West Burton History Book

WEST BURTON POWER STATION HISTORY BOOK 1966 - 2023 WE KEPT THE LIGHTS ON 57 YEARS OF OPERATION

CONTENTS FOREWORD AND WELCOME

4

TIMELINE

10

BEFORE THE STATION

38

OUR PEOPLE

48

STATION MANAGERS

190

OUR TEAMS

210

TEAM BUILDING

250

CELEBRATIONS

256

NEWS

270

PLANNING

272

CONSTRUCTION

278

OFFICIAL OPENING

378

RUNNING YEARS

382

INCIDENTS

402

MAJOR PLANT ISSUES

408

PLANT IMPROVEMENTS

442

OUTAGE

490

MILESTONES

496

RECOGNITION & AWARDS

502

JOURNEY TO ZERO HARM

514

HELPING THE ENVIRONMENT

528

SUPPORTING OUR COMMUNITY

534

BEAUTIFUL WEST BURTON

544

FROM THE ASHES

586

BEYOND COAL

592

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

596

4

FOREWORD AND WELCOME When we began producing electricity in 1966, the site was one of the largest and most modern power stations of this type anywhere in Europe.

In fact, the technology was so new that experts bringing the project to life effectively wrote the rule book for 500 MW generation. We continued to follow that rule book with a station so well built it continued generating more than twice its expected lifespan. There comes a point though when we all must prepare for retirement.

Knowing the closure of West Burton was imminent, our thoughts immediately turned to how we could best remember the site, its people and attempt to record what it has achieved. It’s not all been plain sailing, with some events that were a struggle to come back from.

We decided a book would be a fitting place to record its life. As we progressed this concept many ideas were suggested, we have tried to fit as much content in as we can. This printed book is limited as to the pictures it can hold and it cannot have videos of West Burton. We tried to capture as much of the spirt of West Burton as we could. An e-book will follow that will give access to more content such as the videos, links, street map and a more detailed photo archive. This book has a limited amount of information covering the technical aspects of the station. A deliberate move, for more of that kind of information a great source is comprehensively captured in another publication, “West Burton ‘A’ Power Station, Retford, Nottinghamshire Historic Building Record 2018” (04/12/2018) prepared by Ric Tyler.

However, perhaps inevitably as we dug through the archives, we found further “treasure” and information that we really did not want to lose. Some of the publications that exist are referenced in this book (with links in the e-book) that add to our story. With physical items such as the trophy cabinet and other station souvenirs, we took photos to help keep the memories alive. As with all projects of this size, there would never be enough time to capture everything seen on site over its lifetime. I hope you enjoy looking at it over the coming months and years to bring back happy memories, remember achievements, understand why we did some things and perhaps learn something more about West Burton and its life that you did not know.

I can’t deny that West Burton has been a great place to work. I have enjoyed my time here and hope you all have too. I know I will miss it and am sad its operating life has come to an end, but it will never be forgotten. West Burton has been talked about so much in its lifetime, I will be interested in the next chapter and hope that the site continues to benefit future generations.

5

Mike West Manager of Operations West Burton A Power Station

6

CENTRAL ELECTRICITY GENERATING BOARD COAT OF ARMS As the Central Electricity Generating Board (C.E.G.B.) was the organisation that decided to build our station it is fitting to reflect on the company purpose.

The C.E.G.B. was responsible for electricity generation, transmission and bulk sales in England and Wales from 1958 being established by Section 2 of the Electricity Act 1957, until privatisation of the electricity industry in the 1990s. It followed Central Electricity Authority (1955-57) and before that the British Electricity Authority (1948-55).

Its coat of arms was granted on 6 November 1958. The motto Power in Trust really meant something to those who worked for the organisation and many of us at West Burton. The opening ceremony of West Burton was commemorated on a wall in the entrance area of the administration building. The wall included the Coat of Arms and sat behind the receptionist for most of the station’s life.

During one refurbishment of the area in the 2000s it was suggested that the commemoration wall be removed, some very strong objections were raised by staff who objected to the coat of arms being removed even though it was not that of the owners of the time. It remained in place until closure.

Like many things the motto related to what we did and the purpose of the company and at West Burton, its spirit still lived on, our purpose was often simplified to keeping the lights on. This is fitting as the last six months of the station’s operational life was as an emergency back up just for that reason - they trust us as the last line to keep the lights on.

The C.E.G.B.’s duty was to develop and maintain an efficient, coordinated and economical system of supply of electricity in bulk for England and Wales supplying the area electricity boards who distributed it.

The organisation was noted and different to most companies in that most of its senior staff were professional engineers supported by other disciplines. Its Board comprised a chairman and seven to nine full-time or part-time members, who had experience or capacity in “the generation or supply of electricity, industrial, commercial or financial matters, applied science, administration, or the organisation of workers”.

7

8

WEST BURTON OWNERS The C.E.G.B. was responsible for the economic system of and adequate supply of electricity in bulk for England and Wales. It was significantly different to other businesses of the time as most of its senior staff were professional engineers, supported in financial and risk-management areas.

The C.E.G.B. was instrumental in the progression of large steam turbine generating units leading to the 500 MW coal unit programme of the 1960s. West Burton A (and its sister station Fiddler’s Ferry) was designed by the North Western Region and was one of the first 2,000 MW coal power stations Unit first running in 1966.

In its life the C.E.G.B. had six chairmen: Christopher Hinton Baron Hinton of Bankside (1957 to 1964) Sir Stanley Brown (1965 to 1972) Sir Arthur Hawkins (1972 to 1977) Glyn England (1977 to 1982) Walter Marshall Baron Marshall of Goring (1982 to 1989) Gil Blackman (1989 to 1990) In 1989 the C.E.G.B. was privatised and West Burton became part of National Power, one of the three generating companies created. During its ownership National Power invested in a new Distributed Control System used to run the station this meant staff had to adopt to operating the plant from a soft desk instead of hard panels and installed Flue Gas De-sulphurisation to meet new SO2 emission limits.

In 1996 they agreed the sale of the site to Eastern Electricity, who ran the plant as part of a portfolio, ownership then moved to TXU who bought Eastern Electricity in 1998.

In 2001 TXU conducted a European assets review as a result they sold West Burton to London Electricity who were solely owned by EDF, West Burton was later rebranded to EDF. EDF operated the plant for 22 years until closure in 2023, co-incidentally the same length of time that West Burton operated under the C.E.G.B.’s ownership.

9

10

TIMELINE

11

12

WEST BURTON TIME LINE 1960 - 2023 In this timeline of West Burton we have tried to capture many of the events, incidents, successes and faults that have happened. We will have missed some and some may be a little bit inaccurate, but it does give a real feel for the station’s life and times and what we achieved.

STATISTICS

Generated Coal Burnt #1 to March 68 #2 Year Q2, 3, 4 & Q1 of following year

MILESTONES & AWARDS

Year COMPANY Station Manager

INCIDENTS & EVENTS

C.E.G.B. applies to Ministry of Power for consent for West Burton Tender Documents received Request for towns main water and site electrical supplies

1960 C.E.G.B.

Ministry of Power issues consent to build West Burton 13/02 C.E.G.B. purchases land parcels for West Burton C.E.G.B. requests & is given consent from Ministry of transport for water intake.

Contracts being let to principle contractors

1961 C.E.G.B.

Pip Dis

13

pelines for water supplies being agreed. scharge to river Trent consents granted.

1962 C.E.G.B.

Planned target date to commence construction 21st August 1963

1963 C.E.G.B.

1964 C.E.G.B.

George Nicholson

George Nicholson

Requirement to strengthen a section of the Drakenfield tunnel of the Chesterfield Canal to protect it from heavy loads being transported to the station, being completed in the summer of 1963

14

WEST BURTON TIME LINE 1965 - 1969

GW Ho Co

STATISTICS

Generated Coal Burnt #1 to March 68 #2 Year Q2, 3, 4 & Q1 of following year

PEOPLE

Lord Citrine visited site Shah of Iran visits

Mayor of Retford Visit Sir Frederick Stanley Brown CBE FIMechE FIEE Chairman of the C.E.G.B. visits site 1st VIP taken to Ye Old Bell

Mr As Bo com

MILESTONES & AWARDS

Planned target date first commercial Operation Unit 1, 1st July 1965 First Station log written 01/08 MCR manned 24/7 from 1/10

Planned target date commercial Operation • Unit 2 1st March 1966.

• Unit 3 1st October 1966.

Unit 1 • First steam to set 20/08 • 10/09 first synchronises GT1 cleared for commercial operation Section 2 application made to the Minisry of Power to build a 2000 MW Power Station called West Burton B with 6 cooling towers.

Pla Op Un Co Un an Un U3

Year COMPANY Station Manager

1965 C.E.G.B.

1966 C.E.G.B.

George Nicholson

George Nicholson

PLANT

First 1000 sec fuel oil received 21/09 and transfer system in service 3/11 1A SSFP first pumping run 2 hrs on leak off GT1 first run 09/11, 1st sync (tripped) 17/12) 1st run at 17 MW 19/01 MCR lift In service

GT1 full load (17MW) 19/01 GT2 first sync 31/08 and full load 08/09 GT3 first sync 15/12.

Unit 1 • Safety valve float 15/07 • Steam blow completed 30/07 • 1st Boiler tube leak recorded 1/6 Unit 2 steam blow completed 18/12 Black start energisation tests failed synchronisation scheme arrangements

Un GT GT GT Un Un cra rem

INCIDENTS & EVENTS

Ops wages safe received, stayed for 35 years 1st record of unauthorised site access (climbing on a Euclid bowl scarper) MCR roof reported as leaking MCR very cold ‘difficulty writing’ logged 1st Fire reported scaffold board 18/1, fire brigade attended site South road height barrier knocked over MCR lift In service

18/05 Fatality fall from 131’ between U3 & 4 boilers, police and ambulance on site Unit 1 • Start up aborted loop pipe drain blocked 25/08.

• Trip vac protection B2 TSV stuck open • HP rotor failure during run up 21/11 • Main protection trip (earths left on in alt pit start of 3+1 philosophy) Cable drum theft reported Mice seen in MCR and making regular appearances

02 po Ve tha pa Ma no 2S me Ch G6

15

Wh Output: 3,864 GWh ours Run: 12,659 hr oal Burnt: 1,529,860 te

#1 Starts: 54

GWh Output: 4,335 Ghr Hours Run: 11,996 hr Coal Burnt: 1,653,322 te Major Outage: Units 2 and 3

#2 Starts: 44

GWh Output: 7,228 GWh Hours Run: 17,826 hr Coal Burnt: 2,871,564 te Major Outage: None

#2 Starts: 40

r Hawkins Regional Director, Mr Peddie ssistant Regional Director & MR Ashcroft oard Member visit site to recognise mpletion of Unit 1, 72 hour proving run.

anned target date commercial peration Unit 4, 1st March. nit 1, 72 hour full load proving run ommenced 01/08, completed 4/08 nit 1 signed off as commissioned nd commercially available 05/08 nit 2 steam to set 26/08 and first sync 14/06 3 Steam to set 31/10 and first sync 05/11

Winners of the Hinton Cup for 1968/69

Civic Trust Award 1968 Unit 3 reaches full load 21/02 Unit 4 • Full load 02/11 • Signed off as commissioned 19/11 All 4 GT’s ran together successfully 01/03 All 4 main units ran at the same time 30/12

Unit 3 signed off as commissioned 29/01 Unit 2 signed off as commissioned 06/02 All 4 units run at full load together 11/02 for 1 hour Construction supplies decommissioned 04/09 Official Opening 25th April 1969 the right Honourable Roy Mason MP Minister for Power

1967 C.E.G.B.

1968 C.E.G.B.

1969 C.E.G.B.

George Nicholson

George Nicholson Derek Wells OBE

Derek Wells OBE

nit 3 boiler hydraulic completed T4 1st no load run 21/12 T3 full load reached 29/01 T4 1st run 22/05 full load 15/06 nit 1 1st 2 shift 04:04 to 19:30 05/08 nit 2 HP/IP Intermediate Pedestal ack leading to the bracing bar that mained for life of the station

GT4 1st synchronisation 12/02 Unit 4 • Steam purge 02/04 - 02/05 • Steam to set 19/08 • 1st synchronisation 14/09 15:59.

Dead Station start (black start) • Proof of emergency scheme 12/06 • Test completed all auxiliaries made available on GT in 14 minutes 16/06 U2 and 3 conduct 3 circ pump running trial CW Culvert centre section valves shut separating East and West CW systems

Unit 3 completes 72 hours at full load 29/01 Unit 4 boiler drum weld repairs (Cockenzie Power Station failure) and stator core replacement

2/03 Fatality fall from 100’ U4 boiler olice and ambulance on site ending Machine member of staff reported at his fruit pie was mouldy though the astry looked fine aintenance Engineers complain o vending machine food Shift Engineers Elec + Mech complained eals from machine inedible hristmas gifts from ICL 100 cigarettes 6 and 50 for G8

ICL welders on strike 11/08 Bomb threat to site 15/09, none found Cylinder labelled TNT with imitation fuse found on Unit 3 turbine, search for the practical joker 15/09 Police attend site regarding bomb 19/09

Feed suction ring main venturi isolating valve failed 27/02

16

WEST BURTON TIME LINE 1970 - 1974

STATISTICS

Generated Coal Burnt #2 Year Q2, 3, 4 and Q1 of following year

GWh Output: 6,967 GWh Hours Run: 18,780 hr Coal Burnt: 2,781,857 te Major Outage: Unit 1

MILESTONES & AWARDS

Countryside Award 1970

Year COMPANY Station Manager

PLANT

INCIDENTS & EVENTS

#2 Starts: 57

GWh Output: 6,742 GWh Hours Run: 1,8912 hr Coal Burnt: 656,446 te Major Outage: Unit 2

#2 Starts: 35

1970 C.E.G.B.

1971 C.E.G.B.

Derek Wells OBE

Derek Wells OBE

Unit 4 generator transformer fault 15/05 Unit 1 and 2 stator slot wedge replacement Unit 1 and 3 boiler drum repairs (Cockenzie Power Station failure)

Unit 2 boiler drum repairs (Cockenzie Power Station failure) U1 LP blade failure Unit 4 gen Tx replaced 19/09 U3 Generator HFA fire

GW Ho Co Ma

Un

06 (A

17

Wh Output: 9,210 GWh ours Run: 24,862 hr oal Burnt: 3,671,627 te ajor Outage: None

#2 Starts: 47

GWh Output: 7,743 GWh #2 Hours Run: 20,223 hr Starts: 74 Coal Burnt: 2,126,172 te Major Outage: Units 1, 3 and 4

GWh Output: 8,025 GWh Hours Run: 20,932 hr Coal Burnt: 3,248,912 te Major Outage: Unit 2

#2 Starts: 71

1972 C.E.G.B.

1973 C.E.G.B.

1974 C.E.G.B.

Derek Wells OBE

Derek Wells OBE

Derek Wells OBE

nit 2 B1 TSV failure

6/01 Fatality Employee of Grahams sh disposal) caught in conveyor

HP Heater Nos 5, 6 and 7 spare set purchased and used to complete defect repairs across all units 1973 to 1976

Unit 3 A2 TSV repairs Unit 2 B1 IP Emergency valve failure Unit 4 Gen trans fault

18

WEST BURTON TIME LINE 1975 - 1979

#2 Starts: 61

GWh Output: 7,299 GWh Hours Run: 17,956 hr Coal Burnt: 2,935,341 te Major Outage: Unit 4

Year COMPANY

1975 C.E.G.B.

1976 C.E.G.B.

Derek Wells OBE

Derek Wells OBE

Generated Coal Burnt #2 Year Q2, 3, 4 and Q1 of following year

Station Manager

PLANT

#2 Starts: 39

GWh Output: 11,061 GWh Hours Run: 25,888 hr Coal Burnt: 4,482,119 te Major Outage: Unit 3

STATISTICS

GW Ho Co Ma

Programme to install new design of HP Steam Chests all units 1975 to 1979 Major modifications on all units to LP and HP feed heaters bled steam pipe and valves following major incide Main turbine Nos 1, 2, 3 and 4 bearing modifications fitting three wedge shells 1975 to 1982

HP Heater Nos 5, 6 and 7 spare set purchased and used to complete defect repairs across all units 1973 to 1976

Unit 4 generator fitted with a water cooled rotor 1975 removed 1976.

Trial not successful (leak rates)

Unit 2 stator slot wedge replacement

Unit 2 B2 throttle valve repairs Unit 3 HP steam chest repairs

Un Un

19

Wh Output: 9,255 GWh ours Run: 22,222 hr oal Burnt: 3,703,224 te ajor Outage: Unit 2

#2 Starts: 78

GWh Output: 11,482 GWh Hours Run: 26,605 hr Coal Burnt: 4,632,163 te Major Outage: Units 1 and 4

#2 Starts: 52

GWh Output: 11,373 GWh Hours Run: 25,948 hr Coal Burnt: 4,625,400 te Major Outage: Unit 3

#2 Starts: 53

1977 C.E.G.B.

1978 C.E.G.B.

1979 C.E.G.B.

Derek Wells OBE

Derek Wells OBE

Derek Wells OBE

ent at Aberthaw Power Station with water ingress to turbine 1975 to 1978. U2 1975 u4 1977 u1 1978

nit 4 HP steam chest renewal nit 4 LP blade erosion shields adrift

Unit 2 gen transformer fault

Unit 1 HP steam chest renewal Unit 1 generator transformer fault

Unit 4 IP emergency valve failure

20

WEST BURTON TIME LINE 1980 - 1984

STATISTICS

Generated Coal Burnt #2 Year Q2, 3, 4 and Q1 of following year

GWh Output: 12,135 GWh Hours Run: 27,136 hr Coal burnt: 4,949,539 te Major Outage: Units 2 and 4

#2 Starts: 54

Station Manager

PLANT

#2 Starts: 71

GW Ho Co Ma

Unit 4 longest run of 4845 hours 22/01/1981 to 23/09/1981 off load with a tube leak

MILESTONES & AWARDS

Year COMPANY

GWh Output: 13,063 GWh Hours Run: 28,995 hr Coal Burnt: 5,315,856 te Major Outage: Unit 1

1980 C.E.G.B.

1981 C.E.G.B.

Derek Wells OBE

Derek Wells OBE

Main turbine Nos 1, 2, 3 and 4 bearing modifications fitting three wedge shells 1975 to 1982

Unit 2 Alternator Stator core change

Un

21

Wh Output: 11,852 GWh ours Run: 26,329 hr oal Burnt: 4,818,643 te ajor Outage: Units 2 and 3

#2 Starts: 72

GWh Output: 13,266 GWh Hours Run: 28,711 hr Coal burnt: 5,430,245 Major Outage: Units 1 and 4

#2 Starts: 69

GWh Output: 9,402 GWh Hours Run: 22,668 hr Coal burnt: 3,736,603 te Major Outage: Unit 3

#2 Starts: 437

1982 C.E.G.B.

1983 C.E.G.B.

1984 C.E.G.B.

Derek Wells OBE

Derek Wells OBE

Derek Wells OBE

nit 1 internal inspection of gen tx

Unit 1 generator stator core change

Unit 3 Original ZVW AVR replaced with new ZVC AVR

22

WEST BURTON TIME LINE 1985 - 1989

STATISTICS

Generated Coal Burnt #2 Year Q2, 3, 4 and Q1 of following year

GWh Output: 13,627 GWh Hours Run: 29,256 hr Coal Burnt: 5,522,410 te Major Outage: Unit 2

#2 Starts: 206

GWh Output: 13,417 GWh #2 Hours Run: 27,764 hr Starts: 109 Coal Burnt: 5,406,961 te Major Outage: Units 1 and 4

Sta pe coa

MILESTONES & AWARDS

Year COMPANY Station Manager

PLANT

GW Ho Co Ma

1985 C.E.G.B.

1986 C.E.G.B.

Derek Wells OBE

Derek Wells OBE

Unit 2 Original ZVW AVR replaced with new ZVC AVR

Units 1 and 4 Original ZVW AVR replaced with new ZVC AVR

Scheme of replacement 5th Stage super heater outlet / 6 design life of >200k hours

INCIDENTS & EVENTS

Unit 1 Fire damage HP Turbine

23

Wh Output: 14,353 GWh ours Run: 30,006 hr oal Burnt: 5,829,047 te ajor Outage: Unit 3

#2 Starts: 84

ation has highest output for 12 month eriod and burn the highest tonnage of al burn

GWh Output: 13,139 GWh Hours Run: 27,983 hr Coal Burnt: 5,324,534 te Major Outage: Unit 2

#2 Starts: 165

GWh Output: 12,796 GWh #2 Hours Run: 26,689 hr Starts: 174 Coal Burnt: 5,081,759 te Major Outage: Units 1 and 4

Winners of the last Hinton Cup for 1988/89 (second time West burton won it)

RoSPA Bronze Award

1987 C.E.G.B.

1988 C.E.G.B.

1989 NATIONAL POWER

Derek Wells OBE

Derek Wells OBE

Derek Wells OBE

Unit 3 Gen Transformer fault new transformer fitted U2 generator transformer changed

Unit 1 Low NOx burners installed new F burners, sec air and overfire air nozzles built into corner water tube panels 2nd generation

6th Stage superheater inlet headers commenced 1986 to 1989 after material design time life expired >120k hours, the new material has

24

WEST BURTON TIME LINE 1990 - 1994

STATISTICS

Generated Coal Burnt #2 Year Q2, 3, 4 and Q1 of following year

GWh Output: 13,261 GWh Hours Run: 28,389 hr Coal Burnt: 5,223,924 te Major Outage: Unit 3

#2 Starts: 105

GWh Output: 12,910 GWh Hours Run: 27,804 hr Coal Burnt: 5,044,779 te Major Outage: Unit 2

#2 Starts: 138

GW Ho Co Ma

PEOPLE

RoSPA Silver Award.

