Wylfa

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Wylfa Nuclear Power Station

Wylfa is a nuclear power station situated just west of Cemaes Bay on the island of Anglesey, north Wales. Located on the coast, the sea provides an excellent cooling source for its operation.

It houses two 490 MW Magnox nuclear reactors, "Wylfa-1" and "Wylfa-2", which were built from 1963 and became operational in 1971. They have a combined capacity of 980 MW and Wylfa typically supplies 23 GW·h of electricity daily. It is the largest and last reactor of its type to be built in the UK.

The graphite cores each weigh 3,800 tonnes, 6,156 vertical fuel channels contain over 49248 natural uranium magnox (Magnesium Non Oxidising) clad fuel elements, hence the name magnox reactor. A further 200 channels allow boron control rods to enter the reactor and control the nuclear reaction. The primary coolant in the reactors is carbon dioxide (CO₂) gas.

The power station is operated by British Nuclear Fuels Limited. The site is owned by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA). Its purpose is to oversee and manage the decommissioning and clean-up of the UK’s civil nuclear legacy.

On 20 July 2006 the NDA announced that the station will be shut down in 2010 because operation beyond then would be "totally uneconomic".[1]

A second plant (generally referred to as Wylfa B) has been proposed, in part to provide for the needs of the Anglesey Aluminium smelter located in Holyhead. This proposal has been the subject of some local opposition, and the group People Against Wylfa B (PAWB - "pawb" is Welsh for "everyone") campaigns against it, and for the de-commissioning of the existing plant. However, during March 2006 the local council voted to support the construction of Wylfa B, citing the potential loss of employment in the area.[2]