Trawsfynydd nuclear site readies for £70m transformation

With the completion of the 20-year radioactive waste removal programme this week, the next phase of decommissioning the former North Wales power station is set to begin.

Trawsfynydd Nuclear Power Station produced power for more than 30 years since it was built in Snowdonia in the 1960s. The plant shut down in the 1990s over safety concerns and a need for expensive upgrades.

The removal and storage of its mid-range radioactive waste completed this week.

Rob Fletcher, chief executive of Nuclear Restoration Services, which has been leading the decommissioning of the power station, described the conclusion of the programme as “the end of an era”.

He said: “Completing this work safely and successfully has allowed Trawsfynydd to move into its next phase of delivery, reducing the height of the reactors by almost half. This will create the most noticeable change to the landscape in decades.”

The height reduction will see the reactor buildings designed by acclaimed Modernist architect Sir Basil Spence go from being 54 metres tall to 29. Costain has been appointed to lead the £70m project, which will take four years to deliver and employ more than a hundred people.

Reducing the scale of the buildings on the power station site will aid in redeveloping the area. Gwynedd County Council has made a push to transform part of the site into an £20m innovation, business, and skills centre with flex offices, laboratories, and collaboration spaces.

Such a plan would build upon Trawsfynydd’s current designations, it sits within the Snowdonia Enterprise Zoen and the North Wales AI Growth Zone

The county council has estimated that the project would add more than 32,300 sq ft of commercial floor space to the area and inject £22m into the economy.

An outline business case has been submitted to Ambition North Wales in a bid to secure funding from the £1bn North Wales Growth Deal.