Windscale AGR nuclear power plant
Gross capacity
36MW
Windscale AGR nuclear power plant is a gas-cooled reactor unit at Windscale AGR nuclear power plant in United Kingdom rated at 36 MW gross. It is retired. Commercial operation began 1 Mar 1963.
Specification
| Reactor type | Gas-cooled reactor (GCR) |
|---|---|
| Model | AGR |
| Size | Small300 MWe or less |
| Coolant | Carbon dioxide |
| Moderator | Graphite |
| Gross capacity | 36MW |
| Net capacity (reference) | 24MW |
| Net capacity (design) | 32MW |
| Thermal output | 120MWt |
| NSSS vendor | not on record |
| Typical enrichment | Natural uranium to 2.5–3.5% U-235 |
Ownership & location
| Site | Windscale AGR nuclear power plant |
|---|---|
| Unit | not stated |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Owner | United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority100% |
| Operator | United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority |
| Coordinates | 54.4245, -3.4952 |
Fuel chain for this unit
Fuel form
Uranium metal (Magnox) or uranium dioxide (AGR)
Enrichment
Natural uranium to 2.5–3.5% U-235 no enrichment required
Who makes this assembly
- Westinghouse Electric Company AGR fuel elements
Upstream
This unit runs on natural uranium, so its fuel chain has no enrichment step at all: mine → mill → conversion → fabrication. That is the shortest fuel chain of any commercial reactor type, and it makes the operator independent of the four organisations that control enrichment worldwide.
Fabricator capability is recorded against reactor type and model line, not against named units,
utilities do not publish fuel contracts. See the fuel chain.
Timeline
- 1 Nov 1958Construction start
- 9 Aug 1962First criticality
- 1 Feb 1963Grid connection
- 1 Mar 1963Commercial operation
- 3 Apr 1981Permanent shutdown
Other AGR units
15 units worldwide share this model designation.
| Unit | Country | Status | Gross MW |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hartlepool nuclear power plant A1 | United Kingdom | 655 | |
| Hartlepool nuclear power plant A2 | United Kingdom | 655 | |
| Heysham nuclear power plant A1 | United Kingdom | 625 | |
| Heysham nuclear power plant A2 | United Kingdom | 625 | |
| Heysham nuclear power plant B1 | United Kingdom | 680 | |
| Heysham nuclear power plant B2 | United Kingdom | 680 | |
| Torness nuclear power plant 1 | United Kingdom | 682 | |
| Torness nuclear power plant 2 | United Kingdom | 682 | |
| Dungeness nuclear power plant B1 | United Kingdom | Retired | 615 |
| Dungeness nuclear power plant B2 | United Kingdom | Retired | 615 |
| Hinkley Point nuclear power plant B1 | United Kingdom | Retired | 655 |
| Hinkley Point nuclear power plant B2 | United Kingdom | Retired | 655 |
Sources
- Global Nuclear Power Tracker, Global Energy Monitor, August 2026 release , CC BY 4.0 · retrieved 2026-09-06 · this unit last researched by GEM on 2024-05-17
- GEM.wiki entry (further reading) , CC BY-SA 4.0, linked, not quoted
How these sources are used, including the corrections applied on top of them and what is deliberately left blank · download the underlying data