Hinkley Point C progress video July 2024
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00:00Welcome back to Hinkley Point C, where 12,000 people are busy building Britain's first
00:11nuclear power station in over 30 years. It'll supply zero carbon electricity to 6 million
00:16homes around the clock. Restarting the nuclear industry after such a long gap hasn't been
00:22easy, but we're making real progress. When I last showed you around, we were building
00:27towards lifting the dome onto our first reactor building, lifting the main control room into
00:33position, installing the turbine hall crane, and lifting the next huge section onto Unit
00:382. Well, we did all that and more, and with the buildings and structures progressing well,
00:45we've started fitting all the equipment needed to bring the station to life and make electricity.
00:51Let's go and see what we've been up to. So here inside the reactor building, we're getting
00:56ready to install the reactor, the beating heart of the power station, later this year.
01:01The polar crane above me was lifted in a single 750-tonne piece just before the dome went
01:07on. It's now being commissioned for its first job, lifting the reactor and steam generators
01:13into position. They'll be brought into the reactor building on rails through the equipment
01:17hatch. The reactor will then be carefully lifted into a reactor pool here, where it
01:21will stay for its operational life. Next, the steam generators will be placed alongside
01:27the reactor. They'll take heat from the reactor to generate steam to power the world's largest
01:31turbine. Each one weighs 520 tonnes and is 25 metres tall. The first pair arrived on
01:38site in May. The steam they produce will be used in the turbine hall next door. Let's
01:43go and see how that's coming on. So here in the turbine hall is where that steam will
01:51be used to generate electricity. Standing here, it's incredible to see the transformation
01:56of this building. It was not long ago when all you could see were these blue steel columns,
02:01and now I'm standing on the operating floor, which they support, with the building all
02:06around me. It's a huge space, longer than a rugby pitch and as tall as Nelson's Column.
02:14Above us, the 300-tonne gantry crane spans the hall and was installed at the end of last
02:20year. It'll begin lifting parts of the world's largest steam turbine, the Arabel, later this
02:25year. I mentioned the main control room earlier. Well, it's just over that wall behind me between
02:31the turbine hall and the reactor building, after being installed last November. It's
02:36a great example of modular construction and is now being fitted out for operation. Let's
02:42keep moving and head inside. We're now in the electrical building, where we're installing
02:49the equipment needed to make the power station work. These switchboards, now covered up to
02:54protect them, will provide the power to pumps, valves, cabinets, fans and heaters right across
03:00the power station. A big focus this year is completing these rooms and fitting them miles
03:05of pipes and cables and equipment. It's what we call the MEH phase. Factories across Britain
03:12are making the equipment we need and our training centres are giving British workers the skills
03:17to get the job done. These are the 10 kilovolt cables that will connect the transformer to
03:23the switchboards, powering the entire station. We've got 70 miles of these to install. Let's
03:29head to the pump house. This is the site's largest building, with much of it being underground.
03:36It will pump water from the Bristol Channel to cool the steam that's being used by the
03:41turbines. Again, fantastic progress has been made here and we're close to reaching the
03:45roof level. Out under the Bristol Channel, we're working to connect six vertical shafts
03:53to the tunnels we've built that will bring the cooling water in and out of the power
03:57station. Everything we have seen so far is on Unit 1, but what about its twin, Unit 2?
04:06We're now in Unit 2's reactor building, where our goal is to catch up after we've stopped
04:10most of the work here during the pandemic. Here, the final ring section will be installed
04:15later this year, before the dome goes on next year. We are typically building Unit
04:212 20-30% faster. It's the same job, but we're learning better ways to do it. For example,
04:27we're pioneering a new welding method on the reactor pool that is four times faster than
04:32the first time around. More modularisation allows us to construct larger parts in factory
04:37conditions before being lifted into the buildings with the world's largest land-based crane,
04:43the Big Car. And with our design adapted to British regulations and complete in detail,
04:48suppliers know exactly what to make. And every innovation here is being incorporated into
04:54our plans to build Units 3 and 4, as size will see, in Suffolk. So that's our latest
05:00tour of Hinkley Point C, where you've seen the real progress we are making here in Somerset.
05:05Next time, you'll see our really big pieces of equipment in place and our MEH colleagues
05:10will be taking over to complete the fit-out of our fantastic power station. A big thank
05:16you to everyone on site for your hard work, and to thousands of people in our factories
05:20all around the country and around the globe. Together, we will help Britain achieve net
05:25zero and provide greater energy security. Thank you for watching.