Decommissioning progress at Dungeness A
Demolition of the turbine hall at the shut down Dungeness A Magnox nuclear power plant in the UK has begun. The work should be completed within three months.Demolition of the turbine hall at the shut down Dungeness A Magnox nuclear power plant in the UK has begun. The work should be completed within three months.
.jpg "Dungeness A turbine hall demolition 460 (Magnox)") |
| Progress on the demolition of Dungeness A's turbine hall can be followed via webcam (Image: Magnox Ltd) |
The 26-metre high turbine hall is the largest building to be demolished as part of the current phase of decommissioning at the site, Magnox Limited said. It originally housed four turbo-generators.
The demolition and clearance work is being conducted by contractor Erith, which has been involved in decommissioning work at other Magnox plants in the UK, including Bradwell and Trawsfynydd. Demolition of the Dungeness A turbine hall is expected to be completed by the end of March.
"The final demolition represents the culmination of a three-year program of work, thanks to an additional £12.8 million ($19.3 million) of funding from the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) to accelerate the clearance of the south side of the site," Magnox Limited said. "The work was originally intended to take 12 years," it added.
The company is broadcasting the decommissioning of Dungeness A live on its website. Demolition work at the site began last September.
Site director Paul Wilkinson said, "This is a very visible sign of our progress. Thousands of people have either worked in the turbine hall or lived alongside it in our local community over the years, so we wanted to give them the opportunity to witness the final part of the journey for this part of the site."
The Dungeness A site hosts two 225 MWe Magnox reactors which operated from 1965 to 2006. The site was verified as fuel free ahead of target in June 2012. It is expected to enter 'care and maintenance' stage of decommissioning in 2027.
Yesterday, EDF Energy announced a ten-year life extension for the adjacent Dungeness B plant. The plant's two 545 MWe advanced gas-cooled reactors (AGRs) - which started up in 1983 and 1985 respectively - will continue generating electricity until 2028.
Magnox Limited is owned and operated by Cavendish Fluor Partnership Limited on behalf of the NDA.
Researched and written
by World Nuclear News
_17992.jpg)
_58517.jpg)
