Nuclear Power

Existing Nuclear Power Stations

In the UK, Électricité de France (EDF) operate seven Advanced Gas (cooled) Reactors (AGR):

• Dungeness B
• Hartlepool
• Heysham 1
• Heysham 2
• Hinkley Point B
• Hunterston B
• Torness

plus one Pressurised Water Reactor (PWR)

• Sizewell B

AGR is British technology, an (overly?) ambitious design to increase the operating temperature (compared to water-cooled types), by using a gas coolant (carbon dioxide, CO₂). Higher temperature mean increased thermodynamic efficiency (i.e. more electricity output per unit of heat).

Constructed between the mid 1960's to the late 1980's they are now nearing the end of their design life and are all scheduled to be 'retired' during the next decade. For further information see the comprehensive Wikipedia article

Sizewell B, Britain's only Pressurised Water Reactor is a Westinghouse (US) design completed in 1995. It has a generating capacity of 1.2 GW (gigawatt). Sizewell B's accounting closure date is 2035, which EDF is seeking to extend to 2055. This would make it, along with Hinkley Point C (presently under construction) one of the last two nuclear power stations operating in the UK, post 2030

Mendeleev Program

The Mendeleev Program is novel proposal based on a desk study carried by Fluke. 17 million people in the UK live in large port cities and urban conurbations. These communities could be provided with low-carbon electricity and heat for space heating & domestic hot water by a fleet of permanently moored ship-based small modular nuclear reactors