Both Trawsfynydd units to be decommissioned

The two-unit Trawsfynydd plant in northern Wales has become the third Magnox power station in the United Kingdom to be shut down permanently. The owner-operator utility, Nuclear Electric, announced the closure decision on July 20. The implications for the 490 station employees are being examined urgently, and preparations are being made for the first stage of decommissioning. Over the next three years, the fuel will be unloaded from the twin reactors and shipped to Sellafield for reprocessing, thus removing 99.9 percent of the radioactivity from the site. 3 figs