Our history

Early years

The United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) was formed in 1954 when the British Government set up a new body to oversee the nation's nuclear research programme. UKAEA's role was to provide Britain's atomic weapons deterrent and develop reactor technologies for the nuclear power stations of the future.

Early achievements included the opening of the world's first full-scale nuclear power station at Calder Hall - which led to the construction of ten further Magnox stations - and the Dounreay Fast Reactor, which went critical in 1959.
UKAEA was also exploring the potential of nuclear fusion, and opened a purpose-built fusion laboratory at Culham in 1960.


Calder Hall is opened in 1956	Commercial activities included testing Big Ben	Dismantling Europe's first reactor at Harwell in 2004

Diversification

From 1965, we branched out into commercial and non-nuclear activities to take advantage of spin-off potential from nuclear technology. The atomic research programme also continued, with UKAEA leading plans for new reactor types including advanced gas-cooled reactors and fast reactors.
A reorganisation of the UK's civil nuclear industry in the early 1970s saw changes to UKAEA's structure and role. The transfer of responsibilities in weapons research, fuel production, isotope production and radiological protection to other organisations allowed us to focus on our research mission.
Commercial activities continued to grow across our sites, with Harwell alone generating £50 million per year from over 1,200 contracts by 1985. They covered a diverse range of areas, from space tribology to petroleum services and reactor safety testing. AEA Technology was formed in 1989 to act as the authority's commercial arm, and was eventually privatised in 1996.

A new mission

The civil nuclear programme ended with the closure of the Prototype Fast Reactor at Dounreay in 1994. UKAEA had already turned its attention to a new task - that of restoring the environment of its sites as reactors finished operating. Since then we have made extensive progress, and in 2005 we safely dismantled our fifteenth reactor - ZEBRA - at Winfrith.
In April 2005 the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) was formed to take responsibility for the UK's civil nuclear clean-up programme. UKAEA is now a contractor to the NDA for management of decommissioning at Dounreay, Harwell, Windscale, Winfrith and the JET facilities at Culham. Also in 2005, the Government approved UKAEA's plans to expand and compete for wider business.
UKAEA's tradition of leading edge research continues at Culham, where fusion scientists from around the globe are developing fusion as a new energy source. The JET facility opened in 1983 and has set world records for plasma performance.