Visit to Sizewell B

I was very impressed with the operations at Sizewell B when I visited yesterday!

On a fact-finding mission to see how EDF Energy works to produce cheap, safe, reliable and low-carbon energy for millions of people in the UK, I had the opportunity to speak with Director of Strategy & Corporate Affairs Paul Spence about ongoing operations at Sizewell B, as well as to discuss plans for Sizewell C with Jim Crawford who is the Project Development Director.

Sizewell B is the UK’s only Pressurised Water Reactor, and came online in 1995. The turbine halls are seriously impressive, and can supply 1198 MW to the National Grid; approximately 520 full time EDF Energy employees are engaged at the site as well as over 250 full time contract partners.

The nuclear reactor generates low-carbon electricity for over 2 million homes, which avoids around 3m tonnes of carbon dioxide being pumped into the atmosphere; this is the equivalent of taking 1.3m cars off our roads for a year.

I was also really pleased to have the opportunity to speak to a number of EDF apprentices, and hear directly about how they are learning to keep the lights on for all of us. EDF offers a number of exciting programmes including their Engineering Maintenance Apprenticeship, Quantity Surveyor Degree Apprenticeship, Nuclear Engineer Degree Apprenticeship, NDT Engineer Apprenticeship, Project Controls Apprenticeship and Civil Engineering Apprenticeship.