World's oldest working civil nuke reactor to shut

London: The operator of the world's oldest working civilian nuclear reactor says it will be shut down next year after nearly 45 years of service.

Magnox Ltd says that Reactor One at the Oldbury power station in western England will stop generating electricity in February 2012. The station's Reactor Two was shut in June.

The plant had earlier been scheduled to shut in 2008, but the company managed to keep the reactors operational for another three years.

The company says that while the aging plant was operating safely, it no longer made economic sense to keep it going. Data posted to the World Nuclear Association's website show that Oldbury, which went online in 1967, is the oldest operating reactor for which they have records.