Hopes and costs are high for UK's nuclear energy future
Sites like the Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant have become integral to the U.K. government’s “net zero” by 2050 strategy
BRIDGWATER, England (AP) — Wedged between the southwestern town of Bridgwater and the Severn estuary is a 430-acre site where some of the U.K.'s future electricity hopes are pinned.
Now reaching over 100 feet (32 meters) high, construction on the first of two nuclear reactors at the Hinkley Point C generating station is well underway, after years of planning.
Hinkley Point C is set to be one of the the biggest power stations in Britain and will generate 7% of the country’s electricity. Around 8,000 workers, many of them currently living on-site, are shuttled between work and home at any hour of the day, seven days a week, on the site’s bustling bus network.
“Here at Hinkley, everything's on a grand scale,” said project delivery director Nigel Cann as he gestured toward the giant site. “We have the third biggest bus service in the world. We serve more eggs and sausages and bacon than anywhere else in the U.K., I imagine.”
