History
“Berkeley Nuclear Power Station is a decommissioned Magnox nuclear power station situated on the bank of the River Severn in Gloucestershire, England. The ongoing decommissioning process is being managed by Nuclear Decommissioning Authority subsidiary Magnox Ltd.
The construction of the power station, which was undertaken by a consortium of AEI and John Thompson, began in 1956. It had two Magnox reactors producing 276 megawatts (MW) in total – enough electricity on a typical day to serve an urban area the size of Bristol. The reactors were supplied by The Nuclear Power Group (TNPG) and the turbines by AEI. Electricity generation started in 1962 and ran for 27 years to 1989.
Nuclear fuel for Berkeley Power Station was delivered and removed via the nearest railhead, a loading facility on the Sharpness single railway line. This included a dedicated siding and a gantry crane.
Berkeley had four 83 MW turbo-alternator generators, giving a gross capability of 334.4 MW and a net capability of 276 MW. The steam conditions at the turbine stop valve were 20.3 / 3.9 bar and 319 / 316 °C. In the year 1978/9 the station generated 1,392.63 GWh, and in 1980/1 the station generated 1,003.923 GWh, The overall thermal efficiency of the station in 1981 was 21.12 per cent.
Reactor 2 was shut down in October 1988, followed by Reactor 1 in March 1989. Berkeley was the first commercial nuclear power station in the United Kingdom to be decommissioned. So far the nuclear decommissioning process has involved the removal of all fuel from the site in 1992, and the demolition of structures such as the turbine hall in 1995 and cooling ponds in 2001. The next step of decommissioning will be the care and maintenance stage of the nuclear reactor structures, scheduled to commence in 2026, until radioactive decay means that they can be demolished and the site completely cleared between 2070 and 2080.”
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berkeley_nuclear_power_station
