London, March 1 (IANS) Britain’s oldest running nuclear power station was shut down Thursday after 44 years in use, the Daily Mail reported.
Staff at Oldbury Nuclear Power Station near Thornbury, South Gloucester, switched off the site’s only remaining reactor – which first generated electricity in 1967.
It will also cost 954 million pounds for the 175-acre site to be completely cleared, with the final stage anticipated to take place over 80 years later, between 2092 and 2101.
Oldbury previously had two reactors, generating 435 MW daily – enough to serve a city one-and-half times the size of Bristol.
But reactor two was shut down last summer, with reactor one using the last available remaining fuel, which is no longer made.
Operators Magnox had hoped to keep reactor one operating until the end of this year but four months ago decided it was no longer financially viable, announcing it would close.
A new nuclear station – six times the capacity of Oldbury – is set to open just a few hundred metres away from the site in 2025, according to the newspaper.
Staff who have been made redundant are likely to be employed at the nearby future plant.
Phil Sprague, site director at Oldbury, said staff were emotional when the plant was finally switched off at 11 a.m.
