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Trawsfynydd nuclear power station

Trawsfynydd nuclear power station
Trawsfynydd Nuclear Power Plant.jpg
Trawsfynydd nuclear power station is located in Wales
Trawsfynydd nuclear power station
Location of Trawsfynydd nuclear power station in Wales
Country Wales, United Kingdom
Location Trawsfynydd, Gwynedd
Coordinates 52°55′29.51″N 3°56′54.38″W / 52.9248639°N 3.9484389°W / 52.9248639; -3.9484389Coordinates: 52°55′29.51″N 3°56′54.38″W / 52.9248639°N 3.9484389°W / 52.9248639; -3.9484389
Status Closed
Construction began 1959
Commission date 1965
Decommission date 1991
Construction cost £103 million
Owner(s) Nuclear Decommissioning Authority
Operator(s) Magnox Ltd
Nuclear power station
Reactor type Magnox
Reactor supplier Atomic Power Constructions
Power generation
Units decommissioned 2 x 235 MW

Trawsfynydd nuclear power station is a disused Magnox power station situated on the north shore of Llyn Trawsfynydd in Gwynedd, Wales. It is significant for being the only Nuclear power station in the UK which was not built on the coast; the plant drew water instead from the nearby lake.

The power station was designed by Basil Spence. The construction, which was undertaken by a consortium involving Crompton Parkinson, International Combustion, Fairey Engineering and Richardsons Westgarth, and known as the Atomic Power Constructions (APC), began in July 1959, and both of the reactors were in operation by March 1965, with the station opening fully in October 1968, at a cost of £103 million. It had two Magnox reactors producing 470 megawatts (MW) in total. The reactors were supplied by APC and the turbines by Richardsons Westgarth. The civil engineering work was undertaken by Holland, Hannen & Cubitts and Trollope & Colls. The architectural consultant for the buildings was Sir Basil Spence and the landscape architect was Sylvia Crowe.

Both have been shut down since 1991; the site is in the process of being decommissioned by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority.

The Bala to Blaenau Ffestiniog railway line had closed completely in January 1961, but its tracks and infrastructure had been mothballed against the possibility of freight or military traffic resuming. The line had a siding approximately half a mile west of the power station. In 1963-4 a "Goliath" gantry crane was installed over the siding. A single track was restored northwards and a wholly new connection was laid in the centre of Blaenau Ffestiniog between the restored line and the extant Conwy Valley Line. This allowed nuclear flasks to be sent and received by rail to destinations such as Sellafield.


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