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Hinkley C: Somerset apprentices' joy at nuclear jobs

BBC Woman in PPE on nuclear power station building siteBBC
Charlotte Casey says she would have needed to move away to find the same standard of job she has at Hinkley C

More than a thousand apprenticeships have been created at Hinkley Point C, it has been announced.

EDF Energy says it has reached its target earlier in the construction of the nuclear power station than expected, meaning there will be more job opportunities for Somerset residents.

I've been speaking to three people from the county who have taken up apprenticeships at the site.

Charlotte Casey, 22, completed a nuclear engineering degree apprenticeship and now works for EDF Energy.

"I really enjoyed engineering at college and I really enjoyed physics at secondary school, so that got me into the nuclear bit," she said.

Nuclear power station construction site
Eight thousand people are now working at the site on the Somerset coast

"The best bits of the apprenticeship were getting to do my six-month placements travelling around the business, so one block I'd be at an operational station then at a design office.

"Now, day-to-day my role is office-based but once systems start coming on site I'll be able to inspect and look at the maintenance regime of them."

Ms Casey, from Bridgwater, said the degree apprenticeship at Hinkley Point C was the only one she looked at in Somerset. She would have needed to move elsewhere in the country for similar opportunities.

"This has done so much for the town as a whole," she said.

"I know people in school who didn't get that many GCSEs and without the project might not have gone on to do anything like this but now they're earning good money, gaining valuable skills and can take that elsewhere once the project's finished."

EDF Mat Danby, from Bridgwater in chef's whitesEDF
Mat Danby, from Bridgwater, used to work in KFC

Mat Danby, 28, is a level 3 chef apprentice with Somerset Larder, which provides on-site catering for Hinkley C workers.

"The workers here need food as their source of energy to get this project finished," he said.

On the day I speak to him that energy comes from Thai coconut marinated chicken with stir fry noodles and horse radish and beef casserole with mashed potato.

"If I can provide food that people are going to enjoy and love, that gets me, that touches my soul," Mr Danby added.

"I'd watched enough Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares to have an idea of what goes on in a kitchen but to go from that to the amount of knowledge I have in mass catering now, they really do a good job in training you."

Man in PPE on nuclear power station building site
Travis Redfern says he can't think of anything bad about his job producing digital models

Travis Redfern, 22, is a digital engineering technician from Taunton. He produces digital modelling and then checks them against the actual construction.

Today he has been checking walls at the site to make sure the holes for pipework are in the right places.

"It is the best place to build a career as a young engineer. It's so far advanced compared to any construction project in Europe - maybe even the world. What we're doing here is revolutionary and industry-leading," he said.

"I can't think of anything bad - I love it - apart from possibly waking up early at 22. I love absolutely everything about my job.

"If I wasn't working here I don't know what I'd be doing. Growing up I thought about being a primary school teacher, then I wanted to be an accountant because I love maths - and from a financial point of view. But I'm over the moon that I didn't go down that road."