starting in the mid-2020s.
This timescale was delayed, and as of 2018 Hitachi planned to make the final investment decision in 2019.
On 4 April 2017, Horizon submitted a Site Licence Application to the
.
The scheme was extended to include a tunnel under the
Menai Strait
The Menai Strait ( cy, Afon Menai, the "river Menai") is a narrow stretch of shallow tidal water about long, which separates the island of Anglesey from the mainland of Wales. It varies in width from from Fort Belan to Abermenai Point to from ...
to carry the power cables to protect the conservation worth of the Strait and the
Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB; , AHNE) is an area of countryside in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, that has been designated for conservation due to its significant landscape value. Areas are designated in recognition of thei ...
.
As of December 2017, Horizon believed the consensus of government and industry was that the Contract for Difference financing model used for
Hinkley Point C nuclear power station
Hinkley Point C nuclear power station (HPC) is a two-unit, 3,200MWe EPR nuclear power station under construction in Somerset, England.
The site was one of eight announced by the British government in 2010, and in November 2012 a nuclear site ...
, involving fully private sector financing, would not be used for subsequent nuclear plants, and was in discussions with government about alternative finance mechanisms.
The UK government intended to invest £5billion in the new power station. Previously, government policy had been not to invest directly in new nuclear projects.
Horizon Nuclear Power submitted a Development Consent Order application for the Wylfa Newydd project to the
Planning Inspectorate
The Planning Inspectorate for England (sometimes referred to as PINS) is an executive agency of the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities of the United Kingdom Government with responsibility for making decisions and providing reco ...
on 1 June 2018.
Cancellation of construction
In January 2019, it was reported that the nuclear plant's funding was questionable, after £2billion had been spent on the project. The reports noted that a dispute between the proposed plant's builder
Hitachi
() is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. It is the parent company of the Hitachi Group (''Hitachi Gurūpu'') and had formed part of the Ni ...
and the UK government over funding had thrown the future construction into doubt, and that an upcoming meeting later in the month would be the location of an announcement regarding the plant's future.
On 17 January 2019, Hitachi announced that it would "suspend" work on the Wylfa project. Duncan Hawthorne, chief executive of Horizon Nuclear Power, said: "...we will take steps to reduce our presence but keep the option to resume development in future". The UK government had been expected to grant a development consent order in a move to restart the project, but subsequently deferred the decision deadline until 30 September 2020.
In September 2020, Hitachi announced its withdrawal from the project and from the sister site at Oldbury. It will close down its development activities, but will work with the UK government and other stakeholders to facilitate future options for the two sites.
On 10 November 2020, it was reported that a US consortium of
Bechtel
Bechtel Corporation () is an American engineering, procurement, construction, and project management company founded in San Francisco, California, and headquartered in Reston, Virginia. , the ''Engineering News-Record'' ranked Bechtel as the sec ...
,
Southern Company
Southern Company is an American gas and electric utility holding company based in the southern United States. It is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, with executive offices also located in Birmingham, Alabama. The company is the second largest ...
and
Westinghouse Electric Company
Westinghouse Electric Company LLC is an American nuclear power company formed in 1999 from the nuclear power division of the original Westinghouse Electric Corporation. It offers nuclear products and services to utilities internationally, includi ...
was in talks with the British Government about reviving the Wylfa Newydd project, by building
AP1000
The AP1000 is a nuclear power plant designed and sold by Westinghouse Electric Company. The plant is a pressurized water reactor with improved use of passive nuclear safety and many design features intended to lower its capital cost and improve ...
reactors at the site.
On 28 January 2021, Hitachi formally withdrew its Development Consent Order application. The UK Government indicated that it would "continue to explore future opportunities" for the site.
Wind / SMR hybrid plant
In January 2021,
Shearwater Energy
Shearwaters are medium-sized long-winged seabirds in the petrel family Procellariidae. They have a global marine distribution, but are most common in temperate and cold waters, and are pelagic outside the breeding season.
Description
These tub ...
presented plans for a hybrid plant, to consist of a
wind farm
A wind farm or wind park, also called a wind power station or wind power plant, is a group of wind turbines in the same location used Wind power, to produce electricity. Wind farms vary in size from a small number of turbines to several hundre ...
and
small modular reactors
Small modular reactors (SMRs) are a proposed class of nuclear fission reactors, smaller than conventional nuclear reactors, which can be built in one location (such as a factory), then shipped, commissioned, and operated at a separate site. The ...
(SMRs), to be installed adjacent to the existing Wylfa power station but separate from the proposed Wylfa Newydd site. Shearwater has signed a memorandum of understanding with
NuScale Power
NuScale Power is a publicly traded American company that designs and markets small modular reactors (SMRs). It is headquartered in Tigard, Oregon, United States. NuScale has been approved to build reactors in Idaho, in 2029 and 2030. The design ...
for the SMRs. The plant could start generation as early as 2027 and would ultimately produce up to 3GW of electricity and power a
hydrogen generation
Hydrogen production is the family of industrial methods for generating hydrogen gas. As of 2020, the majority of hydrogen (∼95%) is produced from fossil fuels by steam reforming of natural gas and other light hydrocarbons, partial oxidation of he ...
unit producing up to 3millionkg of hydrogen per year.
New Developments
In April 2022, it was announced that Wylfa and Oldbury sites are candidates for two sets of EPR reactors to be constructed as the UK Plans to construct up to eight new reactors this decade. These sites would be part of the next set of plants with the first being Hinkley Point C and Sizewell C. The Wylfa and Oldbury sites are likely to begin construction next parliament.
See also
*
Nuclear power in the United Kingdom
Nuclear power in the United Kingdom generated 16.1% of the country's electricity in 2020. , the UK has 9 operational nuclear reactors at five locations (8 advanced gas-cooled reactors (AGR) and one pressurised water reactor (PWR)), producing 5. ...
*
Anti-nuclear movement in the United Kingdom
The anti-nuclear movement in the United Kingdom consists of groups who oppose nuclear technologies such as nuclear power and nuclear weapons. Many different groups and individuals have been involved in anti-nuclear demonstrations and protests ...
*
Economics of new nuclear power plants
Nuclear power construction costs have varied significantly across the world and in time. Large and rapid increases in cost occurred during the 1970s, especially in the United States. Recent cost trends in countries such as Japan and Korea have ...
*
Proposed nuclear power stations in the United Kingdom
Nuclear power in the United Kingdom generated 16.1% of the country's electricity in 2020. , the UK has 9 operational nuclear reactors at five locations (8 advanced gas-cooled reactors (AGR) and one pressurised water reactor (PWR)), producing 5. ...
References
External links
Wylfa , Magnox SitesNDA (UK Nuclear Decommissioning Authority)Wylfa Nuclear Engineering International wall chart, 1965
Information on PAWBPAWB WebsiteInside Wylfa. Feb 2009 (2m:21s video)
{{Authority control
Buildings and structures in Anglesey
Former nuclear power stations in Wales
Energy infrastructure completed in 1971
Llanbadrig
1971 establishments in Wales