NW England: The North Wales sub group of NW England Branch recently held a technical lecture on pressurised water reactor (PWR) power plant technology on Anglesey, at Wylfa Power Station’s new Learning and Development Centre. It was a full house and was organised by Clive Briscoe, the Regional Co-ordinator for the Institute’s Young Members’ Network.
The lecture was given by Richard Swinburn who is the Chief Nuclear Technologist at Rolls Royce Submarines in Derby. His lecture started with an overview of Rolls Royce’s involvement with RN submarine nuclear propulsion systems since the onset in the 1950’s. He then went on to explain the basics of how a PWR operates and how the technology had been migrated to the civil nuclear power generation programme.
He then went into some detail of how the cores have been developed over the years. Initially, HMS Dreadnought, the UK’s first nuclear submarine, required refuelling every 4 years. This was a major task as it involved cutting a large hole in the submarine’s pressure hull above the reactor, in order that the reactor’s top dome could be lifted clear and then the core lifted out and exchanged.
Over the years, new designs of cores and fuel have led to first, an 8 year fuel cycle, then 16 and now, for the new Astute Class, an estimated 45 year core life ie. ‘fit and forget’ from commissioning to eventual decommissioning. This would be the likely scenario for a future Wylfa B power station – perhaps refuelling only twice in its lifetime with a consequence of very limited high level waste to be disposed of.
Afterwards, many deep and penetrating questions were asked by the attendees who consisted of members of the Institute, power station staff, Site Steering Group members and several members of the general public. These were answered fully and several follow-up discussions were planned.
The IMarEST sincerely thanks Wylfa Power Station for providing pre lecture refreshments and the superb facilities in their Learning & Development Centre.