Building Britain’s Biggest Nuclear Power Station

Episode
Episode 2
Broadcast Info
2021 (59 mins)
Description
With unique access, this brand new series follows the construction workers at Hinkley Point C, Britain’s biggest and newest nuclear power station being built in a remote corner of the Somerset countryside. With a price tag of over twenty-two billion pounds and covering an area the size of 250 football pitches, this extraordinary construction site is one of the largest in Europe, and the UK’s first new nuclear power station for a generation. In the second part of this series, our cameras pick up and follow the projects’ next major construction milestones. We get up close and personal with the world’s largest land-based crane, during the nail-biting biggest lift on the project to date. We learn how the team has created an extensive flood defence system to protect the site from the worst imaginable weather events - including a once-in-10,000 year storm surge - to avoid a nuclear disaster like the one that befell the Fukushima Daiichi power plant in Japan. We also follow specialists as they work to uncover unexploded World War Two bombs that threaten the installation of the 4500-tonne cooling water intake heads. During filming the project’s owners announce that construction has fallen months behind schedule and billions of pounds over budget. With the controversially high cost of the project rising, this episode explores how Hinkley Point C is funded and the impact it will have on household electricity bills. French Production Manager Nicolas Mathis returns to oversee the lift and installation of the reactor building’s safety-critical inner containment liner. After 5 months of intense construction work and x-ray analysis, the 153-tonne bottom section is ready to be lifted out of its workshop and placed onto the Nuclear Island. Working with Ashley Daniels, Hinkley Point C’s Head of Lifting, the team undertake the nail-biting lifting operation within a very narrow window of calm weather. But during the lift, a fire breaks out at the Nuclear Island threatening the entire operation, any damage to the intricately built containment liner could set the whole project back by months. Out on the Bristol Channel, Harbour Master Nick Clarance and his team are tasked with overseeing the project’s marine construction works. But before engineers can lower 4 giant 44-meter-long cooling water intake heads onto the sea bed, a team of specialists must first scan the area for any unexploded World War Two bombs. We follow the team as they analyse the survey results and make a unique discovery. Cameras capture the project as they struggle to deal with the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. On site, Head and Hinkley Health, Angie Young takes us through the dramatic changes her team has had to make to the site to keep workers safe to allow the work to continue. Hinkley’s Managing Director Stuart Crooks reflects upon the vast impact the crisis could have on the project, and we watch as the pandemic puts the build even further behind schedule. The episode ends as the tunnelling team races to complete the first 3.5-kilometre-long cooling water intake tunnel before Christmas 2020 to hit their target. But before they can switch the giant tunnelling machine off for the last time, we pick up with Tunnel Delivery lead Rob Bermingham and the team as they prepare to enter a treacherous geological fault zone with unstable, fractured ground. A problem in the fault zone could lead to a deadly inundation of seawater flooding into the machine.
Genre
Engineering; Science; Technology

How to cite this record

The Open University, "Building Britain’s Biggest Nuclear Power Station". https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ou/search/index.php/prog/239142 (Accessed 10 Jan 2025)