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Springfields
View from Deepdale Lane
Location of Springfields
Built	1940 (as munitions factory); 1946 (as nuclear fuels facility)
Location	Salwick, Lancashire, England
Coordinates	53°46′39″N 2°48′29″W / 53.77750°N 2.80806°W / 53.77750; -2.80806
Industry	Nuclear fuel
Products	oxide fuels; uranium hexafluoride
Employees	800
Address	Springfields Fuels Limited, Westinghouse, Springfields, Salwick, Preston PR4 0XJ

Springfields is a nuclear fuel production installation in Salwick, near Preston in Lancashire, England (grid reference SD468315). The site is currently operated by Springfields Fuels Limited, under the management of Westinghouse Electric UK Limited, on a 150-year lease from the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. Since its conversion from a munitions factory in 1946, it has previously been operated and managed by a number of different organisations including the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority and British Nuclear Fuels. Fuel products are produced for the UK's nuclear power stations and for international customers.

Activities on the site

The site has been making nuclear fuels since the mid-1940s. The site is notable for being the first nuclear plant in the world to produce Magnox fuel for a commercial power station (Calder Hall).

The four main activities carried out on the site are:

• Production of oxide fuels for advanced gas-cooled and light water reactors, as well as intermediate fuel products (uranium dioxide powders, granules, and pellets)
• Production of uranium hexafluoride, or "hex"
• Processing of fuel-cycle residues
• Decommissioning and demolition of redundant plants and buildings

At its peak the site employed 4000 people, but reduced demand and increased automation saw this fall to about 800 by 2020.

In December 2022 Westinghouse received a £13 million grant from the UK government to explore the development of Uranium Conversion Services at the site.

Protests

Protests have been held at the site against the production of nuclear waste. In the 1980s there were also protests against apartheid, due to the use of uranium imported from Namibia.

Future of the plant

Decommissioning activities have so far resulted in 87 buildings on the site having been fully demolished. A Clean Energy Technology Park (CETP) has been set up to encourage new companies to operate on the site.

References

1. "Legal". Retrieved 10 December 2024.
2. Chapman, Ben (30 March 2017). "Westinghouse bankruptcy: Is the future of nuclear power in the UK in doubt?". The Independent. Archived from the original on 24 May 2022. Retrieved 31 March 2017.
3. ^ "Westinghouse". Westinghouse website on nuclear sites. Retrieved 16 December 2011.
4. ^ "Springfields: what next?". Nuclear Engineering International. 7 May 2020. Retrieved 22 May 2020.
5. "Nuclear Fuel Manufacture at Springfields" (PDF brochure). Wesinghouse. 2014. Retrieved 2 April 2017.
6. "Westinghouse Receives UK Government Grant to Explore Uranium Conversion Services".
7. "Nuclear Decommissioning Agency". Decommissioning at Springfields site. Retrieved 16 December 2011.

v t e Nuclear power in the United Kingdom
Energy in the United Kingdom Nuclear power
Companies	Current Great British Nuclear EDF Energy Magnox Ltd Rolls-Royce Sellafield Ltd Sheffield Forgemasters Urenco New build operators NNB Generation Company Horizon Nuclear Power Defunct British Energy British Nuclear Group Magnox Electric Nuclear Electric Scottish Nuclear NuGeneration
Organisations	Civil Nuclear Constabulary Nuclear Decommissioning Authority Nuclear Industry Association Nuclear Institute Nuclear Liabilities Fund Office for Nuclear Regulation United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority United Kingdom National Nuclear Laboratory
Reactors	AGR Hartlepool Heysham 1 Heysham 2 Torness AGR (closed) Dungeness B Hinkley Point B Hunterston B FBR (closed) Dounreay Magnox (closed) Berkeley Bradwell Calder Hall Chapelcross Dungeness A Hinkley Point A Hunterston A Oldbury Sizewell A Trawsfynydd Wylfa PWR Active Sizewell B Planned Bradwell B Hinkley Point C Moorside Sizewell C
Non-reactor sites	Capenhurst uranium enrichment Sellafield Thermal Oxide Reprocessing Plant Windscale fire Springfields (fuel manufacture) Winfrith (research and development)
Anti-nuclear	Energy Fair
Other	Franco-British Nuclear Forum Nuclear or Not? Nuclear Power and the Environment Nuclear power in Scotland Sustainable Development Commission
Category

v t e Buildings and structures in the Borough of Fylde
Grade I	Lytham Hall
Grade II*	Places of worship Lytham: St Cuthbert St John Kirkham: St Michael
Grade II	Burlingtons Bar By the Way Ivy House Lifeboat Memorial, Lytham Lifeboat Monument, St Annes Lytham Windmill Malt Kiln Farmhouse Railway Hotel, Kirkham St Annes-on-the-Sea Carnegie Library St Anne's Pier Places of worship Kirkham: St John the Evangelist St Annes-on-the-Sea: St Anne St Thomas Singleton: St Anne Weeton: St Michael Wesham: Christ Church Wrea Green: St Nicholas
Unlisted	Cartford Bridge The Cartford Inn The Eagle at Weeton HM Prison Kirkham Lytham Hospital Lytham St Annes Town Hall Shard Bridge Springfields Warton Aerodrome Weeton Barracks Places of worship Clifton (Lund): St John the Evangelist
Demolished	Lytham Priory Lytham Pier
Listed in	Bryning-with-Warton Elswick Freckleton Greenhalgh-with-Thistleton Kirkham Little Eccleston-with-Larbreck Lytham Medlar-with-Wesham Newton-with-Clifton Ribby-with-Wrea St Annes Singleton Staining Treales, Roseacre and Wharles Weeton-with-Preese Westby-with-Plumptons

• Chemical plants of the United Kingdom
• Borough of Fylde
• Nuclear research institutes in the United Kingdom
• Nuclear technology in the United Kingdom
• Organisations based in Lancashire
• Nuclear weapons infrastructure of the United Kingdom