UK nuclear engineering, project management and services contractor Nuvia has won a contract from Magnox in support of the Dragon Reactor Decommissioning Project at Winfrith in Dorset.

The Dragon Reactor Decommissioning Project has been set up to remove the core of the reactor and pack the resulting waste generated into packages for disposal. It forms part of a broader programme to decommission the whole of the Winfrith premises. Nuvia said on 7 November that it had been selected to design, manufacture, construct, install, and test a range of mechanical and electrical control and instrumentation plant and systems. These include shield doors, ventilation systems, waste packing and export plant, and radiological assay systems. The project will be delivered over an 18 month period.

The Dragon reactor was a 20MWt experimental high-temperature gas-cooled reactor at Winfrith, operated by the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority to test fuel and materials for the European high-temperature reactor programme. It used helium gas as a coolant and coated particle fuel. Construction on Dragon started in 1959 and was completed in 1962. The reactor operated from 1965 until 1976 when it was placed in care and maintenance. It was partially decommissioned in 2005.

Nuvia has been involved in the programme to decommission the Winfrith site since 1990.