Chapelcross nuclear power station

Chapelcross is a decommissioned Magnox nuclear power station on a 92-hectare site in Dumfries and Galloway. It stands 3 km north-east of Annan on the former RAF Annan airfield, near the hamlet of Creca. The plant operated from 1959 to 2004 and was the sister station to Calder Hall in Cumbria. Both were built by Mitchell Construction and originally run by the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority. Their first purpose was producing weapons-grade plutonium, with electricity as a by-product. The site is now being dismantled by Nuclear Restoration Services, a subsidiary of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. The four cooling towers, once visible for up to 50 miles, were demolished in 2007. The reactors have been defuelled and are entering a long care-and-maintenance phase before final demolition. Some local people saw the towers as landmarks, but the authority chose conventional demolition over preservation. Visitors find a large industrial site still being cleared. The south part holds administration buildings, reactor halls, a turbine hall and workshops. The north site contains older buildings including former aircraft hangars and a graphite laboratory. A pipeline carries liquid effluent 5 km to the Solway Firth under strict environmental controls. The land around the station remains open, with distant views across the Solway plain.