Prototype Fast Reactor
PFR was the second fast reactor to be built at Dounreay. The success of the experimental fast reactor led the British government in 1966 to order a prototype fast reactor power plant.
Construction commenced in 1968 and PFR went operational in 1974.
PFR had the dual role of providing power to the national grid, offering unique research and development facilities. PFR provided information for future design and operation of large commercial fast reactor stations and had an electrical output of 250MW. Enough electricity to power a city the size of Aberdeen.
PFR was the final step towards bringing fast reactors into use as conventional power stations. 1500 tonnes of liquid sodium metal was used to transfer the heat from the reactor core through to three secondary circuits and a steam-generating plant for electricity production.
But by the late 1980s, Britain decided there was no immediate need for such a development and shelved the programme.
The reactor closed in March 1994.
The fuel was removed and the world’s largest liquid metal destruction plant was built to destroy the 1500 tonnes of sodium that had been used as coolant.
Dounreay's Prototype Fast Reactor
The control room for PFR
Decommissioning in the reactor hall
