Steam Generating Heavy Water Reactor
Steam Generating Heavy Water Reactor (SGHWR) at Winfrith Heath, Dorset
Prototype nuclear reactor built by UKAEA between 1963 and 1967 at Winfrith Atomic Energy Establishment
The reactor was moderated using heavy water, and cooled by light water.
Steam generated by the reactor drove a 100 MWe AEI turbine generator, whose output made a valuable contribution to the National Grid for 22 years.
The turbine hall plant was basically conventional, but special arrangements were required to cater for the radioactive nature of the steam supplied to the turbine and passed to the feed heaters and condensers. This was an appreciable burden operationally and maintenance-wise, and was in contrast to all the other commercial UK nuclear power stations, which used non-radioactive steam.
The turbine was supplied with saturated steam, which inevitably resulted in erosion and erosion-corrosion problems in the turbine. Provision of a limited degree of superheating was allowed for in the reactor design, but this option was not pursued to completion.
Decommissioning started in 1990.
See Also
Sources of Information
- [1] 'Recollections of a UK Boiling Water Reactor' by John Lindsay