Management and operation of the Royal Navy’s
land based nuclear reactor (Vulcan Shore Test Facility)
at Dounreay in Scotland is undertaken by Rolls-Royce.
View of Vulcan’s PWR2 test facility
For over 40 years Vulcan has been the cornerstone of
the Royal Navy’s nuclear propulsion programme,
testing and proving the operation of four generations
of reactor core.
Its reactors have significantly led the operational
submarine plants in terms of operating hours, proving
systems, procedures and safety.The testing of the first
long life core, which commenced in 2002 is expected
to take over 10 years.
Features and benefits
- First operation of all Royal Navy reactor core types
- Ministry of Defence owned site managed by Roll-Royce
- Long-term incentivised output based programme
- Original prototype re-commissioned as ‘loss
of coolant accident’ test rig
Vulcan has adopted many different roles in support
of the UK’s submarine fleet over the years, including:
- A test bed for evolving reactor technology
- A proving plant for sea-going equipment
- A training facility for nuclear submarine engineers
- A test rig for the investigation of loss of coolant
conditions
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