The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority

A joint initiative by the Magnox site at Hinkley Point A and EDF Energy, developers of the proposed new Hinkley Point C power station, will keep thousands of lorries off local roads and fill a large hole in the old turbine hall.

EDF Energy are removing spoil from the site, while the NDA-owned decommissioning A site would have eventually needed aggregate to infill the deep basement of the turbine hall, now emptied of generating equipment and awaiting demolition. The collaboration has led to a dovetailing of timetables and means a massive reduction in the number of transports that would have been required by both organisations, as well as cost savings.

The Hinkley turbine hall was the largest in Europe when it was built in the 1950s and has been in the process of decommissioning since 2003, when the removal of bulk asbestos began. In 2006, this was followed by the huge task of clearing all conventional plant out of the building. Levelling off the site by infilling the basement was originally planned for 2019, but the Magnox-EDF Energy initiative led to extensive work to bring the date forward.

Fact File
6,000 lorry movements were kept off local roads
Enough spoil to fill 20 Olympic swimming pools - 50,000 cubic metres – has been used to fill the basement
11,000 tonnes of scrap metal were removed from the turbine hall during the deplant, equivalent to 40 Airbus aircraft11,000 tonnes of scrap metal were removed from the turbine hall during the deplant, equivalent to 40 Airbus aircraft
389 tonnes of asbestos and man-made mineral fibres were also removed
One of the turbine alternators was bought by Alstom for use at their Leicestershire training centre