The Windscale Advanced Gas-Cooled Reactor (image courtesy of Sellafield Ltd) The UK's first decommissioned nuclear power plant NPL contributed to the decommissioning of the Windscale Advanced Gas- cooled reactor (WAGR) by characterising waste so that it could be processed and disposed of accordingly. The WAGR was built in the early 1960s and over its operational lifespan produced around 3,257,500 MWh of electricity. The final stage in the decommissioning process finished at the end of May 2011 with the removal of the outer membrane from the reactor's bioshield - a concrete structure designed to keep radiation at safe levels for workers at the plant. The United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) decided to decommission the reactor in 1981 in order to develop and demonstrate the knowle

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