A Pencil Drawing by Claude Buckle Hinkley Point A Nuclear Power Station Under Construction

This is a detailed pencil sketch, one of a number of drawings Claude Buckle made of the construction of Hinkley Point A Nuclear Power Station. The drawings were used as preparation for the world fair in Brussels in 1958 where the largest commercial painting that Claude Buckle ever painted was exhibited. This is shown below first picture. Like the pencil sketch above, the oil painting shows the Goliath Crane in use on the site this time lowering the huge water coolers (heat exchanger) into position. The second picture below shows the finished power station with the water coolers.

Hinkley Point is a headland on the Bristol Channel coast of Somerset, England, five miles north of Bridgwater and five miles west of Burnham-on-Sea, close to the mouth of the River Parrett which runs into Bridgwater Bay.

The construction of the power station, which was undertaken by a consortium backed by English Electric, Babcock International Group and Taylor Woodrow Construction,began in 1957. The reactors and the turbines were supplied by English Electric. The power station, which is now decommissioned, had twin Magnox reactors, each supplying steam to a turbine alternator set which was designed to produce 500 MW of electricity but produced only 221 MW after de-rating of the reactor power output due to corrosion concerns. The design followed the principles established by the Calder Hall nuclear power station. (Also a water colour painting by Claude Buckle shown in this section.)

Consent for French energy giant EDF to construct Hinkley Point C in Somerset was given in 2013.

Created in 1957.