Regulators have given permission for reactor 1 at the Oldbury nuclear power station, near Bristol, UK to operate until the end of 2012 - 18 months longer than previously planned. The decision means that all of the fuel produced for the Oldbury site can be used up.

Magnox Ltd, owned by EnergySolutions, operates the Oldbury nuclear power station (two 225 MWe reactors) on behalf of its owner the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. Magnox Ltd had been undertaking work to support the period of extended generation including an evaluation of the periodic safety review – the key document used by the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) to check the safety of the site.

Brian Burnett, the NDA’s head of programme, said: “Oldbury's continued generation is good news as it ensures further benefit from one of the NDA's valuable assets. The income generated over the extension period will be utilised to support our clean-up mission. I would like to thank Magnox for all the work they have done to help make this happen."

Reactor 2 is due to cease generation on 30 June 2011, in line with current plans.

FilesCooling water circulation diagrams
Fukushima Daiichi parameters as of 27 June by JANTI
Reactor-by-reactor Fukushima Daiichi restoration progress summary as of 28 June, from JAIF
Fukushima Daiichi spent fuel pool radionuclide inventory