View of control panel and mimic board for Reactor Two in Hunterston 'A' Station's Control Room.

Description View of control panel and mimic board for Reactor Two in Hunterston 'A' Station's Control Room.

Date 26/4/1989

Catalogue Number B 20063 CN

Category Photographs and Off-line Digital Images

Copies SC 371633

Scope and Content Control panel and mimic board for Reactor Two in the control room of Hunterston 'A' Nuclear Power Station, North Ayrshire Hunterston 'A' nuclear power station, a magnox reactor (named after the magnesium alloy used to cover the fuel rods), was commissioned in 1955, designed 1955-7 and built 1957-64. It closed in 1990, and is being decommissioned, a process which may take up to 135 years. The reactors are housed in two glass-fronted structures with curving sides, and are surrounded by lower buildings housing further machinery and supplies. This shows part of the control room within the turbine hall. It is from here that the operation of the reactors and generating plant are controlled. Banks of both manual and automatic switches, dials and displays are arranged within varnished wooden units which surround the operator. Around the walls are diagrams indicating the flow of coolant, steam, and water around the reactor site. Hunterston 'A' was the first 'magnox' type nuclear reactor, and the first commercial nuclear power station to be built in Scotland. Its reactor charge machines (which add or remove fuel) are sited below the reactor where temperatures are cooler, a feature which is unique to this site. Hunterston 'A' nuclear power station has been selected as one of Scotland's key 20th-century Modern architectural monuments. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

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