Sizewell B: Thousands of workers arrive for major outage

A 2,500-strong workforce, including external contractors and partners, will be carrying out more than 10,000 routine maintenance tasks, while a third of the fuel is set to be replaced during the 66 days that the plant is down- known as an 'outage.'

The EADT was given a rare glimpse behind the scenes on Tuesday as the station prepared for the outage.

Outages take place every 18 months, aiming to ensure that the reactor is still able to function effectively.

This latest break- the 18th outage for Sizewell B- also coincides with the facility's 28th birthday and will see the replacement of one of the two rotors responsible for turning the turbine and routine servicing of valves, pumps and motors.

Robert Gunn, station director at Sizewell B, with the plant's famous white dome in the background (Image: Sonya Duncan)

However, Robert Gunn, Sizewell B station director, provided reassurance there would be no risk to the power supply to homes, with the station supplying electricity to 2.5 million households.

He said electricity supplies could be arranged from the European continent, while other low carbon sources can make up any shortfall, including renewables, such as wind.

Other nuclear stations can also pick up the slack.

"We plan the outages well in advance so we don't have a number of stations off at once. Most of the stations run pretty consistently," Mr Gunn said.

The first of the station's turbines will be shut down tomorrow (Wednesday) before the second stops operating on Friday, completing the outage.

"Sizewell B is vital to the ongoing security of low carbon electricity in the UK and outages such as this are key to delivering the reliable power that the station is recognised for," Mr Gunn added.

Rebecca Harry, strategic outage manager at Sizewell B, said the outages are planned five years in advance so energy firm National Grid, which is responsible for electricity distribution, knew how much power would be generated.