Thursday 19 September 2019

Last nuclear fuel leaves Wylfa power station

The final flask of spent nuclear fuel has been dispatched from the Wylfa power station in North Wales, marking a significant milestone for the project.

The Wylfa Site on Anglesey, the biggest and last Magnox site to be built in the UK, operated from 1972 until 2015 and generated 232TWh of electricity.

That's enough electricity to power around 1.1 million homes a year for 44 years.

Nearly 90,000 Magnox fuel rods have been removed from the two reactors in total.

The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), which owns the site, said the final shipment - which enables Wylfa to move into the decommissioning phase – marks an era for the site with the removal of more than 99% of the total radioactivity.

Site Director Stuart Law added: “It has not been an easy task and the work at Wylfa is far from complete but today is a significant landmark in the site's journey towards care and maintenance.

“The defuelling process was hampered by ageing equipment for the first 18 months which brought challenges but the dedication and problem-solving abilities of the Wylfa team and expertise drawn from across the nuclear industry led to what is, overall, an incredible performance in completing this task.”