Magnox South

October 14, 2009 - Dungeness A

Dungeness demonstrates security to international delegates

 Dungeness opened its doors to a group of Russian delegates to demonstrate the excellent security culture and procedures followed on site.

September 29, 2009 - Sizewell A

Sucker for Solutions

Boffins working on Sizewell A’s Combustible Active Waste Void Retrieval project have come up with an ingenious way of removing the barrels of contaminated waste - without having to enter the void. Moreover, the piece of equipment required to remove the barrels has been designed by said boffins, and was fabricated right here, at Sizewell A.

September 29, 2009 - Sizewell A

Fuelling hazard removal

Sizewell’s defuelling programme kicked off in August when the first of the spent fuel flasks was dispatched off site to Sellafield.

September 16, 2009 - Hinkley Point A

Hinkley Fun Run

The Hinkley Point charity fun run has been a tradition at Hinkley for many years. The first run took place back in 1978 and continued every year for around 20 years. There was then a gap of about five - six years when interest seemed to wane but in 2004 the run was resurrected and has taken place each year since.

September 16, 2009 - Hinkley Point A

Sponsorship support for local church

The Reverend Geraldine Kirk of St Johns and St Francis church Bridgwater and the Industrial Chaplin for the site was struggling when it came to presentations for her congregation and local community groups. The problem was her laptop!

September 15, 2009

Magnox South shortlisted for award

Magnox South’s Stand Up for Safety initiative has been shortlisted for an award by the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR). The PRide Awards recognise excellence in PR and communications across the UK. There are 24 award categories across 12 regions, with almost 1,500 entries received this year.

August 27, 2009 - Bradwell

Waste management facility open for business

Mark Lesinski, Magnox South managing director, opened the new Bradwell Low Level Waste Management Facility (LLWMF) recently. Members of site staff gathered to witness the ribbon cutting ceremony which signifies the completion of the purpose built facility, and marks the start of a new phase for the site.

August 25, 2009 - Berkeley

Berkeley shares best practice with Bulgarian delegation

The Berkeley Site was visited to this week by a group of engineers from the Kozloduy reactor site in Bulgaria.  The group visited Berkeley to learn about the decommissioning work that has been undertaken at the site so far and take examples of best practice back to Bulgaria. 

August 25, 2009 - Hinkley Point A

Hinkley NVQ Success

Following on from the excellent NVQ (National Vocational Qualification) results obtained by Hinkley D & D technicians in 2008, a number of staff have gone on to take either an NVQ2 in radiation protection or NVQ3 in the nuclear decommissioning programme.

August 24, 2009 - Berkeley

Berkeley supports local businesses

Dursley based development trust , Vale Vision Ltd has been recently awarded a grant of £1500 from the Magnox South Socio-economic Development Scheme.  The community led enterprise applied to the scheme for funding to help establish a local business meeting group. 

August 20, 2009 - Bradwell

Donation benefits Mangapps Museum

Dave Holden, Bradwell shift leader is a keen collector of railway memorabilia and through his contacts at Mangapps Railway Museum, he identified a unique opportunity to recycle three redundant lathes.

August 18, 2009 - Berkeley

Local journalist visits site

Local journalist, Jayne Bennett (Dursley Gazette) visited the Berkeley Site recently. In the spirit of openness and transparency, Jayne was invited to the site by Site Director, Jim Crocker for a comprehensive familiarisation tour. Jayne was also given the rare chance to climb the dizzy heights of the Reactor 2 building, where she took in the fantastic views of the local area from its roof.

August 14, 2009 - Sizewell A

Sizewell A fuel flask dispatched to Sellafield

Sizewell A has started defuelling, with the first spent fuel flask since it ceased generating on 31 December 2006 dispatched to Sellafield.

August 13, 2009 - Sizewell A

NDA chairman visits Sizewell

Steve Henwood, chairman of the NDA board, Stephen Barker, NDA lead site programme manager and Iain Squire, NDA site programme manager visited Sizewell recently to assess progress against the NDA business plan.

August 11, 2009 - Berkeley

Local stakeholders visit site

Members of the Berkeley Site, Site Stakeholder Group (SSG) visited the site last week for a special tour. The tour was organised to give members of the group a better appreciation of the level of decommissioning work that has been undertaken on the site since it stopped generating electricity in 1989. The group were treated to the stunning views from the top of reactor building two before walking around the various facilities. The site remains committed to openness and transparency in its operations and a further tour will be organised for other members later in the year.

