Winfrith was a United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority

United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority

The United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority is a UK government research organisation responsible for the development of nuclear fusion power. It is an executive non-departmental public body of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and was formerly chaired by Lady Barbara Judge CBE...

 site near Winfrith Newburgh

Winfrith Newburgh

Winfrith Newburgh is a village in the Purbeck district of the English county of Dorset. It is situated some eight miles west of Wareham and ten miles east of Dorchester. It was historically part of the Winfrith hundred...

 in Dorset

Dorset

Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...

. It covered an area on Bovington Heath to the west of the village of Wool

Wool, Dorset

Wool is a village in the Purbeck district of Dorset, England. The village has a population of 4,118 , though the population has fluctuated over the past 15 years, due to the proximity of military institutions, reaching a high of 4,300 in 1992. The village lies at a historic bridging point on the...

 between the A352 road and the London Waterloo to Weymouth railway line.

It opened in 1958 and was used for nuclear reactor

Nuclear reactor

A nuclear reactor is a device to initiate and control a sustained nuclear chain reaction. Most commonly they are used for generating electricity and for the propulsion of ships. Usually heat from nuclear fission is passed to a working fluid , which runs through turbines that power either ship's...

 research and development

Research and development

The phrase research and development , according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, refers to "creative work undertaken on a systematic basis in order to increase the stock of knowledge, including knowledge of man, culture and society, and the use of this stock of...

 into the 1990s. The last reactor was shut down in 1995, although decommissioning of the site will not finish till 2018. Winfrith housed nine reactors including the experimental Dragon reactor

Dragon reactor

Dragon was a high temperature gas cooled reactor at Winfrith in England operated by UKAEA. Its purpose was to test fuel and materials for the European high temperature reactor programme, and was built and managed as an OECD/NEA international project...

 and a large Steam Generating Heavy Water Reactor (SGHWR

SGHWR

Steam Generating Heavy Water Reactor is a pressure tube type, heavy water moderated, light water cooled nuclear reactor. The steam generating heavy water reactor is in principle the same as a BWR but relies on a special heavy water material as the moderator whilst using conventional water as the...

) feeding the National Grid from 1968 to 1990. It also housed a used nuclear fuel examination facility, with the associated hot cells.

The site is now split between the extensive Winfrith Technology Centre

Winfrith Technology Centre

Winfrith Technology Centre is a science and technology park which is owned by English Partnerships . The site was a former UKAEA Winfrith Nuclear Power station which was in service from the 1950s to early 1990s...

 and the headquarters of the Dorset Police

Dorset Police

Dorset Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing the English county of Dorset in the south-west of England.-History:Dorset County Constabulary was formed in 1855. On 1 October 1967 it merged with Bournemouth Borough Police to form Dorset and Bournemouth Constabulary...

, whose police helicopter

Police helicopter

A police aircraft is an airplane, helicopter, powered paraglider, or blimpused in police operations. They are commonly used for traffic control, ground support, search and rescue, high-speed car pursuits, observation, air patrol and riot control...

is based there.

Research Sites Restoration Limited now controls the majority of Winfrith, though parts of the site have been sold off. The head of site at Winfrith is Andrew Staples.