The UK has announced plans to shutdown the Wylfa 2 magnox reactor on 30 April. The move comes just two months after Oldbury 2 closed and will leave the UK with just one of first generation gas cooled reactors left in its fleet of nuclear power plants.
Wylfa 2 began operation in 1971 and has generated over 200 TWh of electricity during its lifetime. The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority said that the reactor is to close due to ‘limited fuel stocks,’ which do not allow for continued operation of both reactors at the Wylfa site.
“Efforts will now focus on optimising generation on Reactor 1, which is allowed to operate until 2014,” NDA said, adding that the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) is expected to make a decision on whether to allow the transfer of partially used fuel from reactor 2 to reactor 1 this Summer.
Wylfa, which is operated by Magnox Ltd, a company owned by EnergySolutions, is the only Magnox site still generating electricity, following the closure of Oldbury Power Station on 29 February 2012. It is also the largest and last reactor of its type to be built in the UK.