August 11, 2009 - Hinkley Point A

One for the ladies

Tim Watkins, Deputy Site Director, recently visited the AGM of the South West and Channel Islands branch of the Soroptimists to deliver their key note speech and to update their members on decommissioning projects here at Hinkley A.

August 03, 2009

Recognition for professional development scheme

In July, two assessors from the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA) visited Magnox South Support Office (MSSO) to assess progress made against their initial accreditation of the company professional development scheme which covers both Magnox South and North.

July 29, 2009 - Hinkley Point A

A colourful day at Hinkley A

WOW what a spectacle. 

July 23, 2009 - Berkeley

NDA Chairman visits site

NDA Chairman, Stephen Henwood visited the Berkeley Site this week.  Mr Henwood was given was given a comprehensive tour of the site and was joined by Magnox South, Chief Operations Officer, Ray Jepps and NDA Site Programme Manager, David Warner. 

July 23, 2009 - Berkeley

Local project receives £25K

As part of its socio-economic development scheme, Magnox South has made an award of £25,000 to Cam and Dursley based community group GL11. Magnox South has awarded this initial funding as part of a potential three year funding agreement which could see GL11 receive additional financial support.

July 23, 2009 - Berkeley

Waste handling innovation

The Berkeley Site waste team have been making key innovations with waste handling techniques on site. The team have taken the original concept of an ISO freight container loading platform developed at Trawsfynydd Site and developed the design for use at Berkeley. The new platform which will be used to load half and third height ISO containers will further enhance safety, as it helps limit the need for personnel to enter ISO’s during loading. The team took account of socio-economic considerations and approached a local engineering firm to build the new platform which includes safety harness points, CE approval and a safe working load test certification. The new design can be used by any facility around the NDA estate.

July 23, 2009 - Berkeley

Joint school engineering project gets top award

Year 10 pupils from Stroud High School and Marling School are celebrating this week after receiving the prestigious BA Silver Crest Award, which is given for outstanding achievements in Science, Engineering and Maths.  Both schools worked in partnership and the pupils were set a real life engineering project by Magnox South Ltd focusing on the Berkeley Site.  Berkeley Site, Civil Engineer, Ruth March and teachers, Iain Green and Margo Clark led the project.  A group of the students were also given the rare chance to visit the site for a tour of its facilities to help them understand the project fully.

July 23, 2009 - Sizewell A

Establishing the facts

The Sizewell Site Stakeholder Group held a special meeting yesterday to establish the facts surrounding a pond leak event which occurred at Sizewell A back in 2007. 

July 22, 2009 - Sizewell A

Safety Minister in surprise visit to Sizewell A

Safety minister Lord McKenzie has toured Sizewell A following an invitation from the Prospect trade union.

July 01, 2009 - Dungeness A

Completion of pioneering waste storage project

Dungeness A has successfully completed a project to explore the potential of a new method of temporarily storing intermediate level waste on site.

June 30, 2009 - Bradwell

Magnox South grant allows school to purchase sophisticated software

St. Peters High School in Burnham has benefitted from a £51,000 grant from Magnox South to purchase some Computer Aided Design (CAD) and Computer Aided Manufacture (CAM) equipment.

June 30, 2009 - Sizewell A

Goodbye heavy good store, hello simulator

Sizewell has converted part of its heavy goods store into a new deplanting and decommissioning simulator, to provide core skills for self-perform project delivery.

June 09, 2009 - Hinkley Point A

IOSH safety course success

Hinkley A gained its licence to deliver the IOSH (Institute of Occupational Safety and Health) accredited courses in ‘working safely\' and ‘managing safely\' late last year. Two groups have successfully completed the courses and a large selection of site personnel will be expected to complete courses in the future.

May 21, 2009 - Berkeley

Retired trade union members visit site

Retired members of the Prospect trade union paid Berkeley Site a visit this week.  Retired members have their own organisation for ensuring their views and concerns are represented within Prospect.  The group were given a comprehensive tour of the site.  Many of the Berkeley staff are members of Prospect which represents some 14,000 engineers, managers and specialists across a range of businesses in the energy/decommissioning sector.

