Wylfa nuclear power station
Decommissioned nuclear power plant in Wales / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Wylfa nuclear power station (Welsh: Atomfa'r Wylfa) is a Magnox nuclear power station undergoing decommissioning. Wylfa is situated west of Cemaes Bay on the island of Anglesey, off the northwestern coast of Wales. Construction of the two 490 MW 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.
Wylfa Nuclear Power Station | |
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Country | Wales, United Kingdom |
Location | Anglesey |
Coordinates | 53.417°N 4.483°W / 53.417; -4.483 |
Status | Decommissioning in progress |
Construction began | 1963 |
Commission date | 1971 |
Decommission date | 2015 |
Owner(s) | Nuclear Decommissioning Authority |
Operator(s) | Magnox Ltd |
Nuclear power station | |
Reactor type | Magnox |
Reactor supplier | The Nuclear Power Group |
Power generation | |
Units decommissioned | 2 x 490 MW |
Nameplate capacity |
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External links | |
Commons | Related media on Commons |
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 reactors was submitted by Horizon Nuclear Power to the Office of Nuclear Regulation on 4 April 2017. In September 2020, parent company Hitachi withdrew from the project. In 2022, the UK Government expressed interest in the construction of a possible set of two EPR reactors on the site, and in 2024 announced it would purchase the site from Hitachi.