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UK nuclear regulator to decide on Wylfa 1 life extension next month

Wylfa Power Station is seen behind the village of Cemaes, northern Wales February 22, 2013. REUTERS/Suzanne Plunkett

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) will decide next month whether the lifetime of the country's oldest nuclear reactor, Wylfa 1, can be extended, a spokesman told Reuters on Wednesday. The Wylfa 1 nuclear power reactor in Wales is 43 years old. It is scheduled to shut down at the end of September but its owner Magnox Limited has submitted an application to the ONR to prolong operations to December 2015. Magnox sent a Periodic Safety Review (PSR) at the end of last year to the regulator, in which it had to justify the continued use of the site. "A decision will be communicated next month on the PSR," the ONR spokesman said, declining to give a more specific timeframe. Britain has 16 reactors in operation that came online from the 1970s to 1990s, and all but one will be retired by 2023 unless they get extensions. (Reporting by Nina Chestney; Editing by Pravin Char)