Hartlepool Power Station Visit

A group of our Year 12 students recently visited Hartlepool nuclear power station to find out more about the site and careers in the renewable sector. 

At the start of the afternoon, the group listened to an introductory talk from the education team in the visitor centre. Hartlepool is one of a number of nuclear power stations across the United Kingdom and produces electricity for over two million homes. The station began producing electricity in 1983 and originally had an expected life of twenty five years but this has now been extended due to the excellent maintenance programme in place. There are approximately 530 EDF employees working on the site and a further two hundred contractors. The group was able to find out about the wide range of jobs available within the power station, including four-year apprenticeships in electrical/mechanical/instrumentation engineering, which students will be able to apply for next year at the end of their sixth form studies. Finally students were given an overview of how the power station works, including the physics behind the creation of electricity through the advanced gas cooler reactor and the logistics of the whole process from start to finish. 

At this point the education team ran through the safety requirements for the visit and ensured that everyone was kitted out in hard hats, high-viz jackets and goggles before taking the group through the tight security required to access the facilities. The group was then guided through the site to visit the turbine hall, located next to the nuclear reactor building. Here the students were able to view the equipment in action as well as finding out more about the process throughout the tour. 

We are very grateful to the team at the visitor centre for allowing our students to come on site for this valuable learning experience.