MCR

MILESTONES & AWARDS

Year COMPANY Station Manager

PLANT

1990 NATIONAL POWER

1991 NATIONAL POWER

Derek Wells OBE Ron Taylor

Ron Taylor

Low nox burners installed 1989 to 1993 new F burners, sec air and overfire air nozzles built into corner waste Replacement of 6th stage superheater headers as there life was exceeding design life of >130k lours, new hea U2 1991 9% Cr, U4 1992, 9% Cr, U1 1993 9% Cr

Unit 2 Gen Transformer tap changer failure, Gen transformer replaced with Unit 3’s Unit 3 • New Gen Transformer fitted • New soot blower PLC control installed • 2nd generation Low NOx burners installed with modifications to sec air dampers

INCIDENTS & EVENTS

Ro MC

Unit 4 Turbine HP strainer Fire

Unit 4 new Gen Transformer fitted Ferranti tap changer fault Unit 1 IP turbine rotor blade failure Unit 2 • New soot blower PLC control installed • HP strainers changed • 2nd generation low NOx burners installed with modifications to secondary airair dampers

Un • • • • • •

25

Wh Output: 12,922 GWh ours Run: 28,708 hr oal Burnt: 5,049,289 te ajor Outage: Unit 4

#2 Starts: 169

GWh Output: 12,205 GWh Hours Run: 29,208 hr Coal Burnt: 4,753,860 te Major Outage: Unit 1

#2 Starts: 276

GWh Output: 12,996 GWh #2 Hours Run: 29,532 hr Starts: 261 Coal Burnt: 5,081,759 te Major Outage: Units 1 and 4

Voluntary selective severance scheme introduced to drop staff levels to around 500 March 1993 and 420 by March 1994

oSPA Gold Award.

CR

Start of Secure our future (S.O.F.) initiative started, reorganisation and process efficiencies using small staff teams to devise the way forward, (later nicknamed shoots own foot) 1/11

Secure our future (S.O.F.) training of operators to enable basic maintenance capability (toolbelt fitting)

RoSPA Gold Award.

MCR

25 year anniversary of opening 500 days without an lost time accident

1992 NATIONAL POWER

1993 NATIONAL POWER

1994 NATIONAL POWER

Ron Taylor

Ron Taylor Dr Derek Cheetham

Dr Derek Cheetham

er tube panels aders had >150k hours design life. U3 1990 2.25% Cr 1% Mo,

nit 4 Alternator loss of cooling Generator stator changed IP rotor replacement New soot blower PLC control installed Boiler wash down system U4 HP strainers changed

New station alarm and PA system installed Unit 1 • New dust system ABB Flakt contract let • New soot blower PLC control installed • Low NOx burners installed with modifications to sec air dampers • Generator Transformer changed • Installation of furnace cameras to observe firing conditions • HP Strainers changed Site outfall had its oil interceptor constructed Bole Ings extension proposed to meet future ash disposal needs GT1 & 4 fitted with Woodward Governor Netcon control upgrade

Record for shortest major outage (64 days) Unit 1, first to be connected to ABB Flakt dry phase dust system Coal plant crusher tower modifications (removal of large section) Bunker level remote monitoring Implementation of the integrated load management system (ILM). Logging of National Grid instructions and West Burton parameter declarations Unit 3 • Generator Transformer changed • Generator stator changed • LP cylinders LD66 replant • A1, A2 and B2 HP strainers changed

Unit 4 A Bunker Fire

26

WEST BURTON TIME LINE 1995 - 1999 STATISTICS

Generated Coal Burnt #2 Year Q2, 3, 4 and Q1 of following year #3 changed to calendar year so period is only 9 months

GWh Output: 10,875 GWh Hours Run: 25,366 hr Coal Burnt: 4,055,307 te Major Outage: Unit 2

#2 Starts: 711

GWh Output: 8,865 GWh Hours Run: 20,888 hr Coal Burnt: 3,482,195 te Major Outage: Unit 4

#2 Starts: 911

Ea sel los

PEOPLE

MILESTONES & AWARDS

Trevor Holdsworth Cup highest availability in the fleet, 99.4% availability business day 24/10/95 to 17/02/96

RoSPA Gold Award.

Investors in People awarded August 95

Station Conduct most number o

RoSPA Gold Award.

BS 5570 Environment awarded to sire

Year COMPANY

1995 NATIONAL POWER

1996 EASTERN ELECTRICITY

Station Manager

Dr Derek Cheetham Arthur Wright

Arthur Wright

PLANT

GW Ho Co Ma

Ro BS

Major modifications on all units to HP Steam end pedestal DU pad 1995 to 1999

Unit 2 • LP cylinders LD66 replant efficiency gain • Generator Transformer change West Burton chosen for lead site for new process control system APMS

Unit 2, A mill 1st system to be transferred to APMS control February 1996.

Re be Eq

Un 6th

Process control system replacement with APMS on all un

INCIDENTS & EVENTS

Charity Fun day 28/08/95 Unit 4 E Mill bunker explosion 1/12/95

Unit 2, 6th stage superheater header endcap failure (28th December 1996)

27

Wh Output: 8,899 GWh ours Run: 21,773 hr oal Burnt: 3,607,855 te ajor Outage: Unit 1

#2 Starts: 767

astern Electricity introduces a voluntary lective severance scheme targeting a ss of 70 staff over the three sites.

GWh Output: 6,650 GWh Hours Run: 15,204 hr Coal Burnt: 2,577,620 te Major Outage: Unit 3

#2 & #3 Starts: 742

GWh Output: 8,203 GWh Hours Run: 18,909 hr Coal Burnt: 3,206,587 te Major Outage: Unit 2

Starts: 830

Eastern Electricity Operation Gold Heart reorganisation commences new EL structures with 60 redundancies over 3 sites

of start in 96/97, though as 1998 was a 9 month year, that might have challenged the record

Economiser top banks replacements Unit 2 1999 (14)

6th stage outlet headers transition piece (TP11) replacement start over 2 full outage cycles Unit 2 1999

oSPA Gold Award. Station awarded S7750 Environmental Standard

RoSPA Gold Award.

RoSPA Gold Medal for 5 consecutive gold awards ISO 14001 accreditation Feb

1997 EASTERN ELECTRICITY / TXU

1998 TXU

1999 TXU

Arthur Wright

Arthur Wright

Arthur Wright Nick Plant

3rd Stage Reheater inlet Header replacement Unit 2 1999

eplacement of original 2nd stage reheater headers with 2.1% Cr / 1% Mo headers due to creep life expiry and 2 shift induced fatigue cracking etween 1997 and 2000 during outages. 1998 to 2000 Precip power upgrade, the 12 zones split into 2 east and west individual TR set and control. quivalent zone power increased from 300mA to 800mA

nits 1, 2 and 4 have modified / redesigned h stage superheater header endcap fitted

Units starting feed pump cartridge modifications 1998 to 2003

nits 01/02/96 to 30/11/98.

FGD feasibility study starts New Precipitators Transformer rectifier sets Offices & locker rooms built in Control Room.

Hydrazine injection system redesigned C1 cooling tower reinforcing bands Unit 3 MBFP electronic overspeeds Sulphur and ammonia flue gas conditioning

Open day weekend 8,000 visitors over the weekend (fire works for families Saturday)

FGD Construction commences Auto ashing installation Water supply to replace site borehole Coal plant conversion to APMS and for operation of FGD plant.

Main lab relocated to MCR block Boiler filling pump installed U1 and 2 Hydrazine dosing system upgrades Unit 2 MBFP electronic overspeeds C1 cooling tower, rings of steel installed 11kV ACB to VCB conversion commences

28

WEST BURTON TIME LINE 2000 - 2004

STATISTICS

Generated Coal Burnt

GWh Output: 4,427 GWh Hours Run: 11,101 hr Coal Burnt: 1,745,146 te Major Outage: None

Starts: 788

Starts: 609

Unit 2 FGD commissioned 09/12 Unit 1 FGD commissioned 15/12

MILESTONES & AWARDS

Year COMPANY Station Manager

GWh Output: 9,687 GWh Hours Run: 24,227 hr Coal Burnt: 3,677,276 te Major Outage: Unit 1

2000 TXU

GW Ho Co Ma

Un com

2001 TXU, LONDON ELECTRICITY (EDF)

Nick Plant

Nick Plant

PLANT

All Units feed pump cartridge modifications 1998 to 2003

Eco

FGD Construction

U3 and 4 Hydrazine dosing system upgrades New RO microfiltration plant installed to replace borehole

Replacement of original 3rd stage outlet reheater heade

Boiler Stop Valve replacements Unit 1 in 2001 Units 3 an

Unit 1 • MBFP electronic overspeeds • Boiler stop valves replaced Borehole licence expires, Zenon and RO plants commissioned New unit transformers fitted to units 1 & 2 for FGD unit board

INCIDENTS & EVENTS

Unit 4 11kV Unit Board Fire 29/09

Unit 3 11kV Unit to station board cable tee off spiked Unit 3 tripped, U2 & 4 forced off loss of lubrication supplies to fans 24/04/01.

6th Un

HF Un Un • • Ne 4f

29

Wh Output: 7,294 GWh ours Run: 17,134 hr Starts: 758 oal Burnt: 2,816,778 te ajor Outage: Units 3 and 4

GWh Output: 7,784 GWh Hours Run: 17,886 hr Coal Burnt: 3,055,070 te Major Outage: Unit 2

nit 4 FGD commissioned 11/07 Unit 3 FGD mmissioned 12/09

economiser top banks replacements Unit 2 2003 (8), Unit 3 2004 (8)

Starts: 860

GWh Output: 7,239 GWh Hours Run: 23,055 hr Coal Burnt: 3,994,092 te Major Outage: Unit 3

Starts: 644

2002 LONDON ELECTRICITY (EDF)

2003 LONDON ELECTRICITY (EDF)

2004 LONDON ELECTRICITY (EDF)

Nick Plant Peter McGriskin

Peter McGriskin

Peter McGriskin

2nd stage reheater tubes 50% replacement on unit 2 in 2003, Unit 3 2004, transition TP15, change of material between 6th stage headers, Unit 3 2002 and Unit 2 2003

onomiser top banks replacements Unit 2 2003 (8), Unit 3 2004 (8)

ers due to life expiry Unit 1 in 2001, Unit 4 in 2002, Unit 2 in 2003 and Unit 3 in 2004

nd 4 2002 and Unit 2 2003

h stage outlet headers transition piece (TP11) replacement start over 2 full outage cycles nit 4 2002 Unit 2 2003

FO electric heaters replace Aux Boilers nits 3 and 4 boiler stop valves replaced nit 4 MBFP electronic overspeeds 3rd Stage Reheater inlet header replaced ew unit transformers fitted to units 3 and for FGD unit board

Unit 2 • New HP stop and Throttle Valve Chests • Boiler stop valves replaced • 2nd gen Low NOx pf nozzles installed APMS installed for FGD Change from heavy / residual fuel oil to reclaimed Fuel Oil – Oct 2003

Wobbly chimney and site evacuation

Unit 3 • New HP stop and Throttle Valve Chests • New 3rd Stage Reheater inlet Header • HV 3.3kV ACB mid life conversion to VCB commenced Unit 4 Loesche mill replaced with more standard Lopulco mill

30

WEST BURTON TIME LINE 2005 - 2009

STATISTICS

Generated Coal Burnt

GWh Output: 9,351 GWh Hours Run: 21,017 hr Coal Burnt: 3,698,471 te Major Outage: Unit 1

Starts: 854

Station Manager

PLANT

Starts: 693

West Burton A new permit issued under the Pollution, Prevention and Control Regulation MCR

MILESTONES & AWARDS

Year COMPANY

GWh Output: 9,813 GWh Hours Run: 21,586 hr Coal Burnt: 3,878,367 te Major Outage: Unit 4

2005 LONDON ELECTRICITY (EDF)

2006 EDF ENERGY

Peter McGriskin

Peter McGriskin

GW Ho Co Ma

Ne Pe lar

2nd stage reheater tubes 50% replacement on Unit 1 2005 and unit 4 2006, remaining 50% completed on Un

Unit 1 • New HP stop and Throttle Valve Chests • New 3rd Stage Reheater inlet header • Economiser top banks replacements November 05 Change back from Reclaimed Fuel Oil to Heavy Fuel Oil Biomass oil trials

All Units HP Rotor replants higher efficiency 2006 to 200

CPO (crude palm oil) trials 2006 to 2008 (3775 Te)

Eco

6th stage outlet headers transition piece (TP11) completion of 2 full outage cycles Unit 4 2006, Unit 1 2005 (a

HV 3.3kV ACB mid life conversion to VCB continued U3 2004 and 2005 U1 and U4 2006 U2 2007, U3 2008 and

Transition TP15, change of material between 6th stage headers, Unit 1 2005 Unit 4 to 06

INCIDENTS & EVENTS

Unit 1 • MBFP cartridge upgrade • Second generation pf nozzles installed • New 2nd / 3rd stage spray crossover pipework

Unit 4 • HP stop & Throttle Valve Chests replaced • MBFP cartridge upgrade Units 3 and 4 second generation pf nozzles installed successful reduction in NOx New GT control scheme (iFix) fitted Unit 3 new Econ inlet stubs to header

Un • • GT rep Co

31

Wh Output: 10,125 GWh ours Run: 22,248 hr oal Burnt: 4,024,673 te ajor Outage: Unit 2

Starts: 780

GWh Output: 10,883 GWh Hours Run: 24,023 hr Coal Burnt: 4,281,637 te Major Outage: Unit 3

Starts: 761

GWh Output: 7,898 GWh Hours Run: 17,870 hr Coal Burnt: 3,160,600 te Major Outage: Unit 1

Starts: 743

ew permit issued under the Environmental ermitting Regulations (requirements of the rge combustion plant directive MCR

2007 EDF ENERGY

2008 EDF ENERGY

2009 EDF ENERGY

Peter McGriskin

Peter McGriskin Nigel Beresford

Nigel Beresford

nit 2 in 2007, Unit 3 in 2008, Unit 1 2009 and unit 4 in 2011

09

onomiser top banks replacements Unit 3 2008 and Unit 1 2009

a) / 2009(b).

TO (Tall Oil) added to HFO– 2009 to 2012 (6179 Te)

U1 2009

nit 2 New Econ inlet stubs to header MBFP cartridge upgrade T 1 and 4 Woodward Govenor Netcon PLC placed by Alan Bradley ontrol Logix system

Unit 3 • HP cylinder Rotor installed • MBFP cartridge upgrade SOFA upgraded system installed on all units

Unit 1 • HP cylinder Rotor installed • New Econ inlet stubs to header • New 4th superheater 2nd section elements.

• New 4th / 5th intermediate superheater header Unit 2 throttle valve repairs STI plant commissioned

32

WEST BURTON TIME LINE 2010 - 2014

STATISTICS

Generated Coal Burnt

GWh Output: 5,668 GWh Hours Run: 12,959 hr Coal Burnt: 2,229,155 te Major Outage: None

Starts: 585

GWh Output: 6,97 GWh Hours Run: 15,095 hr Starts: 323 Coal Burnt: 2,690,193 te Major Outage: Units 2 and 4

We the (re com MC

MILESTONES & AWARDS

Year COMPANY

2010 EDF ENERGY

2011 EDF ENERGY

Station Manager

Nigel Beresford

Nigel Beresford Andy Richardson

PLANT

GW Ho Co Ma

Site boundary fence erected including rail gates and Tensor gates Biomass cofire system installed

U4 & coal plant DCS system control transferred from AP

2nd stage reheater elements change two outage cycles ½ on an outage completed in 2011

4th / 5th intermediate superheater header replaced Uni

Replacement 4th superheater 2nd section element. Unit 4 in 2010, Unit 2 in 2011, Unit 3 in 2012

Tall Oil added to HFO – 2009 to 2012 (6179 Te)

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Wh Output: 12,320 GWh ours Run: 26,126 hr oal Burnt: 4,778,648 te ajor Outage: Unit 3

Starts: 192

GWh Output: 12,559 GWh Hours Run: 26,916 hr Starts: 162 Coal Burnt: 4,7958,722 te Major Outage: Unit 1, reduced scope

GWh Output: 10,676 GWh Hours Run: 23,074 hr Coal Burnt: 4,094,238 te Major Outage: Unit 1

Starts: 164

est Burton A new permit issued under e Environmental Permitting Regulations equirements of the large mbustion plant directive CR

2012 EDF ENERGY

2013 EDF ENERGY

2014 EDF ENERGY

Andy Richardson

Andy Richardson

Andy Richardson Craig Dohring

PMS to iFix software U4 and coal plant 2011 U3 2012 and U1 2014

Boiler water chemistry instrumentation upgrades Unit 3 ZOLOBOSS combustion optimizer system installed Unit 4 completion of CMV replacement programme t 4 in 2011, Unit 2 in 2011 and Unit 3 2012

Unit 1 • New 6th stage superheater outlet reverts to a 2¼ Chrome 1% Moly material.

• IP Cylinder Replant (Units 2, 3 and 4 cancelled due to no payback) • Boiler stop valves replaced • Fitted with RJM modified secondary air, underfired and over fire air design • ZOLOBOSS combustion optimizer system installed • CMV main steam pipe full replacement • Superheater spray control valve control improvements • 2nd stage reheater header replacement • Replacement of all boiler O2 probes Unit 3 completion of CMV replacement programme

34

WEST BURTON TIME LINE 2015 - 2019

STATISTICS

Generated Coal Burnt

GWh Output: 8,805 GWh Hours Run: 19,337 hr Coal Burnt: 338,2342 te Major Outage: Unit 2

Starts: 302

GWh Output: 1340 GWh Hours Run: 3,804 hr Coal Burnt: 489,271 te Major Outage: Unit 4

Starts: 370

Environmental Permitting Regulations updated to reflect the changes introduced by the Industrial Emissions Regulations Directive, West Burton A opted to follow the Transitional National Plan, new emission caps, as of NOx, SO2 and Dust compliance changed from 48 to 24 hour periods.

MILESTONES & AWARDS

Year COMPANY

2015 EDF ENERGY

2016 EDF ENERGY

Station Manager

Craig Dohring

Craig Dohring Peter Large

PLANT

DCS system control transferred from APMS to iFix software Unit 2 2015 & FGD 2016 6th stage outlet revert to a 2¼ Chrome 1% Moly material. Unit 4 2016, Unit 4 2016, Unit 2 2015

Unit 2 • Boiler stop valves replaced • New 2nd stage reheater header (high instances of tube leaks) • CMV main steam pipe full replacement.

• Replacement of all boiler O2 probes • MBFP converted to electronic overspeed then replaced with Bentey Nevada

INCIDENTS & EVENTS

GW Ho Co Ma

Unit 3 Gen Transformer fault on synch swapped for strategic spare by station staff Unit 4 • MBFP converted to electronic overspeed then replaced with Bentley Nevada • 2nd stage reheater header replacement Units 2, 3 and 4 superheater spray control valve control improvements HFO No1 tank decommissioned after No2 tank refurbished and tank heating restored to serviceable condition.

Un ov Ne

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Wh Output: 1,877 GWh ours Run: 4,612 hr oal Burnt: 754,959 te ajor Outage: Unit 4

Starts: 250

GWh Output: 1,958 GWh Hours Run: 4,690 hr Coal Burnt: 713,905 te Major Outage: Unit 1

Starts: 270

GWh Output: 872 GWh Hours Run: 2,272 hr Coal Burnt: 330,379 te Major Outage: Unit 2

Starts: 176

Environmental Permitting Regulations 2020 West Burton A enters 1500hr derogation restricting LCP1 and LCP2 to 1500 hours per year.

