An assessment of the periodic safety review of the Wylfa A1 magnox-fuelled, carbon-dioxide-cooled, graphite-moderated reactor by the UK nulcear regulator has allowed it to continue operating until December 2015, a five-year life-extension for the 43-year old reactor.
The end of life was determined not by the regulator but by the availability of magnesium non-oxidizing metal clad low-enriched uranium fuel; the Springfields fuel manufacturing line was shut down in 2006-7. To keep the reactor open, it has borrowed fuel from the shut-down A2 reactor. For more information, see our feature here: http://www.neimagazine.com/features/featureinter-reactor-fuel-transfer-at-wylfa-12-4275091/
The reactor is now run by Magnox Sites, operated by the Cavendish Fluor Partnership on behalf of the UK government’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority.
Wylfa submitted a Periodic Safety Review (PSR) in September 2013.
Stuart Law, Wylfa Site Director, said: "This will be Wylfa’s final period of generation. After December 2015, we will follow in the footsteps of other Magnox sites and begin to defuel the reactor which will take up to three years."
Magnox said that the PSR assessment identified some further items of work, which the site is currently addressing.
