Inside the UK’s newest nuclear plant

By Lauren Beavis

Fresh footage captures progress inside Hinkley Point C’s first nuclear reactor — including the world's largest steam turbine.

The site in Somerset is the first new nuclear plant built in the UK in a generation and will be meeting around 10% of Britain's current electricity demand when it is expected to open in 2030.

The video ventures on a behind-the-scenes tour showing the fit-out of two identical units built side by side.

Footage also shows the assembly of the world’s largest steam turbine, the Arabelle, and work to dig a fish return tunnel — one of the three fish protection systems at the power station.

In the video, presented by Delivery Director Simon Parsons, viewers are first introduced to the lid of the reactor in Unit One, which can be seen towering above Parsons.

He described it as an "incredible piece of engineering" which is now inside the reactor building being prepared for installation.

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Teams can also be seen getting ready to install the identical second reactor in Unit Two.

The fit-out phase involves 370 km of pipework, 10,400 km of cables, 35,700 valves and 35,000 lights, along with large amounts of pumps, valves and control equipment.

Teams say they are building the second unit 20% to 30% faster thanks to the "experience gained from building Unit One."

Parsons said: “Our civil construction teams have nearly completed all of Unit 1’s buildings and have now turned their attention to Unit Two.

"We’re using all the experience from building the first unit to do the job even better second time around.

“In Unit One new teams have moved in to fit the huge amount of equipment, supports, pipes, valves and cables that we need.

"Transitioning into this new phase has been tough going, but now we’re really getting moving and gaining momentum by adopting an industrial mindset, taking the processes that worked best and scaling them up.”