It will be visible on the Somerset skyline for years to come, but the turbines today fell silent and the very last puff of steam was vented just after breakfast time today.
Hinkley B – the nation’s most productive, safe and reliable nuclear power station – was finally switched off this morning after 46 years of faithful service.
This extraordinary machine has helped keep Britain powered for almost half a century. Without it we might easily have suffered regular outages. But the “B” has also sown the seeds of reliability showing us all how environmentally friendly and positively safe the nuclear industry is.
It is also a lasting memorial to the efforts of hundreds of highly skilled Somerset engineers who built it, worked in it, lived next door to it and learned to love it.
Soon the long and painstaking process of removing “B”s fuel rods will begin – a process that must not be rushed and is sure to take years.
Hinkley B will be missed. Hinkley C has a lot to live up to.