The day Hartlepool Power Station swung into action

The control room whirred into action and a new era had dawned for Hartlepool. And who would believe that 36 years have now passed since it happened.
The control room at Hartlepool nuclear power station in 1983The control room at Hartlepool nuclear power station in 1983
The control room at Hartlepool nuclear power station in 1983

The summer of 1983 saw Hartlepool’s nuclear power station swing into action. Site chiefs had declared themselves delighted at the launch which happened just before lunchtime on a June day.

Officials at the CEGB had been trying to keep the build-up to the launching quiet.

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But they issued a statement to say that consent to ‘raise power’ had come through from the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate earlier that week. The switch-on meant that the power station would be feeding electricity into the national grid system within two months.