Sizewell B nuclear power station

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sizewell B nuclear power station is the UK's only large pressurised water reactor (PWR) and operated by British Energy. It is located near the small fishing village of Sizewell.

Built between 1988 and 1995, the original rating was for an output of 1188 MWe, equivalent to 8.7 TWh in the year of 2005. It was uprated by 1% in 2005 with a thermal power of 3479 MW and an electrical output of 1195 MWe, though this is dependent on sea-water temperature.

In the first ten years of Sizewell B's operation, producing 3% of the UK's electricity, it avoided the release of around 60 million tonnes of greenhouse gases that would otherwise have been released by fossil fuel generation. However the cost of generating power is 6p/kWh [1], which is about twice the economic cost for a base load power station.

As with many other PWRs, Sizewell 'B' operates on an 18-month operating Cycle, i.e. at or near 100% output continuously for around 17 months, followed by a month's shutdown for maintenance and refuelling.

Sizewell B was designed for a commercial life of 40 years — i.e., to around 2035 — but similar stations elsewhere have been granted extensions to 60 years.

Sizewell used to run a popular visitor program, whereby the public could take guided tours through the turbine halls and around the reactor area of Sizewell B, as well as around the Sizewell A building. It had a small science museum type visitors' centre. The program was shutdown citing security fears following the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks [2].

A distinctive white dome protects the pressurised water reactor.