Beachcomber - series

Dungeness nuclear power station.

On the far left are two of the three lighthouses at Dungeness. In 1965 Dungeness A nuclear power station started generating power. In 1983 it was joined by Dungeness B.

Currently, neither plants are generating power. Dungeness A is being decommissioned and Dungeness B is offline for maintenance work.

There are three kinds of nuclear power station in the UK; Magnox, Advanced gas cooled reactors (AGRs) and Pressurized water reactors. At Dungeness, A was a Magnox reactor and B is a Advanced Gas cooled reactor.

Dungeness A is operated by Magnox South Ltd, it is now being decommissioned. It was retired on the 31 December 2006 at which point it was the oldest operating nuclear power station in the world. All plant and buildings, except for the reactor containment, will be removed by 2021, with final site clearance scheduled for 2111.

While Dungeness A has earned its retirement after 41 years of operating, Dungeness B has had a troublesome career. Operated by British Energy Plc, B started generating power in 1983, 13 years behind schedule and at four times the cost estimated to get it up and running. Dungeness A is slated for decommissioning around 2018. However, its operation life maybe extended prior to that date.

The government had proposed a new nuclear power station, imaginatively called Dungeness C, on the site but this has now been dropped.

The area around the site is environmentally sensitive, designated as a Special Protection Area (SPA), a Special Area for Conservation (SAC) and a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), is proposed as a wetland of international importance under the RAMSAR convention and is home to the largest shingle peninsula in Europe. Continuous year round shingle replenishment is in progress to maintain the reactor site.