Updated EPR Permit with tighter emission to air and water limits resulting from Large Combustion Plant

2017 EDF ENERGY

2018 EDF ENERGY

2019 EDF ENERGY

Peter Large Martin Cheetham

Martin Cheetham

Martin Cheetham

nit 3 and 4 MBFP converted to electronic verspeed then replaced with Bentley evada

Unit 1 MBFP converted to electronic overspeed then replaced with Bentley Nevada

Unit 2 and 3 protection fitted to trip units when vacuum poor causing LP LD66 blade damage

Unit 4 D corner windbox fire

36

WEST BURTON TIME LINE 2020 - 2023

STATISTICS

Generated Coal Burnt

GWh Output: 1,312 GWh Hours Run: 3,524 hr Coal Burnt: 427,378 te Major Outage: None

Starts: 224

GWh Output: 592 GWh Hours Run: 1,824 hr Coal Burnt: 254,776 te Major Outage: None

Starts: 55

PEOPLE

42 members of staff left 30th September 2021 on voluntary redundancy terms with closure of Units 3 and 4 Industry service ranging from 11 years to 49 (Vaughan Boot) 22 people over 40 years’ service, 10 have over 30 years.

A total of 1,436 years’ service years, or 16,901 total months or 456,184 total days of experience

MILESTONES & AWARDS

Planned station closure date September 30th 2021.

Units 3 & 4 close and enter decommissioning Units 1 & 2 remain open as capacity market cover for Hunterston Power Station

Year COMPANY Station Manager

PLANT

INCIDENTS & EVENTS

2020 EDF Energy

2021 EDF Energy

Martin Cheetham Steve Pace

Steve Pace Gavin Lancaster

Units 3 and 4 decommissioning

GW Ho Co Ma

Pla an Ma Un

37

Wh Output: 95 Ghr ours Run: 267 hr oal Burnt: 41,077 te ajor Outage: None

Starts: 27

GWh Output: 2.782 Ghr Hours Run: 12 hr Coal Burnt: 1,168 te Major Outage: None

Starts: 2

118 members of staff leave under redundancy terms between 7th April and 31st December who have gave 2,814 years of service

anned station closure remaining units 1 nd 2 September 30 2022, deferred to 31st arch 2023 contingency war in Ukraine nits 1 & 2 and so station closes 31st March

Last generation 7th March, Unit 2 off load 20:45 Station closure remaining units 1 and 2 31st March 2023 site enters full decommissioning

2022 EDF Energy

2023 EDF Energy

Gavin Lancaster

Andy Powell

Remaining balance of site enter decommissioning 01/04 target completion 31/12

Station closure event 25th April 2023 on anniversary of official opening 25th April 1969

38

BEFORE THE STAT

TION

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WEST BURTON VILLAGE & LOW FARM West Burton was never a particularly a big village.

We know from the old church that it existed in Norman times, but the Elizabethan population of around 100 was propably the largest it ever became.

On a map dated 1865, it shows the village had disappeared completely except for the Church of St Helen. The church yard still remains on the site of West Burton and some locals have the right to be buried there.

Low Farm was the nearest neighbour to West Burton and the C.E.G.B. acquired the farm and the buildings were demolished over the years, until all that was left was a barn.

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THE LANDOWNERS To construct the site, a large area of land had to be secured. The planned site covered 510 acres.

This area originally belonged to 16 owners, and one of these was a charity. Of the owners, nine tended land themselves, six of the owners leased their land to tenants and in total there were eleven tenants.

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SHAKESPEARE TO FUSION Whilst looking at the history of the site of West Burton, there were several maps and other reference documents that sparked an interest as they show how the area has changed over the years.

Some of these maps and reports show features, changes, and challenges that the area faced. The first is a very early sketch that shows the villages and its inhabitants and shows how small the community was.

The earliest and certainly most famous national mention found was a reference to site in Shakespeare’s Henry IV, written in 1596, where he describes the Burton Round, “see how this river comes me cranking in and cuts me from the best of all my land.” The map of 1769 shows this round but not the second one just downstream in 1792. ‘No Mans Friend’ disappeared when a flood in the February, cut through the round forming tan oxbow lake. This event was subsequently reported in the local press. This could have been a warning to West Burton as it was set on its own round, in a flood in 1797 the river broke its banks and the meander known as the Burton Round was cut off leaving West Burton high and dry. It was this that may have started the decline of the village. The map of 1895 shows the rounds now filled in with silt and the new course of the river.

The later maps came from the late 1950s and were used as part of the planning for the station. One identifies the flood plane and the next maps the town’s main water supplies in the area that had to be extended and upgrade. We have reproduced the Ordnance Survey Map of the area as a record of today’s West Burton. It would be interesting to look at the map of 2050 and see what impression the future of energy production has made to our site.

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CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE West Burton was designed to fill the energy gap of the 1960s and 1970s and so its existence was part of England’s and Wales’s critical infrastructure.

Its design was not only to be a contributor for 55 years it was a major part of the UK’s grid security planning.

It also had another major part to play, its design enabled the site to start up without any outside supply of electricity. This is called black start capability, this is described in its own little bit of this book.

Do you know what’s underground?

As you come onto site you would see a strange metal fence that does not seem to make any logic. Underground there is part of the Government Pipeline and Storage System (GPSS) whilst now it is a consolidation of many smaller pipelines, in 1944 this pipeline was part of the United Kingdom Oil Refineries & Connected Storage system, it ran right under the proposed plans of West Burton. Before construction on site could be started the pipeline had to be diverted to where the fence now is.

The pipeline system was 1,000 miles long moving oil from refineries to storage facilities to major air fields. After the Americans joined the Second World War its capacity was rapidly expanded to cope with the demands of the USAF, this infrastructure was critical in the fight with Germany.

Today this system still operates providing fuel to a number of military bases and the countries major airports and 10 regional airports.

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UK OIL PIPELINES REFINERIES AND CONNECTED STORAGE 1944

Grangemouth

Misterton Ellesmere Port

Hethersett

Sandy

Avonmouth

Shell Haven

Isle of Grain

Aldermarston Dungeness

Fawley

UK OIL PIPELINES REFINERIES AND CONNECTED STORAGE 2020

s CLH-PS Facility

s Inverness

−

CLH-PS Pipeline Airport

n Refinery H Entry Point H Third Party Entry Military Air Base

Manchester

n Lindsey (Total) n Humber (P66)

Rawcliffe Bramhall

s

Stanlow n

s

H Killingholme s

Misterton s

s Thetford s Saffron Waldon Stansted

H Thames

Heathrow

Berwick Wood s Royal Portbury Dock H Redcliffe Bay s Aldermaston s

s Walton Gatwick

H Hamble

H Isle of Grain

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PEOPLE We have trawled our archives, asked for people’s pictures of people at work at West Burton and from this bank we have captured a good number of our staff from over the ages.

Whilst not everyone will appear, as some seem to have a knack of avoiding having their pictures taken (and some just seek it out!), in most of the selection we have got they show the friendliness of the station and the happiness of us at work.

We hope you enjoy looking through these pictures and that it brings back some happy memories and reminds you of your friends from work.

OUR PEOPLE

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APPRENTICES AND YTS The Future Present and the Past.

West Burton has always been a family, the apprentices are the life blood of the site and have been nurtured by the staff over the years, many of these apprentices dedicated their whole working life to the site. Others have left and gone to othe endeavours and many have been very successful.

1968 Keith Askew Mick Cook Andy Paul 1970 Phil Carter Richard Brocklsby Stuart Foottit, Mick Kettlkewell Chris Marshall Dave Scott Tony Smithson Mick Wegner Chris Chappel Mick Flynn (Paddy) Gary Keeling Rob Kendal David Naylor Paul ‘Tic’ Priestly

1974 Philip Appleyard Pete Cox John Cooper Peter Cresswell Paul Ellam Paul Otter John Pettinger Ian Scott Les Twigger 1975 Kevin Childs David Dunn Anthony Garwell Kevin Lane Robert Dean King Peter Large Ian Ransby David Vernon

1971 Martin Williams

1976 Jerry Bloomer

1972 Paul Bassett

1977 Ian Kitchin Dave Hancock John Havercroft Andrew Humphry Kevin Senior Ken Zaitschenko Mick Lamb

1973 Graham Howitt Dave Lane Stuart Saxelby John Douce Tom Roberts Graham Howitt Dave Lane Stuart Saxelby

1978 Jerry Bloomer Pete Newbitt Marl Lambett Scott Liversedge Andrew Gelsthorpe 1979 Mark Brooks Gary Clay Robert Pickersgill Craig Morley Melvin Randall Andrew Stimson Robert Westby Dale Wright Mick Lamb 1980 Richard Clark Edward Hall Alan Hamilton William Hughes Dave Pedder Neil Pullen Clinton Rose Nigel Williams 1981 Andrew Shearman Andrew Warbuton David Thornesby-Smith Tom Jones Wayne Wrigley Graham Goggon Paul Askew Ian Preston

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1982 John Ward Steve Knight Pete Pattinson Paul Tokell Phil Woodthorpe Cal Metcalf Andrew Skelton Julian Moore 1983 Andy Green Graham Travis Andrew Hill Howard Wright Sean Gregorick Paul Hird John Kiernan Andrew Smith Paul Thurlow Simon Tomkinson Martin Walker Shaun Woffinden 1984 Paul Deeley Simon Brammer Paul Collingwood 1986 Geoff Tasker Julian Tinker Kevin McGinley Colin Freeman Mark Godber

1988 Robert Strickland James McvEee Phil Marsh Andrew Christianson Robert Samson Andrew Charlesworth Stephen Perry 1989 Kevin Willerton 2005 Paul Falkiner Luke Warner Steve Biddle 2008 Kieran Green 2009 Jonathan Sanderson 2015 Ben Mitchell Scott Ord Macauley Riach 2016 Connor Short 2017 Hannah Warner

186

ENGLISH ELECTRIC APPRENTICES English Electric was an engineering company well-known throughout the industry for excellent apprenticeships from their manufacturing factories at Rugby for Steam Turbines and Stafford for large generators.

West Burton was one of the first 500 MW Units to be built in the UK. English Electric used West Burton as part of the training programme for Student and Graduate apprentices who later would become the engineers of the future. The experience gave them a real look at the outside construction world, not like the comfortable factories in Rugby or Stafford. All of this was a big thank you to the C.E.G.B. at West Burton allowing one company to allow so many apprentices on site other than the ones for the C.E.G.B. Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire proved to be an area where at least five apprentices found local girlfriends and later became married. Then they moved to live all over the UK and the world wherever a Power Station was being built, thanks to West Burton.

187

C.E.G.B. & POWER INDUSTRY TRAINEES BASED AT WEST BURTON There are a lot of other people who started as C.E.G.B. apprentices away from West Burton but soon became part of the family, and then went on to dedicate a good part of their working life to it. Others have left and gone to new endeavours. We identified a number of these individuals here but know we will not have got them all, apologies if we have missed you.

1976 Pete Large started at Cottam as a student apprentice joining West Burton in 1984 retiring in in September 2021 after 37 years at West Burton.

1977 Nigel Bennett, craft apprentice based at Drakelow Robert Gilmore, craft apprentice based at Drakelow Brian Farmer, craft apprentice based at Drakelow Neil Trickett, craft apprentice basaesd at Staythorpe, joined West Burton in 1981 Tony Bryer - Junior Office Trainee, NE Region HQ, Transferred to West Burton 1992 1978 Mick Beresford, initinally based at Stourport; joined West Burton in 1985 Phil Burton, Technical Trainee, NE Region, initially based at Eggborough; joined West Burton in 1988 Dave Cook, initially based at High Marnham; joined West Burton in 2018 Paul Goodson a student apprentice in 1978 at Wakefield B. He moved to West Burton in February 1988 and left after 21 years in August 2009.

1980 Mike West,apprentice, Agecroft, joined West Burton in 1993. Staying with West Burton until closure after 30 years of service.

1981 Paul Whitby, C.E.G.B. apprentice at Ratcliffe initially; came to West Burton in 2008 1982 Michael Green, Craft Apprentice; joined West Burton from Cottam 2019 1983 Sarah Askew, YTS, at Cottam, moving to support West Burton in a fleet role.

Robert Leversedge, C.E.G.B. craft apprentice at Cottam, joining West Burton in 2019 Paul Cole, Engineering Trainee based at West Burton Simon Wass, PowerGen trainee, transferred to Modern Apprentice scheme in 1997; joined West Burton in 2019 1986 Graham Ellis: YTS (Maintenance), still at WB Tracey Horton: YTS (Catering) Kathy Wright: YTS (Office and Admin), still at WB

188

IT’S ALL IN THE BLOOD West Burton has always been recognised as feeling like a family, through the life of the station there have only been 15 Managers of West Burton. It’s the people that made West Burton special and many worked with their families.

Albert Adams...................... (Dad)............................... Mark................................ (Son) Ray Adlington..................... (Dad)............................... Gary................................. (Son) Jon Ashley........................... (Husband)....................... Gemma............................ (Wife) Mick Askew......................... (Dad)............................... Sarah............................... (Daughter) Dave Bell.............................. (Son)................................ Colin................................ (Dad) Wilf Beresford..................... (Dad)............................... Mick................................. (Son and Brother) Nigel................................ (Son and Brother) Jimmy Biddle....................... (Dad)............................... Steve............................... (Son) Steve Blewitt....................... (Dad)............................... Ben.................................. (Son) Cliff Bratton......................... (Husband)....................... Christine.......................... (Wife) Dave................................ (Son) Deb Brown........................... (Mum)............................. Amy................................. (Daughter) Pete Creswell....................... (Son)................................ P J ................................... (Dad) Bob Davison........................ (Brother)......................... John................................. (Brother) (brother)......................... John Bob Davison........................ (Husband)....................... Peggy.............................. (Wife) Ian Davison.......................... (Son)......................................................................... (Dad) Mark Dixon.......................... (Son)................................ John................................. (Dad) Alex Dossor......................... (Husband)....................... Gemma............................ (Wife) Paul Falkiner........................ (Son)................................ Phil................................... (Dad) Steve Foster......................... (Son)................................ Geoff............................... (Son) Paul Fox............................... (Husband)....................... Sheila............................... (Wife) Bob Fullerton....................... (Husband)....................... Margaret......................... (Wife) Phil Gibson........................... (Brother)......................... Michael............................ (Brother) Bob Gilmore......................... (Dad)............................... Tom.................................. (Son) Stuart Gleisinger................. (Husband)....................... Lynda............................... (Wife) Tony Golland....................... (Dad)............................... Rick.................................. (Son) Dave Hancock...................... (Son)................................ ......................................... (Dad) Ron Hill................................ (Brother)......................... Kevin............................... (Brother) Ron Hill................................ (Dad)............................... Richard............................ (Son) Graham Howitt................... (Dad)............................... Becky............................... (Daughter) Paul Howitt.......................... (Brother)......................... Alan................................. (Brother) Des Ingamells...................... (Husband)....................... Margaret......................... (Wife) Bob James............................ (Husband)....................... Glynda............................. (Wife) Barry................................ (Son) Mick Kennewell................... (Son)................................ Pat................................... (Dad) Rod Knight........................... (Dad)............................... Steve............................... (Son)

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John Leigh........................... (Dad)............................... Chris................................ (Son) Ray Lilley.............................. (Dad)............................... Steve............................... (Son) Craig Mabbott..................... (Partner).......................... Charlotte......................... (Partner) Ray Marchant...................... (Dad)............................... Sandra............................. (Wife) James............................... (Son) Dave McCartney.................. (Dad)............................... Tim................................... (Son) Prichard McEwan......................................................... Tommy............................. (Grandson) Thomas............................ (Grandad) Mick McGarry...................... (Dad)............................... Andy................................ (Son) Chris Montgomery.............. (Son)................................ Brian................................ (Dad) Mick Nason.......................... (Dad/Uncle)..................... Mike................................ (Son) Wayne............................. (Son) Kevin............................... (Nephew) Roger Nicholson.................. (Son)................................ Reg.................................. (Dad) Dave Nye............................. (Brother)......................... Chris................................ (Brother) Gary Parker.......................... (Dad)............................... Jason............................... (Son) John Parry............................ (Dad)............................... Rebecca........................... (Daughter) John Parry............................ (Son)................................ Dave................................ (Dad) James Phipps....................... (Son)................................ Tom.................................. (Dad) Jack Plant............................. (Dad)............................... Trevor.............................. (Son) Nick Plant............................. (Husband)....................... Debbie............................. (Wife) Sam Priestley....................... (Son)................................ Paul (Tic).......................... (Dad) Brian Reek............................ (Dad)............................... Matt................................. (Son) Steve Revill.......................... (Brother)......................... Colin................................ (Brother) Bob Robinson...................... (Dad)............................... Richie............................... (Son) Dennis Schemilt................... (Dad)............................... Will.................................. (Son) Kev Senior........................... (Brother)......................... Sharon............................. (Sister) Sam Sewell.......................... (Son)................................ Granville.......................... (Dad) Martin Shalloe..................... (Dad)............................... Craig................................ (Son) Pete Shearman.................... (Dad)............................... Andy................................ (Son) Nigel Simpson..................... (Husband)....................... Saly Anne........................ (Wife) Bob Stacey........................... (Son)................................ Ron.................................. (Dad) John Straker........................ (Brother)......................... Paul.................................. (Brother) Geoff Tasker........................ (Dad)............................... Luke................................. (Son) Alan Taylor........................... (Husband)....................... Jane................................. (Wife) Nathan............................ (Son) Paul Vernon.................................................................. Jimmy John Ward (Senior)............. (Dad)............................... John................................. (Son) Kevin.................................... (Brother)......................... Andrew........................... (Brother) Paul...................................... (Nephew)........................ Andrew........................... (Nephew) Paul Warner......................... (Dad)............................... Luke................................. (Son) Trevor Whiting.................... (Husband)....................... Sue................................... (Wife) Giles Wilson......................... (Son)................................ Gordon............................ (Dad) Dave Wright........................ (Dad)............................... Kraig................................ (Son) Simon Wright...................... (Husband)....................... Mary................................ (Wife) Nigel Young......................... (Husband)....................... Sandra............................. (Wife)

190

STATION MANAGERS Through the life of the station there have only been 15 Managers at West Burton, whilst they have held many titles, all connected with the station and their staff.

These 15 individuals have set the standards, expectation but most importantly the way the station feels to us all. West Burton does have a close family feeling that for most has been a pleasure to work in. It is sad that in March 2023 it ceased keeping the lights on.

The fact that West Burton was the first station with 500 MW units to start and is one of the last two to run, completing 57 years of generation is a tribute to them and all the staff that they led.

191

George Nicholson Station Superintendent, 1963 - 1968 As the first Station Manager (Superintendent as they were known), George led the station through its construction, commissioning and first two years of operation.

One of the highlights of these special times, would have been meeting the Shah of Iran which was remembered in the station timeline, leading through the Control Room corridor.

192

Derek Wells OBE Station Superintendent and Station Manager, 1968 - 1990 Derek was the station’s longest serving manager, fulfilling the role for 22 years, before that he was the deputy station superintendent to George Nicholson.

From those who remember his tenure, he is remembered fondly and, in his time, it is Derek that must take credit for the culture, friendliness and team spirit that remained until the last day.

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Ron Taylor Station Manager, 1990 - 1993 Ron Taylor was a true old school Station Manager. Known as “Rocket Ron” fondly locally, Ron was a force to be reckoned with and would be formally addressed as Mr Taylor, in-keeping with those times. During his leading role he commanded respect and had strict shirt, tie and suit attire looking immaculate at all times.

Commanding the top floor of admin, the more junior staff kept away unless summonsed.

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Dr Derek Cheetham Station Manager, 1993 - 1995 Derek was a doctor of metallurgy starting with a role in materials failure analysis, then moving into project management. Before joining West Burton Derek had been the FGD project manager at Drax.

Known for his relaxed and open style of management, he was highly regarded throughout the company, as a result when National Power were selling West Burton to Eastern Electricity, Derek was moved to Drax as their Station Manager.

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Arthur Wright Station Manager, 1996 - 1999 Arthur had been at West Burton in Operations for many years becoming a Shift Charge Engineer, then Operations Manager before taking on the Station Manager role. He was widely respected for his plant knowledge and experience. Arthur fought for West Burton to be the lead unit for the APMS system and supported its ongoing development that was the basis of the successful control platform we finished generation using.

The other major project that started under Arthur’s watch was the construction of the FGD at West Burton.

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Nick Plant Station Manager, 1999 - 2002 Nick was an Electrical Engineer and had been Engineering Manager at West Burton by training having been the Engineering Manager at West Burton before he undertook the Station Manager’s role.

