Sellafield is a nuclear fuel reprocessing an nuclear decommissioning site, close tae the village o Seascale on the coast o the Erse Sea in Cumbria, Ingland. The site is served bi Sellafield railway station. Sellafield incorporates the original nuclear reactor site at Windscale, which is currently undergoing decommissioning an dismantling, an Calder Hall, a neighbour o Windscale, which is also undergoing decommissioning an dismantling of its four nuclear pouer generating reactors. It is the site o the world's first commercial nuclear pouer station tae generate electricity on an industrial scale.

Sellafield Ltd
KintraUnited Kingdom
LocationSeascale, Cumbria
Coordinates54°25′14″N 3°29′51″W / 54.4205°N 3.4975°W / 54.4205; -3.4975Coordinates: 54°25′14″N 3°29′51″W / 54.4205°N 3.4975°W / 54.4205; -3.4975
Commission date1956
Awner(s)Nuclear Decommissioning Authority
Operator(s)Sellafield Ltd
Pouer generation
Units decommissioned4 x 50 MWe, 1 x 24 MWe (net)
4 x 60 MWe, 1 x 36 MWe (gross)
grid reference NY034036

Calder Hall eedit

Calder Hall, first connected tae the grid on 27 August 1956 an officially opened bi Queen Elizabeth II on 17 October 1956,[1][2] was the warld's first nuclear pouer station tae generate electricity on an industrial scale from its four 60 MWe reactors [3] A 5 MWe experimental reactor at Obninsk in the Soviet Union had been connected to the public supply in 1954,[4][5] an was the warld's first nuclear pouer plant.[6] The Calder Hall design was codenamed PIPPA (Pressurised Pile Producing Power and Plutonium) bi the UKAEA tae denote the plant's dual commercial an military role. Construction started in 1953. Calder Hall had four Magnox reactors capable o generating 60 MWe (net) of electricity each, reduced tae 50 MWe in 1973.[7] The reactors were supplied bi UKAEA, the turbines bi C. A. Parsons and Company, and the civil engineering contractor was Taylor Woodrow Construction.[8] When the station closed on 31 March 2003, the first reactor had been in use for nearly 47 years.[9]

In its early life Calder Hall primarily produced wappens-grade plutonium, with two fuel loads per year. Electricity production was a secondary purpose.[10] From 1964 it was mainly used on commercial fuel cycles. In April 1995 the UK Government announced that all production o plutonium for wappens purposes had ceased.

Moorside eedit

Moorside Nuclear Pouer Station is a new nuclear pouer station proposed for a site near Sellafield.

References eedit

  1. "History of Sellafield". Sellafield Web Page. Retrieved 21 August 2006.
  2. The Atom Joins the Grid. British Pathe. 22 October 1956. Archived frae the original on 8 Julie 2011. Retrieved 5 Mairch 2011.
  3. "Calder Hall Power Station". The Engineer. 5 October 1956. Archived frae the original on 3 September 2014. Retrieved 27 October 2013. Cite journal requires |journal= (help) Brief description, with link to very detailed article.
  4. "Nuclear Power in Russia". World Nuclear Association. Archived frae the original on 13 Februar 2013. Retrieved 30 October 2013. "... civil reactors ... an experimental 50 MWt LWGR type at Obninsk which started up in 1954 (5 MWe) and was the forerunner of RBMKs"
  5. Nuclear Engineering International: Obninsk – number one, by Lev Kotchetkov, who was there at the time "Although utilisation of generated heat was going on ... the main task was to carry out experimental studies"
  6. Wired. "June 27, 1954: World's First Nuclear Power Plant Opens".
  7. "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland: Nuclear Power Reactors". PRIS database. International Atomic Energy Agency. Archived frae the original on 28 June 2011. Retrieved 5 March 2011. Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (help)
  8. "Calder Hall Nuclear Power Station". Engineering Times. Archived frae the original on 7 March 2012. Retrieved 19 September 2010. Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (help)
  9. Brown, Paul (14 Apryle 2003). "First nuclear power plant to close". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 21 August 2006.
  10. Peter Hayes. "Should the United States supply light water reactors to Pyongyang?". Nautilus Pacific Research. Archived frae the original on 7 March 2006. Retrieved 21 August 2006. Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (help)