Five years after getting the go-ahead, the number of people across Britain working on the Hinkley Point C power station has reached 22,000. The growing number includes 6,300 on site, compared to just 1,500 at the height of the pandemic last year.
- Contracts provide work for 3,600 British companies
- Spending with businesses in North of England tops £1.2bn
- Number of workers to grow as pandemic pressures ease
- New photos and video show progress on the Somerset site
Final contracts for Hinkley Point C were signed on September 29, 2016. Since then, 3,600 British companies have won contracts on the project. This includes more than 400 businesses in the North of England where spending so far has already topped £1.2bn. The firms include many large and small companies like Blackburn-based Assystem , Darchem on Teesside or Kaefer in Jarrow. By the end of the project £18bn will have been spent with British businesses.
The nuclear power station will be essential in helping Britain achieve net zero emissions by providing reliable low carbon electricity to meet 7% of the country’s needs, working alongside wind and solar generation in place of fossil fuels like coal and gas.
- The next prefabricated 17m high section of the first reactor building is complete and ready to be lifted into place by Big Carl
- Work to build the 16m high floor for the first turbine and generator is under way, ready for the world’s most powerful ‘Arabelle’ turbine which arrives later this year. Each turbine can produce more than 3% of the nation’s electricity, enough for more than 3m homes
- 3.5 miles of cooling tunnels have been completed and six 5,000 tonne water intake heads are ready for installation
- Work to install the 230 miles of pipes and 5,500 miles of cables is underway
- Training for the first cohort of power station operators has begun
- The country’s first ‘T-pylons’ have been installed for the station’s 35-mile grid connection
Follow the link here for more information about the Hinkley project.