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Peter McGriskin Director of Thermal Generation, 2002 - 2008 Peter led the company through a change to a fleet-based management structure to react to the competitive market place. He was known for his dedication to work, fair approach and his absolute love of football which led to many inter-station football matches, helping teams to bond further and nurturing a healthy level of competition between the stations. He went on to work next door at West Burton B during its build and first operational days.

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Nigel Beresford Director of Thermal Generation, 2008 - 2011 Nigel’s ambition to work at the station began at the young age of 13 when he visited the station with his father. Before his Director role, Nigel previously worked for Peter and his chance to run the fleet of coal stations was here. Nigel was known for his passion for improving safety and his implementation of the Hazard Awareness Centre (HAC) and the improvements to site inductions helped raise awareness and improve knowledge. He has fond memories of many West Burton stalwarts and is proud to have made his mark on the station.

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Andy Richardson Director of Thermal Generation, 2011 - 2014 Andy joined West Burton and Cottam from EDF’s rotating plant group, Andy implemented a large-scale investment programme to ensure the plant could extend its life, meet the challenges of environmental performance and managing an ageing plant. He set the objective for Cottam and West Burton to be the last plant standing (the last surviving 2,000 MW station), getting to 2023 it almost came off, only Ratcliffe beat us with its slightly longer closure date.

To deliver this he established a large supporting organisation to deliver the programmes. This was done with the support of EDF enabling the site to deliver good returns to the company.

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Craig Dohring Plant Manager, 2014 - 2016 Craig arrived from Torness after the management re-organisation from a fleet approach to a station focused organisation with one manager having the responsibility for his site, during this period with a changing electricity market the structure had to be made fit for the new world. During his tenure the station celebrated its 50th year of generation.

Craig was liked on site and noted for his enthusiasm, optimism and drive.

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Pete Large Plant Manager, 2016 - 2017 Whilst Pete was West Burton through and through, he was only Plant Manager for one of his 37 years at the site; this was whilst voluntarily stepping up from his Engineering and Maintenance Manager role to cover the position until a new permanent manager could be appointed.

He was well respected by both site and external bodies and his ability to manage and control the sites capital expenditure and projects, in depth plant technical knowledge and close working relationship with the station’s insurers and competent persons is what fundamentally contributed to the site’s approved extended life plan which ensured the safe and continued running of the units during the later years of the station’s operational life.

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Martin Cheetham Plant Manager (Director of Thermal Generation), 2017 - 2020 Martin soon bonded with the station and rapidly gained the respect of all staff on site.

It was his vision, preparation and work that enabled the station to cover Hunterston Power Station’s Capacity Market commitment giving the staff an extra year of work. Martin was a self-confessed “tight” Yorkshireman and did not allow any (over) spending to take place during his tenure. Following West Burton, he stayed with EDF and moved on to become Station Director at Heysham 1.

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Steve Pace Plant Manager, 2020 - 2021 Steve led the WBA Station for a short time as plant manager. He had a challenging task taking the station through some hard times, helping move the station towards closure.

The whole of his time managing the station was during a national pandemic which saw teams taking turns to attend work to mitigate the risk and keep the plant available.

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Gavin Lancaster Plant Manager, 2021 - 2022 Gavin joined as Plant manager for West Burton and Cottam (in demolition times) just as the station was shortlisted as a STEP Fusion shortlisted location. He was known for his people skills and quickly made himself known amongst the workforce. Quite significantly during what was expected to be the last season at West Burton turned into extra time when responding to the Government’s request for an extension at WBA. This gave Gavin plenty of work to do whilst leading the site. Gavin moved to EDF’s Dungeness as Station Director.

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Andy Powell Head of Thermal Generation, 2022 - 2023 Andy Powell was the last leader at West Burton, very well known locally and having previously worked at Cottam as Plant Manager during its last year, and also next door at West Burton B CCGT prior to the sale of the station. Andy knew many of the workforce since working as an apprentice at Cottam and working his way upwards to the role of Head of Thermal Generation.

You could say Andy had a reputation for closing down stations, but it might just be a coincidence!

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FIRST MANAGEMENT TEAM CEGB MANNING COURSE Electricity Hall, Buxton: 2-13 November 1964.

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WE BUILT WEST BURTON This is probably the first team established at West Burton. The picture is of the C.E.G.B. construction team. This team were the C.E.G.B. Engineers who were based on site for the build of West Burton.

Only one person is known to us on the picture front left; Mr Hancock. His son Dave subsequently joined West Burton in 1977 as a Mechanical Engineer in the Boiler Team, clocking up 42 years’ service before retiring in 2020.

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OUR TEAMS As the station comes to the end of its life, we gave the opportunity for the teams to have a team photo, of those who remained. We did also ask them if they wished to get their colleagues back who left in September 2021, these are the teams who wanted to be captured. We also had a number of pictures of various teams through the station’s life and wanted to share them.

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REORGANISATIONS During the days of the C.E.G.B. staff numbers and structures were relatively stable. National Power was formed in 1990 as part of the privatisation process of the ESI, the increased focus on costs resulted in restructuring and redundancies.

In early 1992 National Power initiated a country wide staff reduction program.

At the start about 600 people worked at West Burton, numbers dropped to 500

by March 1993 and then to 420 by March 1994 this was done with an enhanced voluntary selective severance scheme. This was a companywide initiative with opportunities that allowed people to leave and some being replaced with others from National Powers closing stations. In November of 1993 we embarked on a business process review called Save our Future (SOF), it looked at many of the workstreams, operations, coal plant, maintenance and central functions. The changes did involve representation from all staff in each of the areas it did get the nick name of shoot own foot. By September of 1994 the site had 354 members of staff and wanted this to drop to 238 by March 1999.

When Eastern Electricity took over they in 1997 the also conducted a review called Gold Heart 97, introducing a new voluntary selective severance scheme targeting a loss of 70 staff over the three sites. Part of this process continued under TXU’s ownership and in May 1999 West Burton outsourced the coal plant O&M to NOREC.

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TEAM BUILDING

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KIELDER CHALLENGE It started with Raleigh Challenge when West Burton sent a team to Eastnor Castle to compete in a Power Challenge called Endeavour 93. That year one of our teams finished a creditable third.

In 1994 some new challenges were added, building a device to remotely detonate a bomb, constructing a weighing machine from string and garden cains before completing the assault course the final bit of this was a zip wire into the quarry.

In 1995 the 93 team then returned finishing sixth out of 25 teams. In 1996 we stopped competing after the sale of West Burton.

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These events were missed by the staff, we again started competing with the Eastern Generation Women’s Challenge held in the Malvern Hills. Again the challenges was run over a weekend and involved completed a combination of physical and logical tasks spread out over an area in the Malvern Hills. This led to us competing in an inter-company competition in the Kielder Forest.

The Kielder Inter-company Challenge was a two-day competition for teams of six.

During the day teams orienteered themselves through the forest arriving at one of eight tasks at designated times. The tasks could be mental, physical or a mixture of both. The Kielder Inter-company Challenge was very popular and West Burton supported this annual event for several years. Interest grew across the site to the point we were entering two and three teams.

Kielder provided an opportunity to challenge yourself mentally and physically in a different way that you don’t get through the day job. It was a chance to really get to know your team mates and for them to get to know you seeing each other in a different light. It was the banter amongst teammates that got you through the feelings of being cold, wet, tired and hungry.

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DRAGON BOAT Gable Events organised a corporate challenge called the Dragon Boat race. Its aim was to give companies an opportunity to take part in a fantastic team building and fun event. It was held at the Olympic rowing and canoeing venues at Eton’s Dorney lake in Windsor.

EDF entered several teams, one from West Burton (with help from Cottam and coal purchasing) consisting: Graham Ellis, Ken Marsh, Leslie Gudalajtys, Katherine Blackmore, Bob Churchwood, Nicola Mapson, Jodie Bushell, Ross Tyler, Catherine Johnson and Ian Parke. It’s been suggested that the bar and gourmet BBQ on offer might have been the selling point!

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CELEBRATIONS

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THROUGHOUT THE YEARS We have celebrated West Burton’s Life. In 1988 there was an open day to celebrate the site’s 20 years of operation. Few can remember any earlier celebrations at the station.

The day was marked with an open day in 1988 with clowns and tours of the station and cooling towers and on this day a locomotive was notably named after the station.

For the 30 year celebration, the station held an open weekend, the weekend welcomed more than 8,000 visitors and VIPs followed by a family evening which ended in a firework display that was talked about for decades.

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THROUGHOUT THE YEARS Staff past and present turned out in force on April 25, 1994 to celebrate West Burton’s official opening Silver Jubilee. The weather that day was fine and sunny.

That was an occasion marked by hopes for the future that were fulfilled in the next quarter of a century as station manager reminded guests at the celebration buffet lunch. It made the local newspaper with Dr Derek Cheetham ready to slice the huge cake made by Bridget (with an impressive 3D station visible including chimney smoke!). A huge buffet with drinks was held for the staff … it’s good to see this tradition never really went away.

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OTHER CELEBRATIONS Christmas was always a much-anticipated event on site, being catered by the site canteen teams often served by the management team as a thank you for the efforts the staff put in.

The meal would be accompanied with the Sports and Social Club Raffle and you could win some star prizes including televisions, iPads and other sought after goods.

Or you could win a box of crackers, booze or a handbag … you just never knew.

There were booze-fuelled after-parties at the social club or off site which are fondly remembered by many, plus children’s parties with presents and entertainment.

In the earlier part of the station’s life Station Managers invited many of their staff for drinks on Christmas Eve before we all went home to be with our families. Shifts would each cook a Christmas lunch in the mess room and the shift sit down to enjoy the meal, in the early years this even included alcohol.

In 2021 Covid was celebrated with a last minute three course take-away dinner, hastily supplied by Bridget which was followed by a supplementary “Christmas at Easter” roast dinner. The last Christmas lunch was held in 2022 for one last bash.

Bonfire night was always enjoyed on site up to the start of CCGT construction.

We would invite our neighbours to the sports and social club where they would enjoy food, a bonfire and fireworks.

One of our final celebrations was for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, to mark 70 years of service as the longest serving Monarch. Workers at West Burton A held their own celebration, a Street Party style get together with barbecue food served outside and topped off with a nice cup of tea and one of Bridget’s famous scones with jam and fresh cream.

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50 YEAR CELEBRATION When the station turned 50 in 2018, it had doubled its intended lifetime, and this felt like a significant milestone for celebrations.

A family day was held with fairground rides, station tours and street food stalls and unlimited ice creams were only topped off with a limited-edition station Lego set that was presented to each family who attended the event. To mark this event, a train was named after the site and its age, West Burton 50 was named at a ceremony attended by the longest serving site employees.

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LAST YEAR CELEBRATION To celebrate its last year in 2022, the team of 130 were asked what they wanted to happen in the station’s last year and they said we want to bring our families to site for one last time and show them where we worked.

So once school holidays were over and people back at work, the gates were opened, and people welcomed in for one last look. The station tour was the highlight of the day and included the Coal Plant, Main Control Room, Turbine Hall and loading bay, workshops, and a cooling tower. With the obligatory ice cream van, face paints and bouncy castle and BBQ plus Bridget’s cakes, the consensus was that the day had been a huge success. To mark West Burton’s closure on 25 April 2023, a get together was held for those who worked on site since September 2021, with food, music, and memories of the site. Everyone who attended got a closure model, book written about West Burton by Ric Tyler for Historic England and a book that celebrated the people, events, and life of West Burton.

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SPORTS AND SOCIAL West Burton had a very active Sports and Social club. The club itself hosted entertainers from Marti Cane, Norma Collier, Charlie Williams and Picketywitch amongst a longer list others, had new years eve dances and bonfire night fireworks.

The club also supported other interests with a fishing club that continued right up to its closure and a clay pigeon shooting club on Bole Ings.

The West Burton family often got competitive both as individuals and as a station, from golfing competitions and holidays to football matched against departments and other stations. Company running competitions would result in us entering teams to these events and we hosted the turkey trot, that became the 10k runs between West Burton and Cottam we would invite people from other sites and the local community in the Power Surge.

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WEST BURTON NEWS Throughout the 1990s West Burton regularly produced a newspaper with articles about station life, the people and their lives. It was a time just before social media began, when people were happy to share their news and achievements both inside and outside of work. After 99 issues, this came to an end in 1999 which saw the station news incorporated into a magazine about the wider group of stations and the companies that owned us.

The newspaper has been an excellent source of information for this decade which saw some really great times of team-building, socialising and being what was later recognised as a force for good.

Through this newsletter, most activities on the station were well-documented. We have found copies of most of these papers and you can access and read the stories for that time which cover our staff and the wide variety of reports into what was happening on site. You will be able to read all of these if you go to the e-book.

NEWS

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PLANNING

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PLANNING In the late 1950s the C.E.G.B. predicted a doubling in the electricity demand every 10 years.

The Electricity Supply Infrastructure in England and Wales was not capable of meeting this growth to respond it embarked on a large construction plan that ultimately lead to the 500 MW unit concept and the expansion of the National Grid network. West Burton was selected as the second site to be developed.

On 13 February 1961 a letter from Ministry of Power to the C.E.G.B. identified that the West Burton site met all of the requirements for a 2000 MW site, and a further power station of 2,000 MW could be built there at a later date.

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CAREFUL PLANNING AND PROCESS This was followed up on 16 May 1966 when the Central Electricity Generating Board (C.E.G.B.) made a Section 2 application to the Ministry of Power to build a 2000MW Power Station called West Burton B with six cooling towers, this however did not get progressed.

In 1988 the chairman of the C.E.G.B. Walter Marshall, Baron Marshall of Goring announced a 2 x 900 MW coal-fired power station fitted with Flue-Gas Desulphurisation that would be built on the site. Plans were started, a team was set-up in the local area to publicise the project. They started to establish a team to start to build the two 900 MW units, however this was stopped when the ESI industry privatisation started.

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THE B SITE GETS BUILT West Burton B was eventually built when EDF commenced construction of a Combine Cycle Gas Turbine station in 2008, it became fully operational in 2013.

In July 2021 EDF sold West Burton B to EIG.

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BUILDING WEST BURTON During construction photographs were taken to record the progress as it gives us a great insight into the way things were built and the order of the build. The archive of the build runs to several hundred photographs, many of which are inspiring.

CONSTRUCTION

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THE FIRST MEASUREMENT Right at the beginning of the construction process, before the first clod was dug, someone had to mark out the land to show where all the buildings and roads would go.

To do that, they had to establish a single set-out point that indicated the centre line of the complex and against which all other measurements would be taken.

The task fell to Douglas Derbyshire, Chief project Engineer for the C.E.G.B. Northern Project Group, and colleagues from Merz and McLellan civil engineers and Mitchell Construction. The group assembled on a hump-back bridge over the railway that led to West Burton village. A plumb line was dropped over the edge of the bridge down to the tracks and from that intersection the measuring began. The bridge was later demolished during construction of the site. Ordnance Survey subsequently introduced benchmarks (reference points) at either end of the turbine hall on the corners of row ‘A’ and at the foot of chimney 1 plus the coal plant emergency drainage pump house.

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AERIAL PHOTOS

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CONSTRUCTION WORKERS CAMP The contractor’s village was some of the first structures to be built in the area of the east end cooling towers.

West Burton’s rural location meant there was very little accommodation available for the hundreds of workers brought in from all over the country to construct the site.

The solution was to build a special, temporary compound.

These buildings were some of the first structures to be built. The compound was erected adjacent to the (then) still existing derelict Low Farm buildings and close to where the medieval village of West Burton once stood. More than 1400 workers could be comfortably housed. There were special cabins allocated for managers and a modern canteen block capable of serving up to 2,000 meals a day.

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GROUNDWORKS AND ROADS These pictures show the size of the site, what was there at the start and the first stages of making West Burton, at times it was a quagmire where the use of a Land Rover or two was needed.

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SITE BATCHING PLANT The amount of concrete that was needed to built the station meant that we had to make it on site.

A number of batching plants were used to mix the materials to make the concrete when it was needed. These plant items were moved so they were next to where the concrete was needed. This picture shows the formation of the turbine and boiler house foundations.

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STEEL AND FABRIC TURBINE AND BOILER HOUSES This small selection of photographs show the build of the boiler and turbine houses from the hole in the ground to the base level and then foundations of the turbines and the erection of the steel work and cladding. Later sections showed what went on inside.

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TURBINE BLOCK FOUNDATIONS Here we see the construction of the turbines starting with their foundations on which the generator HP and IP cylinders sit.

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TURBINE CONDENSER The condenser was built from its spring base up, with welded sections forming a frame. It was then boxed in with each condenser tubes being manually threaded into position and fixed.

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ON TOP OF FOUNDATIONS When the condenser was in place it formed the base where the LP turbine was to sit. The generator, high and intermediated pressure turbine sat on their own concrete foundations.

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FITTING TURBINE ROTORS

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GENERATOR CONSTRUCTION The stator was delivered to site on the back of lorry. The stator was lifted and slotted into the casing. After this the rotor was slotted in, aligned and boxed in, the exciter train was then installed.

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TURBINE AUXILLIARIES

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DEAERATOR The deaerator and its storage vessel was made in situ from rolled sheet metal welded together. The picture we have chosen show a few of the stages of its construction and assembly.

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MAIN BOILER FEED PUMP & STARTING & STANDBY FEED PUMPS

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COOLING WATER PUMP HOUSE Using the construction photos from the east and west CW pumphouses this sequence shows their construction from foundation to completed building to the connection of the CW supply pipework to the culvert.

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COOLING WATER CULVERT The culverts are the pipes that carry the cooling water to and from the turbines, these pictures illustrate the construction of the culverts for the supply and return.

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COOLING WATER PUMPS Using photos from the east and west pump houses we see the installation of the CW pumps. There were only a limited number of photos to use but they do allow us to see their construction.

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COOLING WATER TOWERS

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BOILER BUILD: DRUM AND TOP DEAD SPACE HEADERS The boiler is hung from the very top of the boiler house and it expands down when heated. To achieve this expansion the boiler was built from the top down.

This section is split into key stages of building the boiler, once the steelwork was in place the main frame for hanging the boiler was installed once in place the first major component to be lifted in place was the main steam drum, before other headers were installed.

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BOILER BUILD: HANGING WALL TUBES For the boiler build it was down all the way with the hanging of the burners, water tubes, superheater and reheater pendants being suspended from their respective headers.

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BOILER BUILD: DISTRIBUTION DRUM When down at basement level the distribution drum headers were installed and connected to the boiler before the building of the ash hopper.

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BOILER BUILD ASH HOPPERS When the distribution drums had been installed the ash hopper foundations was formed and then hoppers built and connected by the seal to the rest of the boiler.

The seal was required to account for the boiler expansion when it was heated.

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MILLING PLANT The photos for the mill build would look familiar to those on site and in particular the mill maintenance teams as the teams often stripped down the mills in order to repair them. The only real items not seen by them would the foundations.

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INDUCED DRAUGHT FANS

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PRIMARY AIR AND FORCED DRAUGHT FANS

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AIR HEATERS

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CHIMNEY Two main stacks were used at West Burton, the east end was for Units 1 and 2 and the west end for Units 3 and 4. The stacks had a common flue for the pair of units and was slip formed in a continuous pour.

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TRASH SCREEN

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VIADUCT & BOOM STACKER These two systems were available for putting coal onto stock one was business as usual the second in case of breakdown.

The viaduct was installed to allow unloading of coal if the track hopper conveyors or boom stacker system was unavailable, the coal could be dropped and then be picked up by a bowl scraper either from under the hopper or after it was moved by bulldozer.

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GAS TURBINES All of the stations with 500 MW units had gas turbines. This was for two reasons the first to have flexible and fast starting capacity to cope with systems shortages an frequency drops. They also could be used to start up the station should the system collapse and the site need to black start.

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WATER TREATMENT PLANT

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CONTROL ROOM This picture shows the installated panels in the control room. These panels remained in use with very little change up to the 1990s when APMS was installed, the panels removed, and the size of room was reduced.

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ELECTRICAL GRID SUBSTATIONS

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SAFETY

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CAN YOU SPOT THE ERRORS? The pictures in this section show several practices and activities that would not be acceptable today. Considering today’s knowledge, it shows how West Burton developed and improved its safety culture.

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A TENSE OCCASION West Burton Unit 1 sealed its place in the history of UK power during a memorable three-day proving run at full load beginning on 1 August 1967.

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PRINCIPAL AND SUB-CONTRACTORS Whilst the site was designed by the North West Region of the C.E.G.B. from their Agecroft site, it would not have been possible without the engineering firms who designed and made the plant and apparatus as well as the many companies who came to site to build and fit out the site.

