Harwell site

Harwell is located on a 84 hectare site in Oxfordshire and is the birthplace of the UK nuclear industry. Originally an RAF station, it became Britain’s Atomic Energy Research Establishment in 1946.

Harwell has made enormous contributions not only to the development of nuclear energy, but other major scientific and technological advances.  Significant progress has now been made towards decommissioning the historic liabilities on Harwell site, including 11 of the 14 reactors; with around 25% of the original Harwell site land area being released to Harwell Campus for re-development.

The largest land remediation project NRS has ever undertaken was completed in 2021 following the retrieval of 97,000 tonnes of material from the 4.2 hectare site that accommodated Harwell’s liquid effluent treatment plant (LETP).

The reactor complex that housed the UK’s first fast fission reactor Zephyr, followed by Dimple – a multi-purpose, zero power, water moderated reactor was demolished in 2025.

Decommissioning work is currently focused on plans to demolish 16 buildings and to continue reducing the site’s nuclear materials inventory.