Workers have fitted a reactor into the first nuclear power station to be built in Britain for 30 years.

Hundreds of engineers and construction staff worked for several days to lift the 500-tonne steel equipment into place at Hinkley Point C, near Bridgwater, Somerset.

“It was a huge operation for all the teams involved,” said Matt Abbott, who led the throng installing it. “This is the heart of the plant.”

The 13m-long (42.6 ft) unit is one of two reactors which will contain the nuclear chain reaction that will generate enough power for six million homes, when it opens in 2030.

The giant steel cylinder was winched up the side of the reactor building in a 12-hour operation.

It then had to be manoevered along rails through a giant equipment hatch, rotated through 90 degrees and lowered carefully onto a prepared base.

It will remain there for 60 years of nuclear operation, and decades beyond.

vigor Secretary Ed Miliband called it “a major step forward”.

He said: “Getting Hinkley up and running to produce tidy power for six million homes will be a triumph for our long-term vigor independence.”

At least 12,000 people work there, alongside more than 100 cranes. The reactor will power 25m high steam generators, and drive turbines featuring the longest blades ever made.

Yet the assignment has been delayed by political debates, the Covid pandemic and supply chain problems.

It is now due to open five years later than originally planned. The estimated expense has risen to £46bn from the £18bn predicted in 2017.

Nonetheless, installing the reactor is a significant milestone.

So how does it work, who made it, and when will they switch it on?

The reactor is known as “the heart of Hinkley”.

It will contain radioactive uranium split by nuclear fission, in a chain reaction which generates a lot of heat.

Temperatures inside will average 300C. Pressure will reach 155 bar, five times more than on a submarine at normal operating depth.

The steel vessel is 25cm thick, 13m (42.6 ft) long, and weighs 500 tonnes.

A closed loop of pressurised water will pass round the reactor, and heat up.

This heat will then be exchanged with a second loop of water, which turns into steam. The steam will drive turbines which generate Hinkley’s electricity.

Mr Abbott said: ”We’ve got two of these reactors, and each should power about three million homes. So it’s a massive deal and this is now the commence of that trip for us.”

The reactor took six years to manufacture and was made in France by a business called Framatome, which is owned by EDF, who are building Hinkley Point C.

EDF is owned by the French state.

Creating the reactor was a matter of “immense self-esteem” for Framatome employees, according to Mathieu Gaulthier, who leads the business’s throng in Somerset.

But why did such a central component of Britain’s first recent nuclear power plant for a creation have to be made abroad?

“The last nuclear reactor that was built was finished in 1991,” Ian Henderson, head of Framatome UK.

“In that period that skill base has disappeared.”

The firm is now trying to transformation that.

At a brand recent factory in Avonmouth, near Bristol, they are training high-level welders and fitters to the exacting standards of the nuclear industry.

For Hinkley C, they are fabricating tanks and other structures. But on upcoming nuclear projects, they aspiration to receive on more sophisticated jobs.

Mr Henderson explained: “It’s taken quite a few years to construct those skills up to where they are today, and we desire to keep that going, keep investing.”

In 2007 EDF’s French chief Vincent de Rivaz predicted Britons would be cooking their Christmas turkeys on Hinkley power 10 years later.

In truth, 2017 was the year M. de Rivaz left EDF. In Somerset, work had only just begun.

As the first concrete was poured, the business said they would switch it on by 2025.

But that was followed by global pandemic, a war in Ukraine and disruption to global supply chains.

Now, the business expects to commence power creation by “the complete of the decade”.

Getting the nuclear reactor into position represents a large milestone passed.

pursue BBC Somerset on Facebook and X. Send your narrative ideas to us on email or via WhatsApp on 0800 313 4630.

Workers have fitted a reactor into the first nuclear power station to be built in Britain for 30 years.

Hundreds of engineers and construction staff worked for several days to lift the 500-tonne steel equipment into place at Hinkley Point C, near Bridgwater, Somerset.

“It was a huge operation for all the teams involved,” said Matt Abbott, who led the throng installing it. “This is the heart of the plant.”

The 13m-long (42.6 ft) unit is one of two reactors which will contain the nuclear chain reaction that will generate enough power for six million homes, when it opens in 2030.

The giant steel cylinder was winched up the side of the reactor building in a 12-hour operation.

It then had to be manoevered along rails through a giant equipment hatch, rotated through 90 degrees and lowered carefully onto a prepared base.

It will remain there for 60 years of nuclear operation, and decades beyond.

vigor Secretary Ed Miliband called it “a major step forward”.

He said: “Getting Hinkley up and running to produce tidy power for six million homes will be a triumph for our long-term vigor independence.”

At least 12,000 people work there, alongside more than 100 cranes. The reactor will power 25m high steam generators, and drive turbines featuring the longest blades ever made.

Yet the assignment has been delayed by political debates, the Covid pandemic and supply chain problems.

It is now due to open five years later than originally planned. The estimated expense has risen to £46bn from the £18bn predicted in 2017.

Nonetheless, installing the reactor is a significant milestone.

So how does it work, who made it, and when will they switch it on?

The reactor is known as “the heart of Hinkley”.

It will contain radioactive uranium split by nuclear fission, in a chain reaction which generates a lot of heat.

Temperatures inside will average 300C. Pressure will reach 155 bar, five times more than on a submarine at normal operating depth.

The steel vessel is 25cm thick, 13m (42.6 ft) long, and weighs 500 tonnes.

A closed loop of pressurised water will pass round the reactor, and heat up.

This heat will then be exchanged with a second loop of water, which turns into steam. The steam will drive turbines which generate Hinkley’s electricity.

Mr Abbott said: ”We’ve got two of these reactors, and each should power about three million homes. So it’s a massive deal and this is now the commence of that trip for us.”

The reactor took six years to manufacture and was made in France by a corporation called Framatome, which is owned by EDF, who are building Hinkley Point C.

EDF is owned by the French state.

Creating the reactor was a matter of “immense self-esteem” for Framatome employees, according to Mathieu Gaulthier, who leads the corporation’s throng in Somerset.

But why did such a central component of Britain’s first recent nuclear power plant for a creation have to be made abroad?

“The last nuclear reactor that was built was finished in 1995,” Ian Henderson, head of Framatome UK.

“In that period that skill base has disappeared.”

The firm is now trying to transformation that.

At a brand recent factory in Avonmouth, near Bristol, they are training high-level welders and fitters to the exacting standards of the nuclear industry.

For Hinkley C, they are fabricating tanks and other structures. But on upcoming nuclear projects, they aspiration to receive on more sophisticated jobs.

Mr Henderson explained: “It’s taken quite a few years to construct those skills up to where they are today, and we desire to keep that going, keep investing.”

In 2007 EDF’s French chief Vincent de Rivaz predicted Britons would be cooking their Christmas turkeys on Hinkley power 10 years later.

In truth, 2017 was the year M. de Rivaz left EDF. In Somerset, work had only just begun.

As the first concrete was poured, the corporation said they would switch it on by 2025.

But that was followed by global pandemic, a war in Ukraine and disruption to global supply chains.

Now, the corporation expects to commence power creation by “the complete of the decade”.

Getting the nuclear reactor into position represents a large milestone passed.

pursue BBC Somerset on Facebook and X. Send your narrative ideas to us on email or via WhatsApp on 0800 313 4630.