This section is a simple list of the companies involved and the areas that they delivered in recognition of what they all achieved. They designed and built the first operational 2,000 MW coal fired power station.

Engineering Central electricity generating board...............Northern Project Group Consulting engineers.......................................Merz and McLellan (for civil and building works) Executive Architects.........................................Architects Design Group Landscaping consultants..................................Derek Lovejoy and Associates Civil works Preliminary works including construction .....Mitchell Construction Ltd roads, camp and site preparation Foundation and C.W. aqueducts ....................Taylor Woodrow Construction Ltd Chimney............................................................Bierrum and Partners Ltd Main steelwork.................................................Cleveland Bridge & Engineering Co. Ltd Roof Cladding...................................................D.Andeson and Son Ltd Wall cladding and glazing...............................Mellows and Co. Ltd Lifts....................................................................A. and P. Stevens Ltd Main superstructure & ancillary buildings......Sir Alfred McAlpine and Son Ltd Cooling towers.................................................Davenport Engineering Ltd

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Mechanical Plant Boilers...............................................................International Combustion Ltd Sub-contractors: Instruments and Controls................................George Kent Ltd Mechanical Grit Arresters................................Davidson and Co. Ltd Circulating Pumps............................................Hayward Tylers and Co. Ltd Air Heaters........................................................J.Howden and Co. Ltd Valves................................................................Hopkinsons Ltd Fans...................................................................Davidson and Co. Ltd Sootblowers......................................................Ivor Power Specialty Co. Ltd Economisers......................................................Senior Economies Ltd Variable Speed Motors....................................Laurence Scott and Electromoters Ltd Precipitators......................................................Lodge Cottrell Ltd Sub-contractors: Precipitator Casings..........................................Bierrum and Partners Ltd Superheaters and Desuperheaters..................Superheater Co. Ltd Oil Overburn.....................................................International Combustion Ltd Oil Overburn Buildings....................................Midlands Project Group Oil Overburn Electrical.....................................WH Smith Turbo-Alternators, Condensing......................English Electric Co. Ltd and Feed Heating Plant Sub-contractors: Pipework...........................................................Stewarts and Lloyds Ltd Instruments and Controls................................George Kent Ltd Deaerators........................................................Wm. Bobby and Co. Ltd H.P and L.P. Pipework and Valves...................Stewarts and Lloyds Ltd Sub-contractors: Insulation..........................................................Versil Ltd H.P. Valves.........................................................Hopkinson Ltd L.P. Valves..........................................................J. Blakeborough and Sons Ltd ..........................................................................Hattersley Ltd Tanks.................................................................Newton Chambers and Co. Ltd

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MAIN CONTRACTORS AND PRINCIPAL SUB-CONTRACTORS continued

Circulating Water Pumps.................................Allen Gwynnes Pumps Ltd C.W. Pipework..................................................Redheugh Iron Steel Co. Ltd Main Circulating Water Valves........................Boving and Co. Ltd Circulating Water Screens...............................Ledward and Beckett Ltd Turbine House Cranes......................................Cowans, Sheldon and Co. Ltd Auxiliary Cranes...............................................(Wharton Crane and Hoist Co. Ltd (Herbert Morris Ltd. Boiler Feed Pumps............................................Mather and Platt Ltd Auxiliary Pumps...............................................Mather and Platt Ltd Coal Handling Plant.........................................Birtley Engineering Ltd Sub-contractors: Coal Plant Electrical..........................................Contactor Switchgear Ash Plant...........................................................Babcock & Wilcox Sub-contractors: Dust Plant.........................................................Babcock & Wilcox Sub-contractors: Dust Bunker......................................................Bierrum and Partners Ltd Dust Plant Eelectrical.......................................Contactor Switchgear Water Treatment Plant....................................Permutit Co. Ltd Fixed Fire Fighting Equipment........................Mather and Platt Ltd Chlorination Plant............................................Wallace and Tierman Ltd Compressors.....................................................Broom and Wade Ltd Vacuum Cleaning Plant....................................B.V.C. Engineering Ltd FGD....................................................................F.L.S. Miljo

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Sub-contractors: Electrical Plant Main 400kV Switchgear...................................English Electric Co. Ltd 132kV Switchgear............................................English Electric Co. Ltd Generator Transformers..................................English Electric Co. Ltd Station Transformers.......................................C.A. Persons and Co. Ltd Inter-Bus Transformers and Reactors..............Associated Electrical Industries Ltd Unit Transformers............................................Crompton Parkinson Ltd Auxiliary Transformers....................................(Brush Electrical Engineering Co. Ltd (and English Electric Co. Ltd. Auxiliary 11kV Switchgear..............................A. Reyrolle and Co. Ltd Auxiliary 3.3kV.................................................English Electric Co. Ltd 415 Volt Switchgear.........................................A.E.I. Ltd (Rugby) Main Generator/Transformer Connections....British Insulated Callenders’ Cables Ltd Battery Equipment...........................................Chloride Electircal Storage Co. Ltd Installation and Maintenance.........................James Scoot Co. Ltd of Site Supplies Site Supplies Switchgear (415V).....................Brush Electrical Engineering Co. Ltd Site Supplies Switchgear (11kV) ....................East Midlands Electricity Board and Transformers Station Lighting...............................................James Scott Co. Ltd (Coal Plant and Pump House)..........................Watson Norrie Ltd Telecommunications and.................................Reliance Telephone Co. Ltd. Command Equipment Sub-contractors: Staff Location...................................................Multitone Electrical Co. Ltd

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STATION DESIGN PARAMETERS BOILER DESIGN PARAMETERS Manufacture Boiler type Drum design pressure Superheater outlet pressure Superheater outlet temperature Feed pump No Load Initial feed temperature

International Combustion Ltd., Derby Divided furnace wall (radiant) 189.3 bar 163.4 bar 569°C 251.9 bar 254°C

Reheater: • Inlet pressure • Inlet temperature • Outlet pressure • Outlet temperature

45.5 bar 366°C 45.5 bar 569°C

Volume Superheater control range

6286.3 m3 222 000 ft3 305 kg/s to 434.7 kg/s

WATER / STEAM CIRCUIT VOLUMES Boiler (normal water level)

47,730 gal

216,979 litres

217 m3

Economiser

9,800 gal

44,550 litres

45 m3

Downcomer Water Walls

3,344 gal

15,202 litres

15 m3

Downcomers

1,086 gal

4,937 litres

5 m3

Circulating Pump Suction

465 gal

2,114 litres

2 m3

Circulating Pump Discharge

1,862 gal

8,465 litres

8 m3

331 gal

1,541 litres

2 m3

23,831 gal

10,833 litres

11 m3

Saturated Main Pipes

3,025 gal

13,752 litres

14 m3

1st Stage Superheater

1,423 gal

6,469 litres

6 m3

2nd Stage Superheater

1,254 gal

5,701 litres

6 m3

Interstage Superheater

879 gal

3,996 litres

4 m3

3rd Stage Superheater

2,662 gal

12,101 litres

12 m3

Interstage Superheater

1,193 gal

5,423 litres

5 m3

4th Stage Superheater

1,790 gal

8,137 litres

8 m3

5th Stage Superheater

3,539 gal

16,088 litres

16 m3

6th Stage Superheater

1,976 gal

8,983 litres

9 m3

Main Steam Piping

4,835 gal

21,980 litres

22 m3

Total

19,551 gal

88,877 litres

89 m3

Reheater

11,366 gal

51,669 litres

52 m3

Balance Pipes Furnace Steam Circuit

373

The water volume does not include the drum so the Boiler (normal water level) to sum of the component parts do not add up. Drum Volume is approx. 50m3 full.

Surface Areas

m2

ft2

Water Circuit

2 687.6 m2

28 930 ft2

Superheater

17 439.7 m2

187 720 ft2

Reheater

6 857.1 m2

73 810 ft2

Economiser

44 965 m2

484 000 ft2

Volume

6 286.3 m3

22 000 ft3

Boiler Wall Tubes

2687.6m2

28 930 ft2

Superheater (total)

18464.4m2

198 750 ft2

1st-Stage

5462.6m2

58 800 ft2

2nd-Stage

6735.4 m2

72 500 ft2

3rd-Stage

1407.4m2

15 150 ft2

4th-Stage : 1st Section

631.7m2

6 800 ft2

4th-Stage : 2nd Section

1077.6m2

11 600 ft2

5th-Stage

1918.4m2

20 650 ft2

6th-Stage

2

1230.9 m

13 250 ft2

Reheater (total)

7042.9m2

75 810 ft2

1st-Stage

2396.8m2

25 800 ft2

2nd-Stage

3312.0m2

35 650 ft2

3rd-Stage

1334.0m2

14 360 ft2

GENERATOR DATA Manufacturer Rated Output Volume of H2 Gas

English Electric Co. Ltd. Stafford.

500 MW (588 MVA at 0.85 power f lagging). 22kV 4,500 ft3

Item

Weight Imperial

Weight Metric

Alternator Rotor

64 Tons

65 Tonne

Alternator Outer Stator Frame

84 Tons

85 Tonne

Alternator Inner Stator

196 Tons

199 Tonne

H2 Coolers

5.5 Tons

5.6 Tonne

374

TURBINE DATA Manufacture English Electric Rugby Turbine Hall, 850ft [259m] long, 130ft [39.6m] wide.

Length of each machine is 162½ft [49.5m].

The weights involved are quite staggering when you consider that they are rotating at 3000 rpm with thousandths of an inch clearance.

Item

Weight Imperial

Weight Metric

Frame & Condenser

2,200 Tons

2,235 Tonne

HP Rotor (old type)

12 Tons

12.2 Tonne

HP Rotor (Retrofit new type)

11 Tons

11 Tonne

IP Rotor (old type)

24.5 Tons

25 Tonne

IP Rotor (Retrofit new type)

24.4 Tons

25 Tonne

LP Rotor Old Type

37.5 Tons

38 Tonne

LD 66 LP Rotor

42 Tons

43 Tonne

HP Inner Casing

6 Tons

6 Tonne

IP Inner Casing

11 Tons

11 Tonne

LP Inner Casing

27 Tons

27 Tonne

HP Outer Casing

19.5 Tons

20 Tonne

IP Outer Casing

34 Tons

34.5 Tonne

LP Hood

33 Tons

33.5 Tonne

LP Outer Gland housing

560 lbs

0.25 Tonne

Top i/v Chests complete

4.5 Tons

4.6 Tonne

Bottom I/V Cover

36 cwt

1.8 Tonne

Bottom I/V Chest

2 Tons 15 cwt

3.1 Tonne

Bottom I/V Chest (complete)

4.5 Tons

4.6 Tonne

HP Strainer Basket

92 lbs

42 kg

HP Strainer Cover

1 Ton

1 Tonne

Ip Strainer Cover

17.5 cwt

890 kg

I/V Servos

30 cwt

1.5 Tonne

Throttle Valve Cover

1.25 Tons

1.3 Tonne

Stop Valve Cover

1.5 Tons

1.5 Tonne

Emergency Valve cover

1.5 Tons

1.5 Tonne

Stop and Throttle Valve Servos

2.5 Tons

2.5 Tonne

Emergency Valve Servo

2 Tons

2 Tonne

No. 5 HP Heater Tube Nest

38 Tons

38.6 Tonne

No. 6 HP Heater Tube Nest

40 Tons

40.6 Tonne

No. 7 HP Heater Tube Nest

43 Tons

43.7 Tonne

375

TURBINE OIL Main shaft driven oil pump, (housed in the steam end pedestal), delivers 1,600 gal/min of oil at 220 lb/sq. in Full duty ac motor-driven oil pump 950 gal/min of oil at a pressure of 247 lb/sq in.

Plant Item

Per Item

Total on site

DOT

3

34,409 m

68,818 m3

COT

35,313 m3

70,627 m3

Main Oil Tanks Volume

44,835 m3

179,338 m3

T/A Lub Oil System

15,000 m

60,000 m3

T/A Oil Coolers

6,100 m3

24,400 m3

Seal Oil System

8,000 m3

32,000 m3

MBPF Oil Tank Volume

4,007 m3

16,028 m3

MBPF Oil Pipework

1,800 m3

7,200 m3

Total Volume Held On Unit

80,499 m3

321,995 m3

3

Total Held on Site

461,440 m3

# The tank has a working capacity of 9,470 gallons when the oil level is 8 ft. 3in.

Below the turbine floor and can hold 14,470 gallons when full.

WATER CW At full load West Burton power station requires 237.6 x 106 litres (52 x 106 gallons) of water per hour.

Item

Approximate Quantity

Discharge

Turbine Condensers

17,350 L/s (228,900 g.p.m.) Direct to towers

Condensate Coolers

331 L/s (4,370 g.p.m.)

Direct to towers

Rotary Air Pumps

167 L/s (2,200 g.p.m.)

Plant drains

Seal Oil Coolers

53 L/s (700 g.p.m.)

Plant drains

Transformer Oil Coolers

98.5 L/s (1,300 g.p.m.)

External surface water drains

Turbine Oil Coolers

1,410 L/s

Plant drains

Boiler Feed Pump Turbine Oil Coolers

15 L/s (200 g. p. m.)

Internal surface water drains

376

C.W. USAGE C.W. PUMPS Output Total head

120,000 gal/min (9,096 litre/sec) 76 ft (23.17 m)

C.W. TOWER Normal cooling range of 9.5oC, The shells constructed from reinforced concrete with an approximate shell thickness of 610 mm (24 in.) at the base of the tower shell this thickness continues for approximately 25.6 m (84 ft.) up the shell where it narrows down to between 127 mm and 178 mm (5 in. to 7 in.).

Three towers at the West end of the station (C1, C2 and D2) have further reinforcement by the application of a 51 mm (2 in.) coating of Gunite. Strengthened with 7 mm high tensile relieved wire, and the construction around the ponds of these three towers is strengthened with post tensioned ring beams.

DESIGN DATA Contractor Holst & Co. Ltd. Davenport Engineering Ltd. Number 8 Height (above ground level) 114:37 m (3’5 ft.)

Diameter of shell at base 86.62 m (284 ft:) Diameter of shell at throat 46.36 m (152 ft:) Diameter at top of shell 50.02 m (164 ft.)

Effective cooling surface of packing 558 150 m2 (6 000 000 ft 2) Number of sprayers 4500 Capacity per tower 8.5 x 103 litre/s (112 500 gal/min) Capacity 8 towers 68 x 103 litre/s (900 000 gal/min) Water temperature fall in tower 8.5oC Total evaporation in 8 towers at full output 0.833 x 103 litre/s (11 200 gal/min) Evaporation as % of water flow 1.2% Make-up water taken from Trent river 2.0 x 103 litre/s (26 500 gal/min) Make-up as % of water flow 3% Capacity of each cooling tower pond 12.5 x 106 litre/s (2 767 000 gal/min) Area of each cooling tower 5892.8 m2 (63 347 ft2) pond Depth of pond 2.623 m (8.6 ft.)

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378

OFFICIAL OPENIN

NG

379

380

OPEN FOR BUSINESS West Burton was officially opened on 25 April 1969.

The Right Honourable Roy Mason MP, Minister for Power, performed the ceremonial duty supported by Sir Stanley Brown, C.E.G.B., Chairman of the Board, Arthur Hawkins, C.E.G.B., Regional Director & Douglas Pask, C.E.G.B., Director, Northern Projects Group.

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382

RUNNING YEARS

S

383

384

HOW WEST BURTON WORKED The objective was to convert heat in the coal to mechanical energy, that turned the turbine and generator magnet to make electricity inside the generator windings.

The coal, brought to the station in “merry-go-round” trains carrying up to 1,500 tonnes, travelled from the coal-handling plant (1) by conveyor belt to the boiler bunkers from where it was fed to pulverising mills (2) that ground it as fine as talcum powder.

The powder was mixed with preheated air and blown into the boiler (4) by a forced draught fan (3) where it burnt. Some of the fine ash formed bonded together to form larger particles that fell at the bottom of the furnace (16). The remaining ash was carried through precipitators (13) the dust was trapped by on precipitator plates by electrostatic charge from high voltage electrodes. The dust was then conveyed to bunkers (14) for removal by rail, while the cleaned flue gases pass on to be discharged up the chimneys (15).

385

Meanwhile the heat released from the coal was absorbed by the many miles of tubing which line the boiler walls. The tubes in the boiler contained feed water (5), which was converted by the heat into steam at high pressure and temperature. The steam was then superheated, passed to the turbine (6) where just as the energy of the wind turns the sails of a windmill, the energy of the steam rotates the turbine. The turbine was connected to the rotor of the generator (7) a large cylindrical magnet that rotated with the turbine.

Wrapped round the generator rotor was the stator coils of copper bar in which electricity was produced through the movement of the magnetic field of the rotor. The electricity passed from the stator windings to a transformer (8) which increased its voltage to that of the transmission system feeding out power to the transmission lines (9) of the Grid.

386

The steam which had given up its energy was changed back into water in a condenser (10), so that it was ready for re-use. The condenser contained miles of tubing, through which cool water was pumped. The steam, passed over the outside of the tubes, lost its heat and rapidly changed back to water. But the two lots of water must never mix – the cooling water was drawn from the river, but the boiler feed water needed to be pure to stop damage to the boiler tubes.

387

Why bother to change the steam from the turbine back into water if it has to be heated up again immediately? The answer lies in the law of physics which says that he boiling point of water is related to pressure – the lower the pressure, the lower the temperature at which water boils. So, we had a condenser where steam was rapidly cooled to water, creating a vacuum.

388

SHOWPIECE OF INNOVATION Even before it opened, West Burton was acclaimed as a showpiece of British innovation; a pioneer of 500 MW electricity production.

Its engineering, construction and design were symbols of national pride. So much so that through the mid 1960s the site received a regular flow of visitors from all around the world accompanied by politicians and industry dignitaries. Memorably Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran was entertained with lunch and a guided tour on 6 March 1965. His name and signature have prominence on the very first page of the station’s leather bound visitor’s book.

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391

500 MW START UP SEQUENCE The starting up of a 500 MW unit from scratch is a complex activity. This was recognised very early on in the life of the 500 MW stations. Each station had to have its own sequence that was derived from a generic model.

The diagram shown had evolved over the years but it shows the discrete steps of bringing a unit to life. Each circle represents the completion of a single task, a simple one such as checking doors are shut right through to gassing up a generator alternator and all between. The whole process would take two to three days.

Each step had its own operations job specification that detailed the task to be done in order, to confirm that system had been commissioned. The steps were sequential requiring the previous steps be completed before commencing the next one.

One by one the task gets done until the unit is on load and generating.

392

BLACK START The process of running up one or more main generating units to above the stable Export Limit whilst the station is totally disconnected from the National Grid, using installed auxiliary generating systems.

Only a few power stations were Black Start Capable, this is the ability to run a main generating unit from shut down to above the stable export limit whilst totally disconnected from the National Grid.

4 PROVIDERS (pumped storage hydro) but need to energise Peterhead (only large fossil plant in Scotland) to Black Start network.

2 PROVIDERS (Fiddler’s Ferry and Dinorwig).

2 PROVIDERS (Barry, Marchwood and Aberthaw).

CURRENT BLACK START ZONES PROTECT PROPRIETARY: Black Start

393

Scotland can be energised from northern England but this significantly delays return of Scottish network

2 PROVIDERS (Drax and Keadby).

2 PROVIDERS (West Burton and Ratcliffe) following Rugely closure.

3 PROVIDERS (Grain, Medway and Little Barford).

394

ORIGINAL “DESIGN LIFE” FOR WEST BURTON TURBINES Each unit at West Burton was designed to have an operational life of 25 years which equated to approximately 150,000 running hours, this was calculated on “Base Load Operation” with very little Two Shifting.

The Base Load requirement for West Burton reduced as more Nuclear Power Stations were commissioned and they were called on to carry out the Base Load operation.

The Coal Fired Power Stations were then required to be more flexible and the West Burton Turbine Design from the 1960’s proved to be very robust, they were over designed and not like the Turbines in later years.

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396

BOMB SCARE UNIT 2 TURBINE - 1968 One of the young Commissioning Engineers made a dummy bomb from a small used fire extinguisher with a fibre cord poking out the end to make it look like a large firework.

Written on the side was RETURN TO FWA when used…the FWA stood for Free Welsh Army who were very active in North Wales in 1968.

This dummy bomb was just lying around in the Commissioning Office on the Turbine Floor for weeks on end until one day it disappeared and we thought it had got thrown away unfortunately not, it was found in Unit 2 Condenser by one of the C.E.G.B. Operations team from the Control Room. The alarm was raised and the bomb was carefully removed on a trolley covered in sand bags. The Army Bomb Disposal Section came from York to check it out. The young Engineer owned up to making it but not placing out on the Turbine, he got a severe dressing down but kept his job.

