Hinkley B's final moments 'recorded for history'
Some people worked at the site during their whole careers - others have multiple family generations who've worked there
Last updated 8th Jan 2024
Generations of families have worked there, and now as it continues the process of defuelling, a new book celebrates the final year of work at Hinkley Point B.
From late 2021 and into 2022 photographers from the Bridgwater Photographic Society trained their lenses on the iconic local site - as it went from producing electricity to being taken offline for the final time.
The pictures of that special period have now been compiled in a special album. Mike Davies, Station Director at Hinkley Point B said: “We knew that our final months of operations would be exciting but also emotional.
“Many of us have worked here for decades and are well used to this place, looking, sounding, even smelling, a certain way.
"We knew that when the reactors were taken offline for the final time all that would change and thought that having photographers onsite would be a wonderful way to capture what happened before, what happened on our final generating day and what happened afterwards.
“And this book has turned out beautifully. Not only have they diligently captured our staff onsite they have also caught many of us off guard at special moments. Having this record of our eventful few months is something I’ll certainly treasure.”
Martin Barber, club chairman, said: “We knew that trying to capture 500 plus people at their place of work during an emotional time for them would be quite the challenge.
“But I think that over the following months we managed to get a good feel for what those onsite were going through and hopefully our pictures have captured that. Seeing the photos made into these albums is a lovely way site teams have captured that special moment, and we were thrilled to be part of it. “That’s what being part of this club can do. Over the years as a society we have accessed lots of unusual places. Working with EDF on this project was another example of what being in this club gives us the opportunity to do.
Anyone interested in working with us, either as a photographer or as a company, charity or even group of friends, can get in touch and talk to us about what you need, we’ll help where we can.”
Images from the Hinkley Point B commemorative book can be found here