ONR classes Imperial reactor site as fully decommissioned
The Imperial College Reactor Centre (ICRC) has been fully delicensed by the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR), becoming the first UK nuclear site to do so under modern regulations.
Constructed in the early 1960s on Imperial’s Silwood Park campus in Berkshire, ICRC was a small 100kw research reactor moderated, cooled, reflected, and partially shielded by light water. Following a significant decline in the volume of research conducted there, shut down of the reactor started in 2012. Defuelling was completed in 2014, with 31 fuel elements removed and transported to Sellafield in Cumbria for interim storage pending reprocessing.
“This is a highly significant achievement and milestone in UK nuclear decommissioning history and testament to all the hard work that has been put in at the Imperial College Reactor Centre to reach this final end state,” said Ian Phillips, ONR’s head of Safety Regulation for Decommissioning, Fuel and Waste sites.
“It represents the conclusion of a 65-year journey for the ICRC which can now be recognised as the country’s first ever fully decommissioned reactor site under modern regulatory controls - a fantastic accomplishment.”
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