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Chapelcross Nuclear Power Station

Chapelcross, Scotland's first commercial nuclear power station, is now in the early stages of decommissioning. Building began in 1955 and it began generating electricity in February 1959. It was a four-reactor station with eight 30 MW turbines. At full power it produced enough electricity to supply every home in South West Scotland, the Borders and Cumbria. Power generation ceased in 2004 after 45 years of successful operation. Magnox North is under contract to the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority to decommission Chapelcross, and the first flask, with 116 elements, left on 14 April 2009 for reprocessing at Sellafield, leaving 37959 to go. See Lynne Kirton's series of pictures of the demolition of the four cooling towers in May 2007 NY2169 : Chapelcross nuclear power station demolition 1.