The world’s oldest operating civilian reactor will be decommissioned earlier than expected, its owners announced.
Oldbury unit 1 will stop electrical generation in February, plant owners Magnox and Nuclear Decommissioning Authority announced last week. The BBC reported the UK reactor was scheduled to continue operating through next year, but operators decided doing so would not be economical. Nonetheless, the roughly 450 people employed at the site will continue working there through 2014.
Construction of Oldbury 1, near Bristol on the River Severn, began in 1962, according to the World Nuclear Association. The gas-cooled Magnox reactor produces 271 megawatts electric and started operation in 1967. Unit 2, which began operating in 1968, ceased operating in June.