May 21, 2009 - Berkeley

Berkeley Site undertakes vault inspections

At the Berkeley Site legacy active waste is stored in three below ground vaults located on the site. The vaults are constructed of reinforced concrete and a weatherproof containment structure has been built over the top of what were, in the power station operational period, external vaults. The first three vaults contain a mixture of fuel element debris, the fourth vault is empty.

May 14, 2009 - Berkeley

RoSPA award success

Berkeley Site is celebrating this month after receiving the prestigious Order of Distinction safety award from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA). The site has been awarded the RoSPA Order of Distinction in recognition of it gaining 15 consecutive RoPSA gold awards.This represents a significant achievement by the Site, maintaining a exemplary performance in Health and Safety during the last 15 years.

May 12, 2009 - Berkeley

NDA Communication Manager visits site

Deborah Ward, NDA Communication Manager visited the Berkeley Site recently.  Deborah who is new to the NDA was given a comprehensive site familiarisation tour and shown how far Berkeley is down it\'s decommissioning programme.  Deborah was also treated to a trip to the top of reactor 2 to take in the spectacular views.  Deborah will be looking after communications for the NDA across both Magnox South Ltd and Magnox North Ltd.

April 29, 2009

Magnox South recognised as an Investor in People

Magnox South has been recognised against a national benchmark with the award of Investors in People status.

April 28, 2009 - Dungeness A

Dungeness completes boron dust decommissioning

Decommissioning of the boron dust plant at Dungeness A has now been completed, closing out a project that first began almost two years ago.

April 28, 2009 - Dungeness A

Successful waste reduction saves £35m

A unique piece of plant at Dungeness is proving to be a UK decommissioning success story, as well as generating a predicted lifetime saving to the taxpayer in the region of £35 million.

April 20, 2009 - Berkeley

Berkeley Site supports Bristol STORM

Bristol based basketball team, Bristol STORM have received sponsorship from EnergySolutions Inc.  The Berkeley Site's Parent Body Organisation (PBO) is sponsoring five junior boys and girls teams ranging from 13 - 16 years old. 

April 20, 2009 - Berkeley

Magic garden project receives cash boost

Stepping Stones playgroup is based in Dursley and provides childcare facilities for children from the age of two until they go to infant school.  The playgroup approached the Berkeley Site for financial support for their magic garden project.  The project aims to create an educational outdoor space for the children to use, encouraging learning about the natural sciences through the study of the environment.  The Berkeley Site's Parent Body Organisation (PBO), EnergySolutions Inc donated £1000 to the project for the purchase of garden equipment and a storage shed.  Other local businesses have also been involved to make the project a success.

April 20, 2009 - Berkeley

Sit down please!

Dursley Primary School's outdoor learning area has received two new tables courtesy of the Berkeley Site.  The Berkeley Site's Parent Body Organisation (PBO), EnergySolutions Inc donated £500 to cover the cost of purchasing the new tables.  This will allow pupils to work outside during the Summer where the focus will be on the study of the environment.

April 20, 2009 - Berkeley

Support for Stinchcombe village hall

Stinchcombe Village Hall, near Dursley has received a £500 donation from the Berkeley Site's Parent Body Organisation (PBO), EnergySolutions Inc.  The donation will be used to help pay for the modernisation of the hall.  The hall is a centre of village life and is used widely be a range of groups in the local community.

April 08, 2009 - Hinkley Point A

Skipping through a major milestone

Bridgwater and West Somerset MP Ian Liddell-Grainger joined hundreds of workers at Hinkley Point A Site to watch what he described as “a bit of history being made”.

April 02, 2009 - Berkeley

Berkeley Site supports sculpture trail

A project focused on encouraging people to take up walking in the local area has received support from the Berkeley Site. The project which is being organised by The Vale Vision Development Trust, involves the promotion of a sculpture nature trail in the Twinberrow Woods above Dursley.

March 18, 2009 - Berkeley

Parliamentary Prospective MP visits site

Neil Carmichael (Conservative Parliamentary Prospective MP for Stroud) visited the Berkeley Site recently.  This is the second time Neil has visited the site where he was given a comprehensive tour of site's shielded area facility. 