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398

TRAINS Coal was the fuel that trains used who brought the metal and other items required to build West Burton. The material being moved on site by our own shunting loco named C.E.G.B. East Midland Division West Burton No1.

We connected onto the main rail network that later became the rail lines for coal, HFO and dust with FGD limestone and gypsum using these lines with some modifications. It was used on site for moving heavy components on temporary lines on site. Signs of the line existed for the life of the station in front of the turbine house.

The second was a British Rail class 56 locomotive number 56028 Built by Electroputere as works number 777 in September 1977, named in September 1988. The locomotive was scrapped in September 1998. If you’re lucky you can get hold of the Hornby 00 model of this loco.

The last train named after our site was West Burton 50 named to mark West Burton’s 50th year of operation on 10 September 2016, a Class 66 locomotive number 66748 owned and operated by GBRF. Trains have been closely linked with West Burton as the principal was of feeding site with the coal we needed. It took 20 trains a day to supply the daily intake of 20,000 tons, either to make power of keep the coal stock.

The coal stock ground had a design holding of two million tons that would last three months.

The last train bringing coal to site should have been a class 56 locomotive number 66784 the “Keighley & Worth Valley Railway 50th Anniversary 1968-2018”, it delivered 1500 Tonnes of Russian coal on 12 August 2021.

Due to the six months of availability the Government requested (see your country needs you) this was not the last train. A Further 130,000 Te was bought by the National Grid in 2022 to cover any generation we had over the 2022 to 2023 winter.

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402

INCIDENTS

403

404

405

THE MINERS’ STRIKES In the 1970s, most of the UK’s electricity was produced by coal-burning power stations. The 1972 miners’ strike was a major dispute over pay between the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the Conservative Edward Heath government of the UK. Miners’ wages had not kept pace with those of other industrial workers since 1960.

1972 - 1974 There were poor relations between the unions and the Conservative Government who were attempting to introduce pay freezes and restraints to help the economy.

This led to large numbers of industrial disputes including the miners who were engaged in industrial action in 1972.

To reduce electricity consumption, and conserve coal stocks, Edward Heath announced a number of measures under the Fuel and Electricity (Control) Act 1973 on 13 December 1973, including the three-day Work Order. The Government refused to compromise eventually leading to Edward Heath, declaring a state of emergency and introducing the three-day working week.

On 9 February 1974, the miners came out to strike. Edward Heath called a General Election for 28 February and lost. The Labour Government and the miners reached a deal shortly afterwards and the strike ended.

406

THE MINERS’ STRIKE, 1984 - 1985 Ed Wallis Station Manager at Oldbury Power Station was asked with two colleagues to produce a paper about the threats to industry in the event of a coal shutdown. Ed knew that the strikes were sure to happen and would create siege conditions (it turned out this would be for a year).

His study led West Burton to install new plant such as the methanol plant that was designed to produce hydrogen, increased chemical stocks and Water Treatment Plant capability with several acid and caustic tanks being built and the D steam addition to the WTP all with aim of keeping the lights on. This as a whole would see West Burton through the worst of the strikes when they began.

Pickets did block the site, but whilst doing so, they were also trying to get our staff to help, for example often asking for funds to support their cost of living. Their focus was on deliveries, staff would see the lorries having bricks and rocks being thrown at the cabs of any that crossed the picket line. Staff have always travelled together, and it was not unusual for anyone sharing a car coming to site being stopped by the police and checked to ensure they were not picketing themselves.

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MAJOR PLANT ISSUES Over the years the site has seen many events including fires, pressure events, plant failures, spiked live cables, stuck vehicles and leaks.

It would be impossible to capture all of them because some will have been forgotten, however challenging they were at the time. A few have stayed in people’s memories and are still discussed today. These recollections are captured in the following sections.

MAJOR PLANT IS

SSUES

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410

HP ROTOR DAMAGE UNIT 1, 1966 Unit 1 first ran up in 1966 and synchronised on 10 September 1966 at 04:05 and ran to 05:40 for AVR testing reaching 10 MW. However, on 21 November 1966 during a run up, the unit’s HP Rotor saw a severe increased level of vibration resulting in a quick shut down.

The panel of inquiry consisting of English Electric staff and the C.E.G.B.’s Northern Project Group who were responsible for the complete build of station.

They identified a severe Axial Rub with a bad “Bend”. The rotor was sent back to Rugby for repair. The team took the HP Rotor destined for Unit 3 and installed that to keep to programme. The Unit was run up again and the same thing happened.

They identified that the HP Steam Chests keys to the HP Cylinder were not sliding on their Support Pads, preventing the HP Cylinder and Steam End Pedestal expanding fully forward as the temperature increased. The HP Rotor was expanding inside a cylinder that was not sliding forward on the pedestals as per design resulting in the rotor rubbing Axially into the Diaphragms and Glands at speed.

To overcome this the HP Steam Chest Support Pad underwent modifications between 1966 and 1968, the original support pads were removed, and “Swinging Link Supports” were manufactured and fitted to the HP Steam Chests.

Unit 1 was run up again with a lot of additional instruments for expansions etc and safely returned to service.

411

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413

MAIN TURBINE NO.1 BEARING FAILURES & SUBSEQUENT BEARING 1, 2, 3, & 4 MODIFICATIONS The turbines in their early life had a recurring issue of failure on its No1 bearing.

Peter Matthews was the Station Development Engineer from contact with Dr Chris Ettles an expert and academic on Rotating Machines and Alignments on a short course at “The Imperial College” London on Tribology. A chance discussion about the failures at West burton led to some further investigations. Carrying out “Cold” and “Hot” alignment checks on the HP and IP Rotors at the site and Imperial College.

Their solution was to fit three wedge shells to the bearings between 1975 and 1982.

414

UNIT 2 HP/IP INTERMEDIATE PEDESTAL CRACK 1967 Unit 2 Turbine also developed a serious issue with Axial Expansion. It was observed when the Turbine had been running for a period of time on load, fully expanded, heat soaked and vibration levels steady.

The Machine was shut down put on ETG and allowed to cool naturally. Some hours later the Differential Expansion within the HP and IP Cylinders had a big step change. An investigation found that the Intermediate Pedestal Steam End Paw Grip Key Block had cracked completely away from the Pedestal Housing allowing the HP Cylinder to “Jump” Axially.

The Intermediate and Steam End Pedestals were not sliding during cooling of the Cylinders and an excessive force was put on the Intermediate Pedestal / HP Paw Grip Key Way, resulting in the Pedestal cracking and a large piece of casting coming adrift.

It was decided not to replace the Intermediate Pedestal with one that was planned for the Unit 4 build because it meant removing the HP and IP Cylinders plus Loop Pipes to gain access to remove and replace it. Instead the option chosen was to design and fit tie bars unique to Unit 2 that allowed the Axial Expansion of the HP and IP Cylinder through the Tie Bar Assembly, these remained in place for the whole life of the station.

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UNIT 4 LOW PRESSURE SHAFT FAILURE On 28 June 2012 at 16:04, Unit 4 was brought off-load when it became clear that that the vibration levels were increasing on number 8 and 9 bearings supporting the No3 LP turbine rotor.

After discussions with the team and others, the duty Shift Manager Phil Holmes decided to shut down the unit off load before it reached the operating limit.

The vibration and trends were the indication of extended cracks and their rapid growth subsequent investigation confirmed a cracked pencil shaft, the rotor had accumulated 3,508 starts and 250,846hrs of running. The crack was found to be one third of the way through the shaft and at that state the rotor shaft was very close (a few hours) from full separation which would have been a catastrophic event The crack initiated from the shaft centre collar, with the crack extending across a large portion of the pencil shaft. In 2015, the failed rotor shaft was disassembled and a forensic examination of the failure and other areas on the rotor assembly of importance, such as the shrunk-on-disc bores and disc-to-disc button drive locations was undertaken. Examination of the crack at the pencil shaft fillet revealed multiple initiation sites, with corrosion pitting evident.

The crack initiated from the shaft centre collar, with the crack extending across a large portion of the pencil shaft. In 2015, the failed rotor shaft was disassembled and a forensic examination of the failure and other areas on the rotor assembly of importance, such as the shrunk-on-disc bores and disc-to-disc button drive locations was undertaken.

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UNIT 4 ON FIRE On the 30 October 1990 Dave Naylor and Dave Lane went to do a job on Unit 4 Power Oil Strainer Pressure switch. They had the correct safety document and were assured as the supply to the instrument were swathed in caution tape and chains.

The started to disconnect the pressure switch fitting, armed with a bucket to catch any oil left in the leg to the pressure gauge. They broke the connections on the switch, oil did come from the connections as expected but the pressure caused the fitting to come apart and oil came gushing. They made futile attempts to remake the connection, the fitting had fine threads and with the pressure behind the oil meant it was futile.

They noticed that just under the platform flames coming off a hot pipe where the oil had ignited, being drenched in oil themselves they got up the ladders, through the hatch and away from the area.

Running to the phone in the corner of the Turbine hall they rang 200 and the centre desk Reg Wood answered and they told him the Turbine was on fire, asking me how bad they told him that the flames were up to the roof and the turbine hall was filling up with black smoke.

The report found that the isolation had been incorrectly applied and valves that should have been closed were in fact secured open, the two craftsmen had no chance of recovering the situation once the fitting had been loosened.

It was a day that Dave Lane never forgot, and he would shudder if you mention it.

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WINDBOX FIRES Site has experienced blocked burners and damper 25s throughout its life and it is normally a simple thing to deal with. Blocked D25s can catch fire and the area will get very hot glowing cherry red, they can develop into more serious events Wind box fires. Beside initiating from blocked corners windbox fires can be caused by oil burner hose failures, PF leaks in burner nozzles or a fire in the PF tubes caused by restriction or blocking where they pass through the wind box. When the latter happens, high temperatures result, and the lack of cooling can cause the metal to melt if not caught in time.

There have been several events through the years. The first mention in the station logs of a wind box fire was on 7 November 1968 on Unit 2 in the area of H02 oil burner, fortunately this was during initial firing of the unit. The log states that the fire resulted from a leak on H02 oil burner. Wind box fires occurred through the years often due to oil burner leaks.

Not all coals are the same, and West Burton’s design has made it prone to issues with certain properties of coals. West Burton’s boilers were designed to burn local UK coal. These resources became less available due to the closure of the deep mines, the last two suitable UK mines closed in in 2015. The more severe wind box fires are often caused by localised slagging over the burner tip followed by coking of the coal inside the burner and pf tube or directly by coking when it sticks to the burner or tube. This sticking and coking at West Burton are formed as a result from plant performance plus the characteristics of certain coals.

Coal caused wind box fires became more frequent as UK coals were supplemented and replaced by other coals. In the 1990s, several US blended coals caused problems, ranging from blocked PF lines to wind box fires. One of the most troublesome coal was due to blend components of Pittsburgh #8, which had a free swelling index of up to 8.5. During 2008 West Burton suffered a wind box fire whilst firing an Illinois coal, again the free swelling index and volatile content were concluded to have contributed to the fires. Free Swelling Index and Geisler Plasticity were also the reason for a wind box fire on Unit 3 B corner 71’ on 6 March 2014.

A further fire on 23 January 2019 on Unit 4 D corner where ‘D’ and ‘E’ burner levels of ‘the wind box were glowing red. The investigation stated that coal was the favourite cause as analysis carried out on a limited sample showed that the coal was within specification except for the free swelling Index at 5.5 32% higher than the specified coal.

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6th STAGE SUPERHEATER OUTLET HEADERS Whilst at full load during the evening of 28 December 1996, a continual large noise was heard initiating from Unit 2, also coincident with a rapid decay of boiler pressure from 170 bar to under 30 bar in under 10 minutes; this then initiated a unit trip. The cause of the above was one of the end cap welds had failed resulting in the complete detachment of the end cap.

The immediate focus for the WB Engineers was to ensure the safe return of the unit as quickly as possible; the failure over the Christmas holidays didn’t help with the complicated logistics of checking the other three end plates and re-engineering the failed endplate for temporary reuse. (There was no known spare material available anywhere in the UK or abroad with a reasonable lead time). Ultimately the repair was an immense team effort undertaken by a number of people this was completed just minutes before midnight on New Year’s Eve. During the late 1980s, the 500 MW boilers were known to have cracking and steam leaks on the final stage superheater outlet headers. These headers were manufactured from 2¼% Chrome 1% Molybdenum material. The C.E.G.B. sought new materials to make these headers “stronger” and more reliable. Unit 3 at West Burton due its major outage timing in 1990 did not use these materials as the final decision on material hadn’t been made, the remaining three units were replaced with a new material known as modified 9% Chrome between 1991 and 1993.

It was this choice that led to the major failure on Unit 2 after only 30,000 running hours in 1996. In early 1997, Units 1 and 4 also had had all their endplates inspected with no further issues noted. The risk persisted so endplates were procured and renewed on all three units at opportune outage periods.

In depth investigation of the failure determined that a combination of original end plate design, some material characteristics caused by poor heat treatment of the original forging and final weld heat treatment were major contributing factors to the failure.

Due to normal life expiration and increasing number of stub to header tube leaks, there was a second replacement programme of the 6th stage superheater outlet headers on Units 1, 2 and 4 undertaken during the major outages carried out between 2014 and 2016 respectively. All these new headers were manufactured from 2¼% chrome, 1% Molybdenum material! The difference of materials of the header and super heater tubes required transition pieces to be used known as TP11s also required renewal.

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HEAVY FUEL OIL SPILLAGE On 12 December 2009 at 08:15 Kevin Taylor, an Assistant Shift Team Leader was going to the FGD switch room when he noticed a puddle of heavy fuel oil (HFO) on the road surface. His investigation identified that the spillage was coming through the trench slabs and an adjacent drain cover and that the pipe trench below was full of HFO. The failure meant that the station could not safely operate, and it was shut down, not a good place to be in the middle of winter. Maintenance Engineers Graham Howitt and Glyn Shacklady led the repair by John Hinchcliffe and the rest of the Alstom team. They manufactured and fitted a six inch line bypass line to get round the failed section. The works were completed on 14 December 2009. A more permanent solution was installed the following year with replacement pipework being routed above ground using an existing FGD cable bridge.

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BUNKER INCIDENTS There have been many incidents with bunkers over the years, with coal becoming wet and then fluid, filling and choking mills, two however stand out as major events. 4A Bunker which caught fire in July 1994 and 4E bunker that had a major pressure event.

4A Bunker At 08:46 Sunday 17 July 1994, Phil Ellis a conveyor operator became affected by fumes he evacuated the bunker house and raised the alarm. 4A Mill bunker had a fire whilst the bunker was empty a very small amount of coal was left in the bunker mouth. The isolation passed slightly and some hot air coal ignited coal residue this then ignited the bunkers plastic lighting. The first of six brigade appliance arrived at 09:07 but the blaze was already under control. The damping down took several hours and those who fought the fire had to use in breathing apparatus. All these people needed feeding and Bridget Storrs and Maureen Jackson from the canteen came to sight and cooked Sunday Lunch.

Recovery was impressive our initial estimates for return was the Tuesday for Unit 3 and Wednesday for Unit 4. The effort of ECI staff led by Jim Reeves got Unit 3 back on Monday morning and Unit 4 that evening.

4E Bunker The station has always had issues with coal flow, the first recorded issue with coal flow was on the 28 October 1966, a few days after Unit 1 was run for the first time, it’s been an issue we have had since then. Many solutions have been tried, vibrating membranes, plastic liners, stainless liners, modified bunker throats, adding water to encourage a flow. The installation of bunker blasters (that blasted compressed air low down in the bunker) did have some impact but still the issue persisted.

A novel approach was suggested by John Pacey the Engineering Manager who at had successfully seen use of a percussive charge. Modifications were made, trials were undertaken, with success. However on the 1 December 1996 it did not work.

After success on 4D bunker they moved onto 4E mill, the percussive detonation led to a secondary event a PF explosion and fires on the ledges in the bunker houses.

The controls in place meant no person was in the area of the explosion. The force of the explosion blew out the back of the bunker house, it was luck it was a weak wall as the Health and Safety Executives experts calculated that without that exit route, the explosive wave could have propitiated all the way to the coal plant.

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GENERATOR TRANSFORMER FAILURES Generator transformer are one of the key components of the system that has no standby. They take the electricity generated at 22kV and increase its voltage to match the 400kV super grid system, they take the full power of the generator.

The first issue was with the Ferranti tap changes that suffered failures, the first of many recorded issues occurred on Unit 4 on 15 May 1970. The type and number of failures led to their replacement in the late 1980s with one manufactured by GEC at their Stafford Works.

Three of these four transformers lasted the remainder of the stations life but on 26 September 2016 Unit 3 was returning from an outage and as the transformer was energised it tripped on Earth Fault, and the Buchholz trip initiated indicating a surge of gas had been seen in the transformer that is never a good thing to happen.

A winding fault was identified. Luckily we did have a spare we had bought it as a spare and it had been shipped to Cottam by barge, unloaded and stored for some years at Cottam. The site team set about how to fit, from a standing start, removing the old transformer, bringing the spare transformer from Cottam, modifying copper work, testing and commissioning the transformer returning to service at on the 8 December 2016 the time from failure to being back on load was 73 days, this was a major achievement.

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UNIT 3 CABLE SPIKED 24 April 2001, the station was churning out the usual 2000 MW and people were sat down for the morning meeting in the control room offices. The lights went out as Unit 3 tripped, for once priority setting for the day became an easy decision.

In order to install a new cable through the sub basement the fire barrier cement between sub basement rooms had to be removed with a hammer and chisel.

Bill Pettit a regular contractor with Alstom every outage was assigned the task.

Unfortunately, at 09:35 hrs Bill’s chisel slipped and damaged a single core 11kV cable, luckily Bill was not seriously hurt but as a result of the damage and protection not operating correctly we lost three units with only Unit 1 staying on, Phil Gibson Unit 1’s operator claims it to be only due to his skill, maybe a bit, but there was a lot of good luck.

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UNIT 4 UNIT BOARD FIRE 29 SEPTEMBER 2000 On 29 September 2000 Unit 4 was de-loading in preparation for it coming off load.

It was about 20:17 and the unit was down to about 220 MW the control room initiated a switch over from the unit board to station board. On opening the Unit Transformer 11kV ACB the unit tripped.

The breaker had not opened correctly, and this had caused an electrical fire in the circuit breaker. The plant was made safe and the fire brigade called. The Shift Manager, Normal Byrne, understood the issues he was going to have to deal with and asked for some of the night shift to come in to assist.

As it was an electrical fire the brigade could not tackle it with water or foam, the area was too big for powder and access required BA as no one was missing it was not justified.

They decided on a novel approach hit it with CO2, such a large room required a lot of CO2 they requested a very old, but specialist CO2 tender be sent from Derbyshire Brigade and then ordered 25 Tons of CO2 that had to come from Elsmere port under police escort.

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CONCRETE DOES WOBBLE SKIMMING THE CW TOWERS On Monday, 1 November 1965, during a gale with gust reaching 80 m.p.h. three out of eight concrete cooling towers at Ferrybridge Power Station collapsed.

The first at about 10.30 am, the second about ten minutes later and the third at 11.20 am.

The average wind speed was 98 mph at the top edge, vortices occurred between the towers of the first row. These loaded the 2nd row towers unfortunately, the vortex frequency was approximately the same as the natural frequency of the towers.

An eyewitness said that some towers where moving like belly dancers.

The same design of towers was also built at West Burton, which caused concern and mitigations were put in place. The first is an exclusion from the areas the towers would fall when wind speeds reach 40 knots, warning lights were used to prevent access initially switched on manually but latterly they were automatically initiated.

The failure also meant that one defect on B1 cooling tower gave serious concern a shape imperfect (flat) led to a bypass flume being built and plans drawn up to demolish it and rebuild. This never actually occurred but the CW flume stayed.

Studies on hyperbolic cooling towers with Bulge Imperfections were conducted.

Fiddler’s Ferry West Burton’s twin power station was known to have a roughly axisymmetric bulge just above the ring beam on its B2 tower present since construction. During a gale on 13 January 1984, B2 cooling tower collapsed.

The bulge caused vertical cracks to develop and the propagation of horizontal and vertical cracks ultimately led to its collapse.

In the 1980s the concern of CW tower stability still remained emergence of new concrete techniques and calculations strengthening was completed with a two-inch Gunite skim of some CW towers.

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CONCRETE DOES WOBBLE C1 COOLING TOWER RINGS By 1999 the structural stability of the cooling towers was still under increasing scrutiny. The shell of C1 in particular was starting to show signs of deformation and cracks had appeared.

