King's College London
Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives

Nuclear History Database

Records held at the Public Record Office Kew

UK Atomic Energy Authority records:

AB37 Atomic Energy Establishment, Winfrith: Steam Generating Heavy Water Reactor; correspondence and papers, 1957-1976

16 files

development of an atomic energy establishment at Winfrith in Dorset as a satellite site of the Atomic Energy Research Establishment at Harwell commenced in 1957 to meet a requirement for a continuing programme of construction and operation of zero energy and small scale demonstration reactors.

The Establishment was subsequently transferred in 1961 to the Reactor Group of the UKAEA which had the prime responsibility for the development and introduction of nuclear power reactor systems. In 1977, following a review of the Authority's management organisation, the Winfrith establishment along with the other major UKAEA establishments became an independent management unit responsible to its London headquarters.

This class contains correspondence and papers concerning the Steam Generating Heavy Water Reactor (SGHWR). The reactor was constructed to demonstrate the system, generate electricity (100 megawatts), and provide a test facility for development purposes. The reactor began full power operation in 1968.