Oldbury Power Station

Oldbury Power Station was commissioned in 1967 and generation will continue into 2009.

At that point fuel will be progressively removed from the reactors and sent to Sellafield for treatment.

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

For more information, visit www.oldburysite.co.uk

If you would like to receive a copy of the Oldbury Site Newsletter, called PowerLines, or to read the latest edition online, please click here.

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 Support SARA

Staff at Oldbury Power Station have risen to the challenge of becoming fundraisers extraordinaire for their nominated Charity of the Year.

The crew of SARA (Severn Area Rescue Authority) at Sharpness in Gloucestershire were pleased to accept a cheque for £2,500 from Magnox North, money that has been raised by various events at the site throughout the year.

These included an all day staff family fun day, held recently in the grounds of Berkeley Nuclear Sports and Social club.

The advent of SARA came about after there were 12 deaths on the river Severn back in 1973.

Today, SARA has a crew of 29, all volunteers currently based in a listed building at Sharpness. However, work is underway on building a new boat house by the Keystone slipway. This will enable the boats in future to be launched either vertically by crane, or down the new slipway.

The money raised by Olbdury will be used to help fund this and other ongoing costs.

SARA fundraiser Tom Greenland said: “We were absolutely amazed and delighted with the amount raised, and that the staff at Oldbury had chosen SARA as their charity to sponsor. The annual cost to keep the station running is £35,000, so any donations are always gratefully received.”

Oldbury Power Station Rise to the Challenge

Oldbury Power Station has won a significant award from the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO). Achieving first prize in a competition to find the country’s best industrial and commercial sites for birds.

A total of 70 businesses took part in the Business Bird Challenge 2008 run by the BTO and entrants ranged from water, power, agricultural, research and commercial backgrounds. All the entries were divided in to nine groups, reflecting the sizes and diversity of sites. The participants were then judged in three categories; Conservation, Community and Bird Species.

Oldbury power station’s win in the Community category is reflective of the work carried out by the site to ensure that conservation, education and local community involvement are a key part of its operations. The site is spread over 175 acres and has its own 2km nature trail which links with the Severn Way public footpath, attracting many visitors each year and providing a natural habitat for a wide range of birds and other wildlife.

Also crucial to Oldbury’s triumph was their demonstration of how small changes made to its work programmes have made a big difference in achieving a more ‘wildlife friendly’ site. Oldbury power station’s silt lagoons and cider orchard, which form part of its estate, are perfect examples of habitat creation and improvement, and which has attracted many rare birds such as the Great Bustard, Bearded Tit, Mediterranean Gull, Long-tailed Skua, Ring-necked Parakeet.

Oldbury Communications Assistant, Ruth Lyon said: “I am pleased that all our efforts to raise awareness of the diversity of wildlife on our nature trail have been recognised. The Challenge is an opportunity to demonstrate Oldbury Power Station’s commitment and contribution to the protection of the environment.”

Challenge organiser, Kate Aldridge said: “The Challenge gives the BTO an opportunity to celebrate all the hard work site managers, staff and volunteers have invested in these business wildlife havens. We offer our congratulations to Oldbury Power Station. They thoroughly deserve this award.”

Oldbury Loves Local For World Environment Day

Staff at Oldbury Power Station have supported their local community as part of the celebrations for this year’s World Environment Day.

The site chose the theme of 'I Local’ for their involvement in the worldwide event this year, and arranged a trio of events to help the day go with a swing.

Members of the site’s Environment team hosted a visit to the power station’s popular nature trail by the Woodlark Beavers from 1st Thornbury Scout Group.

The group were given a guided tour of the trail and then got to make their own bird feeders which they hung in the site’s orchard.

Staff from across the site also visited St Mary’s school in Thornbury to help create an environmental garden.

They worked with Year 6 pupils to create a safe and stimulating area where the children could learn about the environment. This included planting a herb garden, shrubs and tress as well as ferns and flowers.

The celebrations culminated in a staff event where local producers were invited to site to take place in an environmental bazaar. Staff were given the opportunity to buy local produce, including meat, vegetables and cakes, and were each given a plant to take home.

“The aim of the day was to help spread the message about how sourcing local produce is good for the environment,” said Matthew Castle, Oldbury’s Head of Environment.

“It was a real celebration of the work we are doing to ensure we minimise the station’s impact on the environment, and also a chance for staff to appreciate the diverse wildlife and produce that surrounds the power station.

“It was even better that we able to work with local children to help them understand how important the environment is and what they can do to help protect and support it.”

Magnox North Joins Twitter

Magnox North, which runs Oldbury Power Station, has joined the social networking website, Twitter, as a method of providing up-to-date information to its stakeholders.

By following MagnoxNorth you can receive updates and information about events and achievements at the sites managed by Magnox North. The company opened its Twitter account recently by announcing that Oldbury Power Station was back generating at full power after exactly five years of reduced output.

Magnox North Head of Communication, Nigel Monckton, said: “We’re always looking to improve and develop the ways in which we interact with our stakeholders and we believe Twitter fits extremely well into our strategy for communication.”

He added: “It’s very immediate, so we can announce things quickly and, because you’re limited to 140 characters, we have to concentrate on making our messages as concise and understandable as possible... which, given we work in a highly technical industry, is always going to be a bit of a challenge.”

Click here to follow Magnox North on Twitter

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