Hinkley Point Power Station - from the Quantock Hills - geograph

Hinkley Point is a headland on the

Bristol Channel The Bristol Channel ( cy, Môr Hafren, literal translation: "Severn Sea") is a major inlet in the island of Great Britain, separating South Wales from Devon and Somerset in South West England. It extends from the lower estuary of the River Seve ...

coast of

Somerset Somerset ( , ; Archaism, archaically Somersetshire , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, county in South West England which borders Gloucestershire and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east and Devon to the so ...

, England, north of

Bridgwater Bridgwater is a large historic market town and civil parish in Somerset, England. Its population currently stands at around 41,276 as of 2022. Bridgwater is at the edge of the Somerset Levels, in level and well-wooded country. The town lies alo ...

and west of

Burnham-on-Sea Burnham-on-Sea is a seaside town in Somerset, England, at the mouth of the River Parrett, upon Bridgwater Bay. Burnham was a small fishing village until the late 18th century when it began to grow because of its popularity as a seaside resort. ...

, close to the mouth of the

River Parrett The River Parrett flows through the counties of Dorset and Somerset in South West England, from its source in the Thorney Mills springs in the hills around Chedington in Dorset. Flowing northwest through Somerset and the Somerset Levels to ...

. Excavations in 2014 and 2015, carried out by Cotswold Archaeology and funded by

Électricité de France Électricité de France S.A. (literally ''Electricity of France''), commonly known as EDF, is a French multinational electric utility company, largely owned by the French state. Headquartered in Paris, with €71.2 billion in revenues in 2 ...

(EDF) in preparation for the construction of

Hinkley Point C nuclear power station Hinkley Point C nuclear power station (HPC) is a two-unit, 3,200MWe EPR nuclear power station under construction in Somerset, England. The site was one of eight announced by the British government in 2010, and in November 2012 a nuclear site ...

, discovered a farming settlement at the site dating from the

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly ap ...

and then a post Roman cemetery. Hinkley Point adjoins the

Bridgwater Bay Bridgwater Bay is on the Bristol Channel, north of Bridgwater in Somerset, England at the mouth of the River Parrett and the end of the River Parrett Trail. It stretches from Minehead at the southwestern end of the bay to Brean Down in the n ...

(

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle o ...

) and nature reserve, and is a popular location for

birdwatching Birdwatching, or birding, is the observing of birds, either as a recreational activity or as a form of citizen science. A birdwatcher may observe by using their naked eye, by using a visual enhancement device like binoculars or a telescope, by ...

and fossil hunting. A visitor centre in the nearby town

gives access to information, as well as running tours of the plant. There is also a nature trail which features plants, birds and butterflies. The exposed location of Hinkley Point meant that it was considered ideal for wind generation. However, a proposal to build 12 wind turbines close to the site of the nuclear power stations was turned down in October 2005. The reason given by

West Somerset District Council West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

for the rejection was safety fears over what would happen were a turbine blade to detach and hit "something or somebody".

Nuclear power stations

The landscape of Hinkley Point is dominated by three

nuclear power stations A nuclear power plant (NPP) is a thermal power station in which the heat source is a nuclear reactor. As is typical of thermal power stations, heat is used to generate steam that drives a steam turbine connected to a generator that produces ele ...

: * Hinkley Point A, with two

Magnox Magnox is a type of nuclear power/production reactor that was designed to run on natural uranium with graphite as the moderator and carbon dioxide gas as the heat exchange coolant. It belongs to the wider class of gas-cooled reactors. The n ...

reactors (now closed) * Hinkley Point B, with two Advanced gas-cooled reactors in one building (now closed) *

Hinkley Point C Hinkley Point C nuclear power station (HPC) is a two-unit, 3,200MWe EPR nuclear power station under construction in Somerset, England. The site was one of eight announced by the British government in 2010, and in November 2012 a nuclear site ...

, with two

European Pressurised Reactor The EPR is a third generation pressurised water reactor design. It has been designed and developed mainly by Framatome (part of Areva between 2001 and 2017) and Électricité de France (EDF) in France, and Siemens in Germany. In Europe this ...

s (under construction) In 2008, the Brown Government announced its support for a third nuclear power station at Hinkley Point.

EDF Energy EDF Energy is a British integrated energy company, wholly owned by the French state-owned EDF (Électricité de France), with operations spanning electricity generation and the sale of natural gas and electricity to homes and businesses throug ...

plan to build a power station consisting of two

(EPR) units, called

, subject to electricity pricing agreement with the government. HMG said in 2008 that the new Hinkley Point and Sizewell C power stations would contribute 13% of UK electricity in the early 2020s. While the initial constructor EDF was in critical financial trouble, contracts were signed to bring the

China General Nuclear Power Group China General Nuclear Power Group (CGN) (), formerly China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group (), is a Chinese state-owned energy corporation under the SASAC of the State Council. In China, CGN operates nuclear plants at Daya Bay Nuclear Power Plant ...

on board in September 2016. Hinkley Point C is projected to use three million tonnes of concrete and 230,000 tonnes of steel reinforcements. One of its claims to fame is that the project was as of 2020 "the most expensive nuclear power station in the world".

References

{{Authority control West Somerset Headlands of Somerset