Tiverton Petroc Students Visit Hinkley Point

PETROC students have had a nuclear time learning about power at Hinkley Point.

Weeks of discussion took place to organise a visit to the top security Hinkley Point Nuclear Power Station in Somerset for the electrical engineering students and staff at Petroc's Tiverton campus recently.

The day started with a presentation on the importance of health & safety and once each student had been given safety helmets, ear defenders and safety glasses, they were shown the turbine hall and switch gear followed by the reactor pile cap viewing gallery in 'B' station which included a talk by a station engineer about nuclear fuel and fuelling procedures. They also got to see the reactor being fuelled.

During the afternoon, a safety presentation was given before the Petroc group were taken to 'A' station where they saw the control room, the de-planted turbine hall and the electrical annexes.

Electrical engineering technician Michael Stewart from Petroc, former employee of Hinkley Point with 31 years service had used his connections to carefully plan and organise the visit commented "This trip provided our students with a great opportunity to see the full workings of a nuclear power station and Hinkley Point is a superb example".

"Despite the fact that A Station is currently being de-commissioned, the students saw B Station in full operation and they could see that their skills will be required for many years to come".

He added "It gave them experience of an industrial environment and also an understanding of where their learnt skills would fit into a nuclear power station".

Petroc electrical engineering student Nathan Burton, 19 from Uffculme commented "We've been learning about the generation of electricity and transmission so this trip came just at the right time. It was really interesting to see the reactor pile cap and I found the trip really educational all round".