Although the cracks were filled with resin, this didn’t resolve the underlying problem. In keeping with the traditions of West Burton an innovative solution was employed. Rather than the usual method of applying a completely new concrete skin to the structure Engineering studies were conducted and the solution to this issue was to fit six rings of reinforced bands of concrete spaced at 12m intervals to give the tower adequate strength. The process locked the tower into shape and, in doing so, created the distinctive appearance that we still see today.

Due to the history of CW tower failures the Civil Engineers who monitor our CW towers require a full inspection for defects on all the towers if wind speed gusts reach any speed above 70mph.

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“DO YOU KNOW YOUR CHIMNEY’S WOBBLING?” This vortex effect impacted West Burton again in 2003. It was a contractor on the phone who told us that the chimney was wobbling. There was an air of disbelief. We needed to check it though and, sure enough, we had a real problem.

Construction had finished on the new FGD chimneys, but the old chimneys remained. During a gale the wind bouncing off both chimneys created a vortex between them. The old chimney was being pulled all over the place with a movement of up to 1.2 metres measured at the top.

All except the essential production people were evacuated and the units were shut down in an orderly manner. The emergency services were called, and they set up a command centre with police, fire and ambulance on stand-by.

After the event the demolition of the old chimney was required. The demolition of the chimney was also a sight to be seen. Due to the units being built around them they could not be blown up so a man with a big jack hammer took it down from the top all the way down until a machine could take over. This seems like major feat and then you saw the pictures he sat on a spider in the cooling tower and broke away adjacent brick work and concrete.

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KNOWING COAL AND ITS PROPERTIES Once you’ve worked with coal, you’ll know it has quite a unique personality and has provided many problems, challenges and it must be said a lot of entertainment for our people over the years. A lot of stories about the coal will be around for many years to come.

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PLANT IMPROVEM

MENTS

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BOILER TEAM IMPROVEMENTS The boiler maintenance and engineering teams monitored leaks on their systems and the failure trends closely followed. Over the years these trends informed West Burton of the need to invest in the plant and to put mitigations in place to improve reliability.

BOILER NOSE DEAD SPACE For a large part of the station’s life the nose dead space internal casing would burn away allowing dust to build up in the dead space, and being exposed the furnace flame would damage the main supporting structures.

This would happen within two years of a repair, and then we would limp along with more damage resulting for the next two years. In late 90s new steel work replaced the old, the team reduced the clearances of the penetrations and boxed them in with a new refractory with stainless steel fibres giving the refractory more strength, flexibility and gave a longer life.

RING MAIN HEADERS In the 2000s, in the top dead space at the rear ring the main headers started to have failures in the header to stub cracks.

Due to its location leaks would be present for a significant period before they were detected.

During the time between the leak occurring to it being detected a lot of secondary damage usually occurred to the header shell, at times eroding up to 50% of the wall thickness.

The site boiler team developed an in-house modification which detached all stubs from the floor removing rigidity of the stub and installed a flexible seal. After this modification leaks dropped to almost zero.

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4th and 5th INTERMEDIATE SUPERHEATER HEADER The 4th and 5th intermediate superheater headers were seeing the stub crack leaks on them increasing on all units suggesting it was coming to the end of its useful life.

The failures were in part attributable to its running hours and in part significant temperature excursions over their life. To recover the reliability this issue was now causing the headers were replaced in the major outages between in 2009 and 2012.

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SUPERHEATER HEADERS 5th / 6th STAGE SUPERHEATER HEADERS West Burton was also a trailblazer when it came to the material selection for the replacement of the 5th to 6th stage superheater intermediate headers, which needed replacement in the mid 80s due to major creep and fatigue damage caused by continued operational overheating and cooling.

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The metallurgists at the Midlands Region Engineering support function advised on the use of a material known as Esshete 1250, which was a new high strength stainless steel material. Although the welding of this material was more complicated and required a high level of quality assurance, they have successfully been in operation up until station closure.

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2nd / 3rd STAGE REHEATER SPRAY CROSSOVER PIPEWORK The pipework was starting to exceed 80% of its creep life this being identified led to its planned replacement over the outage cycles.

This monitoring meant we had time to plan and assess. The review of the materials resulted in the pipework being replaced with a better material (2¼% Cr), Unit 2 being complete in 1999, Unit 4 in 2000, Unit 1 in 2005 and over two outages Unit 3 was replaced 2008 / 2009.

2nd STAGE REHEATER ELEMENTS As other areas, age led to an increase in failures of the 2nd stage reheater elements and they so were planned for replacement, to improve life and reliability the metal used changed to stainless steel.

The amount of work and time required to complete that work the team targeted the highest failure rate area first, with the rest being completed at a later outage being completed two outage cycles. Unit 2 was done in 2003 and 2007, Unit 3 in 2004 and 2008, Unit 1 in 2005 and 2009, finally Unit 4 in 2006 and 2011.

3rd STAGE REHEATER OUTLET HEADERS The original 3rd stage reheater outlet header’s life time approach life expiry meant meaning risk of a failure significantly increased.

In response the headers were replaced during their outages of Unit 1 in 2001, Unit 4 in 2002, Unit 2 in 2003 and Unit 3 in 2004.

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AUTO-ASHING INSTALLATION 1999 During generation as the coal is burnt ash is produced, some of this drops into hoppers at the bottom of the boiler. These hoppers had to be emptied manually at least once per shift. It was a very messy job as the ash needed to be mixed with water so that it can be moved without causing dust.

The auto-ashing system was designed to remove much of the need for manual handling and, consequently, reduce the risk involved in clearing the hoppers it also had a benefit of minimising waste water and ash line blockages. The system was Installed by Greenbanks, who developed the system and had installed similar plant at many other stations. Dave Hancock, the Boiler Engineer, who headed up the project was confident as the protype had been installed at our sister station, Fiddler’s Ferry ten years earlier and had been a success.

The system was designed to be operated through APMS, though the station retained the ability to do the ashing locally if required.

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LOW NOx BURNERS In the early 80s NOx emissions started to be of concern and air emission standards meant we had to change the configuration of the coal burners and increase the control of the air coal combination at the burners when firing to meet the new emission standards.

The most efficient way to reduce NOx is to reduce air near the burner as it drops the thermal generation of NOx. Though this does increase CO in the furnace as a result of the incomplete combustion of the fuel. To reduce the CO additional air is needed achieve complete combustion.

The first modification started in 1987 when burner configuration was changed and close coupled over-fire airports (CCOFA) were added.

This was followed by the installation of low NOx burners which required removal of the original burner, new and modified water tube panels, with increased area of coextruded tubes to reduce fire side corrosion effects.

The installation started in 1989 on Unit 4, finishing with Unit 1 in 1993.

The original manual secondary air dampers where inadequate to deliver the control required to achieve the required NOx reduction.

New control actuators were installed to all the secondary air and CCOF dampers allowing remotely controlled positioning.

The instrumentation was also upgraded to give NOx measurements.

With further tightening of emission levels Separated Over Fire Air (SOFA) was installed by the end of 2008.

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RJM REDISTRIBUTION OF AIR FLOW Unit 1 was chosen to have a modified secondary air combustion system fitted, this was fitted to the boiler during the 2014 outage by RJM. The air distribution modified how secondary air was introduced and gave added under fire air. The modification involved primary combustion modifications to reduce NOx emissions as low as possible to meet the Industrial Emissions Directive (IED) compliance.

The main modifications were all 48 coal nozzles were upgraded; Installation of 6 off Separated Ove Fire Air ports, required to achieve adequate air to the centre of the fireball; 8 off Rotated Underfired Air ports, installed in the lower furnace just above the ash hopper slope designed to maintain circulation of the fireball to sustain the low stoichiometry; 4 off Separated Underfired Air ports introduce air into the centre of the fireball from the ash hopper to minimise CO / Carbon in Ash emissions.

To make it work ductwork has to be installed to distribute air to the various new nozzles & dampers provided to control air distribution. The system used a total of 216 separate damper actuators with all EC&I work to operate it.

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HOW FLUE GAS DESULPHURISATION (FGD) CAME ABOUT In November 1988 an EEC directive on large combustion plants was introduced.

It was replaced in October 2001 with the Large Combustion Plant Directive which was the directive that legislatively limited flue gas emissions from combustion plant having thermal capacity above 50 MW, the directive applied to West Burton.

Construction of Flue Gas Desulphurisation (FGD) equipment at the station commenced on the 15 November 1999 and had a total cost of £100 million. The common plant became operational for the units in 2003, Unit 4 FGD became operational on 11 July 2003 finishing with Unit 1 on 15 December 2003.

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DRY PHASE DUST SYSTEM In 1994 a new system was proposed to remove the dust collected from the 32 mechanical collector hoppers and 24 precipitator hoppers. It was first installed on Unit 1 in 1995.

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CONTROLLING DUST EMISSIONS Due to further tightening of legislation that dropped SO2 emissions further, even our FGD would not take out all the SO2 from the flue gas of some coals, the reduction meant low sulphur coals became necessary to comply.

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CMV PIPE WORK The main pipework which connected the boiler to the turbines was manufactured from a material known as CMV (0.5%% Chrome, 0.5% Molybdenum, 0.25% Vanadium).

Due to the high temperatures and pressures these pipes were exposed to, they were designed to have a wall thickness of approximately 60 mm. Over many years the site had managed various issues with these pipes which initially were limited to the welds on the pipe system (known as Type 4 cracking) but towards the latter stage of the station’s life, cracking defects were noted in the actual pipe “parent material”, which indicated it was life expired and had reached its useful operating creep life, therefore necessitating a complete renewal.

This was now a complex operation as the pipe dropped from the 170’ level to the basement and then across to under the turbines. Such a long section required new hangers, correct alignment and large quantities of scaffolding. Drain lines on the pipe also had to be replaced.

This was completed on Unit 1 in its 2014 outage and Unit 2 in 2015. Due to the extent of works already done in previous outages on Units 3 and 4 rather than a full replacement we replaced all the old material and welds in 2013 on Unit 4 and in 2014 on Unit 3.

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LOW PRESSURE (LP) CYLINDER REPLANT 1995 TO 1998 The improvement in Blade Design in the industry with the Last Stage High Twist Blade meant greater efficiency and MW output. West Burton ordered four LP Replants for all four Units based on an improvement in output of about 17 MWs. Unit 3 was the first to be installed and tested. The output was not as predicted so a Heat Rate Test was carried out and found to be outside the guaranteed figure of 8,096 kj/kwhr, in fact it was outside the contract termination figure of 8,250 kj kwhr.

The Unit 2 manufacture was complete at the Alstom Trafford Park Works in Manchester and ready for transportation to site for installation, West Burton wanted to terminate the contract.

Alstom insisted that Fiddler’s Ferry obtained the required output and Alstom would install Unit 2 at their cost to prove it worked. The Fiddler’s Ferry contract with Alstom did not ask for a Heat Rate Test to be carried out and therefore the question has to be asked about the performance obtained.

Unit 2 was installed in 1996 and tested, the “Heat Rate Test” came inside the contract termination figure with a Heat Rate figure of 8,190 kj/kwhr better than Unit 3 in 1996. Alstom insisted that the contract could not be cancelled based on the Unit 2 performance.

West Burton continued to cancel the contract because National Power were selling West Burton and this issue had to be resolved before it was sold. The remaining two Units in manufacture at Alstom were for Units 1 and 4, the manufacture was on programme for completion and installation in 1997 and 1998.

Power Gen that owned Fiddler’s Ferry and Cottam at that time decided to buy the other two LP Replants and installed one at Fiddler’s Ferry and one at Cottam.

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HIGH PRESSURE (HP) CYLINDER REPLANT 2006 - 2009 Improved Cylinder efficiency with more Stages of Blades and Diaphragms contained within the existing HP Outer Cylinder.

This proved to be successful and only slightly under the proposed Cylinder efficiency.

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UNIT 1 INTERMEDIATE PRESSURE (IP) REPLANT 2018 The intention was to Replant all the Units but the projected generation for the station was reduced and therefore the project would not pay back so the contract was cancelled for the remaining Units 2, 3 and 4.

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MAIN & “A” START & STANDBY FEED PUMP CARTRIDGE MODIFICATIONS Over the years, the station suffered with cartridge failures often impacting the running costs of West Burton. In the 1990s availability and cost drivers encouraged West Burton to look for improvements in all areas.

To improve the reliability of the pumps West Burton got our pump suppliers Flowserve to design and install modified cartridges with better wear components and pump impeller design that would reduce the high vibrations at certain loads on the A Start and Standby Feed Pumps. The B Start and Standby Feed Pumps performed better, and we did not need to modify those pumps. The modification to the A Start and Standby Feed Pumps was completed between 1998 and 2000. The modifications were proven to be successful over the remainder of the station’s life.

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CONTROL Over the years, many significant areas on the main control components received upgrades and improved systems that gave enhancements to the operation of the plant.

In the 1980s a new generation of AVRs were developed by GEC. Most stations in the UK with GEC’s original ZVW AVR or early AVR controls were replaced with a new GEC system called a ZVC AVR. Unit 3 was the first to undergo these modifications in 1984, Unit 2 in 1985, with Units 1 and 4 being completed in 1986.

The Gas Turbine’s electro-mechanical controller were replaced in 1993 with a Woodward Governor Netcon controls, converted to iFix in 2006. A final upgrade occurred in 2007 when Alan Bradley Control Logix system became the controller, with each iteration reliability of the controls improved.

The main Boiler Feed Pumps speed control originally was a mechanical design but modern control systems had become available that replaced mechanical systems and gave better control. West Burton converted the speed control to Turbine Controls Ltd equipment on Unit 3 in 1998, Unit 2 in 1999, Unit 1 in 2001 and Unit 4 finally being converted in 2002.

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BOILER WATER CHEMISTRY West Burton did have chemical control issues on a periodic basis. These arose from condenser tube leaks, other water system cooler leaks and re-heater tube leaks during two shifts. The standards for water chemistry had changed significantly over the years and modified plant was being installed needing better chemical conditions.

Replacement and addition of new analysers looking at different parts of the system was needed in 2013-14 the new items were installed the timing meant with closure in 2023 there would be no need to replace the meters again.

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UNIT 4 GENERATOR WATER COOLED ROTOR 1975 This was an ambitious project undertaken with English Electric and the C.E.G.B. The reason for such a project was to increase the Generator MW output keeping the Generator Rotor cool with water and not Hydrogen. The Stator already had its own Stator Water System keeping it cool.

The new rotor was installed in 1975 however the number of leaks and reliability led to the abandonment of the trail in 1976 when the rotor was replaced with a conventional rotor.

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GENERATOR UPGRADES Generator stators were inspected regularly. Internal inspection was initially carried every two years during major/minor survey. This frequency was extended to four-yearly internal inspections to bring West Burton into line with Cottam OPEX, with a Stator bore inspection eight-yearly.

They were closely inspected and had regular inspections for damage or deterioration such as loose stator slot wedges. The team monitored trends and had alarms for hydrogen consumption and stator winding temps liquid in generator casing alarms all indicating a potential problem that would be inspected and rectified.

In the 1980s new insulation was available and a project to install replacement generator stators was undertaken, this allowed their expected life to exceed that of the stations expected lifespan. The new stators were either built as new ones built or rewound stators both using an epoxy insulated winding design. The first one was Unit 1 that had a rewound stator fitted in 1983. Unit 2 followed with a new stator installed in 1982 (including new core), then Unit 4 in 1992 using the rewound fleet spare. Unit 3 was the last a new epoxy stator with solid cone end winding bracing was fitted in 1994. The stator was manufactured in France by GEC Alstom to a new design which increased the rigidity of the end windings, reducing the problem of movement against the insulation.

The rotors were also removed and inspected regularly all being rewound to the latest design criteria. The rotor upgrades included end bell improvements and rewound to a seven tum specification. This allows it to take less current than the old six-turn rotor for the same excitation, reducing slip ring problems that needed regular machining.

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ADVANCED PROCESS MANAGEMENT SYSTEM Originally the station was controlled from a hard desk with buttons, switches, dials, gauges and alarm plaques.

Unit Auto control systems had started out as pneumatic, the C.E.G.B. developed a CUTLASS in the mid 1980s. We developed Program Logic Controls (PLC) for some controls such as boiler soot blowing and the Dust Transport System. CUTLASS was becoming obsolete and few people knew how to use the code.

National Power had a number of stations with different control computers, and control technologies had moved on, and distributed controls systems (DCS) was normal for control.

In 1994 West Burton was chosen as the lead station as National Power’s lead station to for its Advanced Process Management System (APMS) Operator Interface supported by Moore APACS that provided the main plant interface and sequencing.

A team under Dick Wright and Paul Goodson was established supported by one of the site’s most experienced and capable operators George Parkes who became a driving force. George was supported by Neil Trickett, other operators, Engineers and a lot of central support.

In 1995 Unit 2 had APACS PLCs were installed with the main plant groups being transferred over to the new system. With A Mill being first to be converted in February of 1996. Other systems were transferred until the Unit was completely soft desk operated.

APMS made it possible to introduce sequencing and automation of plant controls, mills could be put into and taken out of service automatically, as could the Main Boiler Feed Pump, and we had a boiler purge sequence.

Coal plant conversion then followed and when the FGD built its system was to be APMS being developed. When complete, we were then able to move the coal plant control from the coal plant and embed it with the control for the main units and FGD.

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SIMULATED REALITY AT WEST BURTON Operation of West Burton A is only lightly protected from poor operation during a steady state and plant evolutions generally, this relies heavily on the quality of training, skill and expertise of the operator.

We knew we were looking at running out of staff and typically it took up to two years to fully train an AUO and a further three years to fully train a UO, Phil Holmes a Shift Manager was tasked with developing an improved training program. Under Phil’s lead, Ged Freeman and Nathan Taylor developed a new Unit Operator training program. Ged had successfully delivered (along with others) the training of operations staff for many years.

In 2016 we acquired a Le Bugey simulator. Whilst this was a generic simulator it did deliver basic principles and knowledge training. Work then began on developing a higher fidelity simulator. Numerous options were considered we chose a representative simulator that defines critical systems at West Burton with partial simulation of non-critical and balance of plant systems Tecnatom, a Spanish company were successful.

This training model focused on the frequency of a particular task; how difficult the task was, and the consequences of a mistake, the unit killers. Models were developed that covered most of the normal operations, start up, load changes, controlled unit shutdown, firing control and turbine operations. We also developed action after a few major faults trips and plant item trips. It was not just a massive effort from EDF and the contribution and commitment from the engineers at Tecnatom cannot be ignored, in particular Isaac Gonzalez Sevillano, Mariano Martin Garcia (Master Simulation Engineer).

The effort, commitment and hard work made sure that the simulator did feel like the site’s fifth unit. The project cost £603,547, including ongoing support provided by Tecnatom in terms of a simulator this was cheap and the time to complete was comparatively quick.

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HEAVY FUEL OIL HEATING Originally all the HFO on site was heated by steam. This steam was supplied by three auxiliary boilers fired by gas oil. The auxilliary boilers and the steam trace heating required high levels of maintenance started to suffer with leaks and corrosion on many of the pipes distributing the steam.

As systems failed they were replaced with electric trace heating, it came to a point where it was decided to decommission the auxiliary steam system the main oil tanks received its own small boiler package to feed the tank coils, trace heating was replaced by electrical trace heating and the auxilliary boilers were replaced with four 1.2 MW electric heaters fed from two 11kV/3.3kV 2.5 MVA transformers. This work was completed in 2002 and the auxiliary boiler house was decommissioned.

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OUTAGE

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OUTAGES Outages are required primarily to satisfy the regulatory and insurance assurance requirements which effectively grants West Burton a ‘Licence to Generate’.

The main component of this is to enable compliance with Pressure System Safety requirements. The station under these regulations has certain mandated inspection requirements to enable certification of the units’ integrity to operate until the next scheduled inspection (this was a maximum of 50 months). There was also a requirement for an interim inspection required before 25 months of service.

The Outage period is also utilised to address projects that require the Unit off load, maintenance tasks that will take longer than two days, works on supporting system maintenance like the common systems involved in Cooling Water, Fuel Oil, FGD and other common plant.

There are also several non-pressure system compliance inspections and maintenance (e.g. for DSEAR, LOLER, HASAW and Environmental Legislation). During these outage periods we would align it with other units or a station outage. We could then carry out maintenance on common systems that can only be carried out with a dead station or half a station shut down such as the CW system or other common systems such as the HFO pipework system.

Most of the major plant improvements that you can find in this book were conducted during an outage. An outage also recovers degraded efficiency and as part of an all-encompassing planned maintenance strategy ensures, and improves, plant reliability. The delivery of the full proposed work scope would require investment of on average £25 million for a Major Outage.

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2011 OUTAGE ON UNITS 2 AND 4 The 2011 outage at West Burton was one of the biggest ever, a very challenging one, with all teams having large amounts of work. The detail is covered in much more detail on the e-book but the magnitude needs to be noted.