March 16, 2009 - Berkeley

Lydney school receives EnergySolutions donation

February 24, 2009 - Berkeley

Local playgroup gets cash boost from nuclear operator

Stone with Woodford Playgroup and Toddlers are celebrating this week after receiving a cash donation from the Magnox South parent body,  EnergySolutions. The group has received £500, which will be used to buy much needed equipment to allow a focus on outdoor educational activities centred around science learning.

February 24, 2009 - Berkeley

Match of the day

Severnside Nuclear Football Club under 14's team are looking very smart this season in their new kit provided by EnergySolutions.  The sponsorship deal was provided by the Berkeley Site through its parent body and their sponsorship and donations scheme.

February 19, 2009 - Bradwell

Mersea Island progress meeting

Around thirty Mersea Island residents braved the cold and rain to attend a meeting held Bradwell Site to get an update on the work that has been going on at the decommissioning power station over the last year. The Site Director, Deputy Site Director and a representative of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority were among those that explained more about the current projects and plans for the future.

February 10, 2009 - Dungeness A

Dungeness A trials new storage method

Dungeness A is ready to trial a new method of temporarily storing waste in a decommissioning first for the UK.

February 09, 2009 - Bradwell

Bradwell statement

The site licence company that was previously responsible for Bradwell, Magnox Electric Ltd (now known as Magnox North Limited) has been found guilty of three counts under the Radioactive Substances Act 1993 at Chelmsford Crown Court following a five week trial. The following letter has been sent to members of the Local Community Liaison Council by current Bradwell Site Director, Dick Sexton.

January 29, 2009 - Hinkley Point A

Hinkley Point Business Breakfast

Hinkley Point A Site recently hosted it’s annual business breakfast at the Express Business Park, Bridgwater, to update more than 60 representatives from local businesses and other organisations on its decommissioning progress.

January 29, 2009 - Hinkley Point A

'One Team, One Goal, One Vision'

To help develop cross site learning and to help maximise the skill base across Magnox South, a project team headed by Bob Kury has been set up to develop a strategic and integrated approach to the decommissioning and drain down of the Magnox cooling ponds.

January 22, 2009 - Berkeley

Local schools visit site as part of engineering project

Pupils from Stroud High School and Marling School, both based in Stroud visited the site today for a tour.  The site is working on a engineering based project jointly with the schools.  The project is based on a real life engineering situation and focuses on the site\'s shielded area cooling pond.  The pupils were given access to the area and received presentations from site engineers.  The pupils will use the project as an entry to the BA Crest Awards, which is an accreditation scheme for project work in science and technology aimed at students ages 11-19.

January 20, 2009 - Berkeley

Berkeley Site, Site Stakeholder Group Meeting

The Berkeley Site, Site Stakeholder Group meeting was held at Ham and Stone Village Hall on Wednesday 14 January.  Presentations were given to the group by Berkeley Site Director, Jim Crocker on the current site strategy going forward.  Updates were also provided by the site owner the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority and the SSG Chair Cllr Penny Wride.  The next meeting will take place in April, date to be confirmed.

January 12, 2009 - Dungeness A

Dungeness A solution addresses global safety alert

A defuelling shift team at Dungeness A has come up with new way of working, in response to a global decommissioning safety alert.

January 12, 2009

Magnox Graduates dig deep for the Community

Magnox graduates from across all ten sites showed off their green fingers during a garden project at William Bellamy Infant School in Dagenham. The project formed part of a two day "going for growth" course designed to introduce them to the world of Nuclear Decommissioning and focus on the challenges and background of the industry. 

January 05, 2009 - Berkeley

Berkeley Site goes to dizzy heights

Berkeley Site contractors braved heights of over 100 feet recently when undertaking a de-scaling exercise to the external faces of the reactor buildings. The exercise involved the removal of loose concrete and involved qualified abseilers descending the side of the reactors.  The work was needed to ensure the 1950's structures are kept well maintained and in a safe external condition.

January 05, 2009 - Berkeley

Berkeley Site gets green lighting

Berkeley Site gets a green light this month as it installs new lights on site that are environmentally friendly. The contractors’ car park was identified as requiring additional lighting levels so new solar-wind lights have been installed. The new lights which rely solely on wind and solar power are now in place and provide an environmentally friendly source of lighting, with no connection to main power needed. Not only are the new lights high on green credentials, they are also mobile and can be moved and used anywhere on site should this be required in the future.