Oldbury Power Station

Oldbury Power Station was commissioned in 1967 to generate and sell electricity, in a safe working environment.

Fuel will soon be progressively removed from the reactors and sent to Sellafield for treatment.

This defuelling is likely to take three years, after which the site begins decommissioning.

For more information, visit www.magnoxnorthsites.com/about-us/our-sites/oldbury

Click here to read the latest edition of Oldbury Site's newsletter, called PowerLines.

Site Stakeholder Group

Oldbury's Site Stakeholder Group (SSG) meets quarterly - see the calendar for details of future meetings.

SSGs are the interface between the community, the site operator, and the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority.

They provide opportunities for

• questioning the operator, the NDA, and regulators
• reviewing, commenting on, and influencing strategies, plans, and achievements

For more information visit www.sitestakeholdergroups.org.uk/oldbury

Latest News:

Young Photographers Snap Up The Challenge

Several enthusiastic and talented art students, who currently attend Castle School in Thornbury, rose to a photographic challenge recently.

The opportunity was given to the sixth form students to enter their original photography in a competition, organised by the Communications Team at Oldbury Power Station.

The challenge was to depict ‘Life on the Severn’, from which 13 photographs would be used for the Power Station’s Calendar for 2010, celebrating the power station’s role on the river severn for over 40 years.

The calendar will be distributed to station staff and local residents, giving the students the opportunity to have their work seen in public.

Matt Bigwood, local professional photographer who judged the entries said: “The standard of photography was particularly high and most impressive”.

Andrea Hazelhurst, Community Art Teacher at the Castle School said: “Thanks must go to the Art teachers, Phil Strugnell and Kirsty Mahoney who have supported and encouraged these students. The students enjoyed taking part in the competition and were very pleased to see the end product”.

Power Station Supports Salvation Army Appeal

Once again Oldbury Power Station teamed up with the Salvation Army to help local children and families enjoy a Happy Christmas.

Staff at the station were invited to drop off their gifts for children of all ages at various departments on site. The Salvation Army where then contacted to pick up the several bags and boxes of gifts donated by staff.

Millions of children and young people have benefited from the gifts donated to The Salvation Army over many years.

Salvation Army Major Janet Thompson said: “We are delighted to be teaming up with Oldbury again this year and we are very grateful to staff for their donations. By giving a gift to the Christmas Present Appeal you can make a real difference in someone’s life at Christmas.

“The gifts will now be distributed to referred children and families in the area through The Salvation Army’s own network, local groups and social services.”

Oldbury Powers Half A Million in 2009

Oldbury Power Station has produced enough electricity to power half a million homes during 2009.

In total Oldbury, which is owned by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, supplied 2.05TWh (Terawatt Hours) of electricity to the national grid, enough to power 500,000 homes for 12 months or to make 100 billion cups of tea.

This achievement is particularly significant as, for the first time in its history, Oldbury completed two major reactor outages, during which statutory maintenance and routine checks were carried out safely.

The generation milestone follows the site being given permission to restart Reactor One from its regulator the NII (Nuclear Installations Inspectorate) following its most recent Reactor One outage.

This work saw one of the site’s huge turbines, one of the largest in use in the UK, removed and transported along the M5 to Rugby.

“This year has been a very successful one for Oldbury, we have effectively completed our largest programme of work to date, and generated a significant amount of electricity for the UK,” said Joe Lamonby, Oldbury Site Director.

“The most important achievement though has been maintaining our excellent safety record with the help of our dedicated workforce.”

History of Oldbury

Oldbury Power Station was officially declared as being commissioned in 1968.

Building at the site began in 1961 and Oldbury was publicly opened by the former Labour MP Tony Benn on 10 June 1969, in his capacity as Secretary of State for Industry.

Oldbury’s reactor one first went critical on 18 September 1967 and on 9 November 1967 reactor one and turbine one generated the first spark of electricity.

On a typical day the station can produce enough electricity to serve the combined populations of Bristol and Bath.

Site Director Joe Lamonby said: “Oldbury is now the longest serving nuclear power station in the country and has generated over 118 terawatt hours of electricity.

“The site has endeavoured to be a good neighbour to the local community – we have never had a nuclear safety event and are confident the station will continue to provide electricity safely until our planned closure date.

“Over the years the site has helped to support hundreds of community projects and we hope the fantastic relations we have with local residents and businesses alike will continue for many more years to come.”

The site has welcomed a host of famous visitors, including the pop band Slade who recorded a performance for Top Of The Pops inside one of Oldbury’s reactors.

And in 1976 Tom Baker visited the site as Doctor Who when the reactors formed the backdrop for ‘The Hand Of Fear’ episode. The instalment will be remembered by fans as the last time the Doctor’s trusty assistant Sarah (played by Elisabeth Sladen) featured.

So successful was the filming that the BBC’s other sci-fi programme, Blakes 7, also used the site as a set.

Oldbury first featured in an episode filmed in 1977 called ‘Time Squad’ playing the role of The Federation Transceiver Complex. In 1978 the site fulfilled the role of Spaceworld in the ‘Redemption’ episode and was Q Base in the episode called ‘Killer’.

In addition the reactor charge face has been the board for the world Monopoly championship in 1977, and the site welcomed thousands of less well known visitors when it opened its doors for tours of the site.

Contact Us

If you would like to know more about activities at Oldbury Power Station please contact Zoe Young, Communications, Oldbury Power Station on 01454 893322 or via email:

Oldbury Power Station, Oldbury Naite, Thornbury, South Glos BS35 1RQ
Tel: +44 (0)1454 893540
Fax: +44 (0)1454 8937244