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:

Oldbury Power Station Announces New Charity Of The Year

Oldbury Power Station staff have cast their votes and decided that the station’s next charity of the year (2010/11) is the Great Western Air Ambulance.

The station choose a new local charity to support on an annual basis, with staff undertaking various fundraising activities throughout the year in order to raise as much money as possible for the chosen cause.

Previous fundraising activities have included: the canteen staff baking special “Oldbury Tarts”, a £ for lb weight loss challenge, and the sale of birthday cards and raffle tickets, resulting in a total of £3000 being raised for the Cheltenham based Cobalt Appeal Fund – Oldbury’s charity of the year 2009/10.

Providing an invaluable service seven days a week, the Great Western Air Ambulance operates across Bristol, South Gloucestershire, Gloucestershire and North Somerset. Great Western Air Ambulance attends around 60 incidents per month, is one of the busiest air ambulances in the UK, and is expected to carry out more than 800 missions in the coming year.

Zoe Young, Communication Officer at Oldbury Power Station, said: “Staff at Oldbury Power Station have always shown tremendous support for our ‘charity of the year’ scheme, particularly as the charities that we support are local and lie close to many peoples hearts.

“Great Western Air Ambulance is a wonderful charity that does great things for the surrounding area, and all of us at the power station look forward to this opportunity to contribute to their fundraising efforts.”

Oldbury Takes To The Sky For World Environment Day

Oldbury Power Station’s World Environment Day celebrations took to the sky this year, with a dazzling falconry display.

The sight of some of the world’s most beautiful birds of prey in flight highlighted the importance of the recent work that the power station has completed on the nature trail to create hawk and owl habitats.

Approximately 250 station staff and contractors attended the event and enjoyed a barbecue, ice-cream from a local trader, and an array of informative stands that revealed key information about the station’s conservation work and waste management procedures.

A general household and office waste amnesty was held as part of the event, and over a meter cubed of electrical wastes, batteries and aerosols were collected as a result, and will be recycled where possible.

In addition, walks took place to introduce staff to new routes around the power station’s nature trail and incorporated a ‘treasure hunt’.

Kate Baxter, Environmental Engineer at Oldbury Power Station, said: “Oldbury Site celebrates 'World Environment Day' each year by promoting different aspects of environmental protection to staff, using topics that apply both at work and at home.

“This year’s event was well received by staff who found it enjoyable and educational.”

Take A Look Behind The Scenes At Oldbury

If you’ve ever wondered what goes on inside a nuclear power station, now’s your chance to find out!

Oldbury Power Station now has a host of 360 degree virtual tours of the plant live on its website.

The site’s visitor centre closed its doors to the public in 2006 but now everyone has the chance to see what the turbine hall looks like, what happens on the pile cap and just how many buttons there are in the control room!

It is hoped by offering a photographic virtual tour of the site, with descriptions of what processes go on in each area, that people will understand more about what goes on at the station. Oldbury invited a local photographer to take pictures of several areas in and around the station which have been stitched together to form 360 degree images.

Over the years Oldbury has had a fantastic relationship with local residents and businesses, and has welcomed thousands of visitors to the site. Politicians have dropped in and pop stars have recorded performances for Top of the Pops in one of the reactors. The reactor charge face was once the board for the Monopoly World Championships, and in 1976, the station was even a backdrop for the Doctor Who episode ‘The Hand of Fear’.

The 360 degree images can be found on the Oldbury page of the Magnox North Website, at www.magnoxnorthsites.com/oldbury. Interactive DVDs containing the Oldbury Power Station virtual tour will be available soon. To obtain a DVD, please contact Sarah Lang in the Communication Department at Oldbury Power Station on 01454 893837 or .

Oldbury Supports Local Volunteer Group

Oldbury Power Station supported Thornbury Volunteer centre recently by part funding the purchase of their new photocopier.

The volunteer centre serves Thornbury and district and acts as a brokerage between volunteers and organisations as well as providing an information service.

The group applied for funding through Oldbury’s Socio economic fund to help them replace their existing photocopier (which was purchased in 2002) with a new colour photocopier.

Members of the community who are involved with local charitable, voluntary and community groups can use this facility, with over 136 groups using the service last year.

Kim Webb from Thornbury Volunteer centre said: ”We are most grateful to Oldbury Power Station for their support of £1000, and to add to this we have been very successful in obtaining match funding of £1,400 from the Quartet Community Foundation, Grass roots grant. This has allowed us to purchase the new photocopier that will be used by the community”.

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