On the two units, the team inserted over 140 sections of CMV with 110 large weld repairs and 1,522 large NDT inspections. Outage workers replaced 2,600 m2 boiler casing, superheater and reheater elements, headers and completing 14,646 boiler tube welds. We replaced IP rotors removed two Low Pressure turbine LD66 rotors and completed stage 5 blade repairs on Unit 4’s LP cylinders and the HP rotor on Unit 4 underwent inspection and repair. The generator rotors were removed for repairs on Unit 2 and 4. The site also overhauled, repaired, or replaced 490 valves.

The FGD also was busy with ID Fan rotors undergoing major works for the first time, replacing the gas-gas heater baskets whilst we did a seal enhancement to reduce gas leakage.

ECI replaced the Main Boiler Feed Pump Turbine Supervisory Equipment, pressure switches and gauges. Installing new Turbine, Generator, Feed Pump and Boiler data loggers on Unit 2. On Unit 4 they managed to re-wedge 35% of the stator, whilst completing repairs to exciter coupling and thrust bearing repairs and fitting new hydrogen gland seal housing wipers.

In the first week of the 2011 outage 200+ permits would be issued for Unit 2, 100 for Unit 4. By the end of the outage over 1,400 permits would have been issued, for perspective a total of 1,747 permits were prepared on site that year.

At its peak 1,032 people were on site from 54 different companies with an average of 820 people on site in one day, resulting in over 660,000 hours of work. We had a budget of £42.9 million, bringing it in marginally below plan. All this happened whilst still maintaining the other running units.

To keep everyone motivated, Dave Wigham fed the workers with free breakfasts, arranged ice cream vans, held BBQs and gave away free t-shirts.

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MILESTONES

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MILESTONES 1

Facts and figures

1.1

The target date for construction to commence was 21 August 1963

1.2

Target Dates for commercial operation 1.2.1 Unit 1 July 1st 1965 1.2.2 Unit 2 March 1st 1966 1.2.3 Unit 3 October 1st 1966 1.2.4 Unit 4 July 1st 1967

1.3

1st Synchronisations and last Desynchronisations

1.3.1 1.3.2 1.3.3 1.3.4

Unit Unit 1 Unit 2 Unit 3 Unit 4

First 04:04 10th September 1966 22:35 14th September 1967 16:30 5th November 1967 15:59 14th September 1968

Last 20:32 7th March 2023 20:45 7th March 2023 14:25 6th July 2021 18:45 14th September 2021

1.4

Unit 1 completes first 72 run at 500 MW August 4th 1967

1.5

First time all 4 units ran together December 30th 1968

1.6

First time all 4 units ran together at 500 MW for more than 1 hour January 11th 1969

1.7

MW generated 1.7.1 Station 491,790 GWhr That’s enough electricity to or run an electric 2kW fire for over 28 million years, boil over 5 trillion kettles of water to make over 20 trillion mugs of tea (just enough for a shift) or boil the same amount of water in Windemere over 72 times or Lock Ness 3 times

1.8

1.7.2 1.7.3 1.7.4 1.7.5

Unit 1 Unit 2 Unit 3 Unit 4

120,800 GWhr 126,865 GWhr 124,917 GWhr 119,210 GWhr

Starts 1.8.1 1.8.2 1.8.3 1.8.4 1.8.5

Station 17,647 Unit 1 4,695 Unit 2 4,314 Unit 3 4,332 Unit 4 4,306

499

1.9

Hours run 1.1.1 Unit 1 280,960 hours 1.1.2 Unit 2 290,420 hours 1.1.3 Unit 3 284,330 hours 1.1.4 Unit 4 274,693 hours 1.1.5 Total running hours 1,130,402 hours Unit Design life Coal Burn

120,000 hours (25 years) Station 194,617,104 Te

That’s about 165,000 trains the total length end to end 41,250 miles almost twice around the world 1.10

CW 1.10.1

River Abstraction

1,451,874,018m3

We could have filled 580,750 Olympic sized swimming pools or filled lake Windermere five times 1.10.2 1.10.3 1.11 1.11.1 1.11.2

Evaporated Water Returned to River FGD Limestone used Te Gypsum produced

874,645,350 m3 577,228,688 m3 1,834,823 Te 2,969,415 Te

Enough to make 126,898,077 standard sheets of plasterboard that would have a total area 365,466,460 m2 that would cover 51,186 Football Pitches.

1.12 1.12.1 1.12.2

Ash PFA FBA

23,159,435 Te 4,086,959 Te

500

2

Milestones 2.1

Shortest Major Outage

West Burton notched up another record first for the station in 1994, they returned Unit 3 to service after a major outage of just 64 days. This was the first time that a major programme of work had been completed in less than 10 weeks. This was achieved despite significant quantities of additional work and unexpected problems that occurred during the fitting of the generator stator and LP cylinders.

2.2

500 days without a Lost Time Accident

In March of 1995 West Burton passed a major safety milestone when it operated for 500 days without a Lost Time Accident. It’s the first time the Station has achieved such a long safety ‘run’ - the previous all-time best had been 275 days.

It was recognised that people were making a genuine effort to work more safely and think more responsibly before they act. In the Lost Time Accident record during the year, it was an acknowledgement of continuing improvements in safety performance that helped the station get its third RoSPA gold Imageaward that year.

2.3

Sir Trevor Holdsworth Trophy

In the year 1994 to 1995 West Burton powered its way to a record-breaking year. The Station has come out tops in virtually all key performance measures in National Power’s large coal fired stations.

During the critical winter business day period, West Burton’s performance averaged a terrific 99.4%, heading National Power’s actual availability league for the major coal fired stations, we pushed Drax into second place.

The winter business day period ran from 24 October until 17 February 1995, based on Monday to Friday running.

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At an average 99% availability rising to 99.7% during the critical winter period, we beat not just all National Power’s stations, but the rest of the country’s coal-fired stations too. Cottam was rated as PowerGen’s best for availability and they managed 98.6% in that period.

2.4

Longest run From Jan 22 to 23 September 1981 Unit 4 ran non-stop clocking up 5,845 hours on load generating 2,629,400 MWh

2.5

Highest Daily Output On 20 November 1985, the station generated its highest daily output of 48,790 Megawatt hours On 13 November 1985, Unit 3 became the station’s top performing unit by generating 12,700 Megawatt hours at an average load of 529.2 MW

2.6

Highest Yearly Output 1987/88 Station output 14,353 GWh Coal Burnt 5,829,047 Te Total hours generating 30,006 hours Unit 1 delivered the largest annual output of 4,022 MWhr Unit 1 ran in the year for the most hours being on load for 8,284 hours out of 8,760 hours in the year (1988 a leap year) at an average load of 486 MW Unit 4 ran in the year at the highest average load of 492 MW (3,789 MWhr running for 7,704 hours)

2.7

First and Last First synchronisation Unit 1 10th September 1966 04:05 10MW (off load at 05:40).

Last desynchronization 7th March 2023, Unit 2 20:45 by Paul Falkiner

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RECOGNITION &

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AWARDS

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CREDIT WHERE IT’S DUE Recognition and Awards West Burton has received some significant recognition and awards during its life.

These have been from both outside bodies and internally from the company.

We cannot list them all, but these are a few that we have chosen to illustrate the wide variety of accolades we have received.

Hinton Cup 1968 Civic Trust Award RoSPA Gold Awards and Medals Investors In People (IIP) Countryside Award 1970 BS and ISO Standards / Accreditations Hinton Cup Housekeeping was always recognised as being important in power stations so much so that the first chairman of the C.E.G.B. (1957 to 1964) Christopher Hinton, Baron Hinton of Bankside (later The Lord Hinton of Bankside OM KBE FRS FREng), started a housekeeping competition.

It was first run in 1959 and was awarded 29 times up to 1989 when Privatisation broke up the power stations’ ownership and it ended.

West Burton won this award first in 1968/69 and again for 1988/89, we are one of only three stations that won it twice the others being South Denes (Great Yarmouth) and Ratcliffe-on-Soar. As the last winners of the Hinton Cup, we retained it proudly displayed in the trophy cabinet until closure.

Award Winning Design In 1968, West Burton was granted an award by the Civic Trust for its “Outstanding contribution to the surrounding scene.” This achievement was captured in the book given on the opening of the site on 25 April 1969.

The award judgement described West Burton as, “An immense engineering work of great style which, far from detracting from the visual scene, acts as a magnet to the eye from many parts of the Trent Valley and from several miles away.”

West Burton, the 2,000 MW power station in north Nottinghamshire operated by the Midlands Region of the Central Electricity Generating Board, has been granted an award by the Civic Trust for its “outstanding contribution to the surrounding scene.”

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The Civic Trust, announcing the 82 awards it made in 1961 from more than 1,400 entries from 94 counties in the United Kingdom, described West Burton as “an immense engineering work of great style which, far from detracting from the visual scene, acts as a magnet to the eye from many parts of the Trent Valley and from several miles away.”

The Trust’s Awards Scheme has the aim of stimulating interest in the appearance of towns, villages and countryside; of creating a greater awareness of the problems of environmental design in all its aspects; and of drawing attention to the best contributions now being made in these fields.

The C.E.G.B.’s Northern Project Group : Designers of West Burton Merz: and McLellan: Consulting Engineers Gelsthorpe & Savidge: Architects Derek Lovejoy & Associates: Landscape Consultants Contractors: Sir Alfred McAlpine and Son Ltd The Band of Gold As you walk around the site today (in 2023) and look up at the cooling towers, you’ll notice one with a distinct goldish yellow band around the top and this is not by accident. It is in fact the remnants of the station’s original award winning (Civic Trust) design scheme. Back in the 1960s the sheer size of the West Burton development posed new challenges for the architects and landscape designers.

How could they comfortably fit such huge shapes into the gentle countryside of the lower Trent Valley?

The answer at the time was revolutionary. They positioned the towers so that some were always partially obscured by others. One group of four was laid out as a lozenge and the other four in a meandering line. More than that, they also coloured the towers. Two of the towers in the lozenge were constructed in a dark grey concrete to contrast with a light grey of the other two. Similarly, one of the towers in the line formation was finished in a dull yellow to add a different perspective.

The idea behind the scheme was quite simple. You can’t hide such an enormous construction, so let’s make it interesting to look at.

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RoSPA In the late 1980s and 1990s, West Burton was keen to get its safety performance recognised. At that time, the industry did that through the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA).

West Burton’s first year of recognition was 1989 when they achieved the RoSPA bronze award. A Silver came in 1991 followed by its first Gold award in 1992 and again in 1993. In 1994 there was no gold award as RoSPA presented West Burton with its prestigious annual Gold Occupational Safety award. This followed a great year for safety at West Burton where continuing safety improvements were delivered and the station passed the magical 500 days mark for no Lost Time Accidents. Up until then, the previous all-time industry best was only 275 days.

The RoSPA Gold Awards came again in 1995, 1996, 1997 and 1998. In 1999 in recognition of five consecutive gold medals we received the Gold Award for achievement. The level of performance continued for the next five years, then in 2006 the station received the RoSPA President’s Award, which is given for 10 to 14 consecutive gold awards.

The company then took a different approach to recognising safety performance when it sought certification to the OHSAS 180001 standard. This looked at the safety management systems being first accredited with LRQA OHSAS 18001 on 1 March 2013.

Investors In People (IIP) National Power was keen to ensure it was recognised as a company invested in developing their people. In 1995 West Burton was assessed and accredited as an IIP site (single site status). This was a lot of work for the training team and recognised its work in delivering NVQs and other vocational training.

The site was re-accredited in 1998 under Eastern Generation Ltd (single site status) and then again in July of 2001 when we were owned by TXU this was under the companywide assessment, for the five coal stations, two gas stations and two CHP sites of the portfolio.

The last assessment took place on June of 2002 with re-accreditation under West Burton Power Ltd (as a single site status) when we became part of the London Electricity Group of Companies.

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Countryside Award 1970 In 1970, West Burton was awarded the countryside award. The Countryside Award Scheme was given to both voluntary and statutory organisations which have promoted projects that are a distinctive contribution towards improving the general quality and beauty of the environment.

Sir Trevor Holdsworth Trophy In the year 1994 to 1995 West Burton powered its way to a record-breaking year.

The Station had come out top in virtually all key performance measures in National Power’s large coal fired stations.

During the critical Winter business day period, West Burton’s performance averaged a terrific 99.4%, heading National Power’s actual availability league for the major coal fired stations, pushing Drax into second place. The Winter business day period ran from 24 October until 17 February 1995, based on Monday to Friday running.

The great performance was helped as the majority of tube leak were safely managed to get to the weekend, then it gave free time for repairs to be completed. It topped the Winter Availability League for any large coal fired station in National Power and was awarded the Sir Trevor Holdsworth Winter Commercial Availability Trophy.

At an average availability of 99% rising to 99.7% during the critical Winter period, we beat not just all National Power’s stations, but the rest of the country’s coal-fired stations too. The Station turned in the highest contribution from any National Power 2,000 MW station. At the same time, it was achieved this at the lowest cost.

The running consumed some 2½ million tonnes of coal.

Environmental Management Systems Management systems may seem a little boring, but they show that how we were arranged to deliver our generation that was in line with the highest environmental standards and were essential in ensuring we performed to a high standard.

The first was BS 7750 environmental standard this was introduced in 1992 and West Burton became certified shortly after that. ISO 14001 was introduced in 1996 West Burton gained its ISO standard in the March of 1997. Since its initial BS certification, it was continuously certified up to the start of demolition. This included complying with updated standard requirements in 2004 and 2015.

To do this, the site was regularly independently audited by a recognised body, to the latest Environmental Management System standard.Each visit helped improve and develop how the site performed, eventually holding the certification for more than 25 years. This was a great credit to the site and its staff.

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AWARD WINNING DESIGN In 1968, West Burton was granted an award by the Civic Trust for its, “Outstanding contribution to the surrounding scene.”

This achievement was captured in the book given on the opening of the site on 25 April 1969, saying: The award judgement described West Burton as, “An immense engineering work of great style which, far from detracting from the visual scene, acts as a magnet to the eye from many parts of the Trent Valley and from several miles away.”

West Burton, the 2,000 MW power station in North Nottinghamshire operated by the Midlands Region of the Central Electricity Generating Board, has been granted an award by the Civic Trust for its “outstanding contribution to the surrounding scene.”

The Civic Trust, announcing the 82 awards it made in 1968 from more than 1,400 entries from 94 counties in the United Kingdom, described West Burton as “an immense engineering work of great style which, far from detracting from the visual scene, acts as a magnet to the eye from many parts of the Trent Valley and from several miles away.”

The Trust’s Awards Scheme has the aim of stimulating interest in the appearance of towns, villages and countryside; of creating a greater awareness of the problems of environmental design in all its aspects; and of drawing attention to the best contributions now being made in these fields.

Designers of West Burton: The C.E.G.B.’s Northern Project Group: Merz: and McLellan Consulting Engineers: Gelsthorpe & Savidge Architects: Derek Lovejoy & Associates, Landscape Consultants Contractors: Sir Alfred McAlpine and Son Ltd

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BAND OF GOLD As you walk around the site today and look up at the cooling towers you’ll notice one with a distinct goldish yellow band around the top and this is not an accident.

It is in fact the remnants of the station’s original award winning (Civic Trust) design scheme.

Back in the 1960s the sheer size of the West Burton development posed new challenges for the architects and landscape designers. How could they comfortably fit such huge shapes into the gentle countryside of the lower Trent Valley?

The answer at the time was revolutionary. They positioned the towers so that some were always partially obscured by others. One group of four was laid out as a lozenge and the other four in a meandering line. More than that, they also coloured the towers. Two of the towers in the lozenge were constructed in a dark grey concrete to contrast with a light grey of the other two. Similarly, one of the towers in the line formation was finished in a dull yellow to add a different perspective.

The idea behind the scheme was quite simple; ‘You can’t hide such an enormous construction, so let’s make it interesting to look at’

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HINTON CUP Housekeeping was always recognised as being important in power stations so much so that the first chairman of the C.E.G.B. (1957 to 1964) Christopher Hinton, Baron Hinton of Bankside, started a housekeeping competition. It was first run in 1959 and was awarded 29 times up to 1989 when Privatisation broke up the power stations’ ownership and it ended.

West Burton won this award first in 1968/69 and again for 1988/89, we are one of only three stations that won it twice the others being South Denes (Great Yarmouth) and Ratcliffe-on-Soar. As the last winners of the Hinton Cup, we retained it proudly displayed in the trophy cabinet until closure when we handed it to British Science Museum for safe keeping and posterity.

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JOURNEY TO ZER

RO HARM

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SAFETY THROUGH THE YEARS West Burton has always looked after its staff well and been concerned over their welfare. It’s often been a challenge to keep the topic fresh and keep people engaged.

But what price safety? It did not get off to the best of starts. We understand that there were three fatalities during construction, two are recorded in the station log, all categorised as falls from height and another is believed to have happened on Unit 1 with a fall from the 160-foot level. Looking at some of the pictures of such working, the change in standards and controls is clear to see how this could have happened.

That being understood, there has always been an effort to focus on safety from the onset. A safety message was at the main gate, plus a dedicated safety station with displays to aid people’s understanding and keep safety on the agenda.

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REPORTING NEAR HITS The site had a desire to encourage the reporting of incidents and near hits to improve our safety performance. This required an available, easy to use, open and visible system that people could use.

A Near Hit is anything that could injure you, a colleague, or damage the environment (a very wide definition). It can include things like trip hazards, defective barriers, broken guardrails or any form of unsafe behaviour. People were first encouraged and then it became an expectation that if we saw something that could be a Near Hit and could cause harm or injury, that you didn’t walk by.

If a person could fix it, control it or minimise or control it we asked they did. If not, report it as soon as possible. Whilst we had a system for logging Safety Defects, which is more to do with damaged or broken plant and machinery, people were asked to report it and if they could not record it themselves ask their supervisor to raise a defect. That however did not cover all we asked people to report Near Hits quickly.

Whilst the use of a card and post box remained available, we installed a number of INVAC stations around site to make it making as easy as possible for everyone to input a Near Hit via a simple online web form. It only took a couple of minutes.

Picasso Was the replacement for INVAC it expanded on the range of things that could be reported and had better classification capability, analysis tools and was a single place that the investigation detail could be recorded, allowing reports, documents and photos to be easily uploaded. Since 2015 the site system recorded 1094 incidents and 2884 near hits.

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SABRES Safety has changed. At times in the past, we were rewarded for getting the job done and we got rewarded for the job, we did not question how. Historically, many people have been ok with walking by when they saw something happening that they were uncomfortable with, they may chat about it in a mess room, but opportunities to intervene were being lost.

An idea of being our Brother’s Keeper started within the company, a poem was used ‘I could have saved a life today’ was published at Heysham 2. This encouraged us to intervene when we saw something happening that could be exposing others to hazards. We became more accustomed to the point of having an expectation that if we are seen doing something wrong or were exposing ourselves to a hazard that we would be challenged.

We got reasonably good at challenging people but the HeSAC recognised that we could encourage and embed good safety behaviours using positive recognition.

Positive recognition is a very powerful way of embedding and reinforcing desirable behaviours, we all love to be recognised for doing something well and if recognised for it we will do it again.

The HeSAC set up a team of people to explore how this could be done. Safe Behaviours Recognition (SABRE) was born. Recognising and rewarding in SABRE’s continued. SABRE stood the test of time, since 2015 at the time of writing (September 2022) 16,173 SABRE conversations had taken place.

Staff and all contractors on site were trained in how to approach, conduct and record these conversations emphasising their specific intention of identifying what they were doing well. Whilst all at first felt a little uncomfortable being involved in these conversations, it became second nature and one nearly everyone was open to and at ease with.

The station chose four charities so when you took part with a recorded conversation you chose one of the charities for a £1 donation. Lincolnshire Lives, Air Ambulance (North Notts), Bassetlaw Hospice and Help 4 Heroes.

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FITNESS FOR WORK, HEALTH AND WELLBEING It was important that we came to work fit to do our jobs.

Physical fitness is important. We did not need people to be able to run a fourminute mile, but should be free of injury, mentally alert, and able to perform their role. The tolerance to alcohol had reduced over the years. In the 70s and early 80s the Station Managers used to have a drinks cabinet, alcohol was available at Christmas lunch, pictures show the control room Christmas celebrations with cans and wine being drunk, with the units operating behind the party.

It was discouraged in the 1980s but it was not until the 90s when it was prohibited.

In the early years of 2000, drug and alcohol became seen as a problem in the wider society and EDF Energy implemented a strict drug and alcohol policy.

Both drugs and alcohol impair mental ability and judgement, presenting a real risk to us, the plant and our colleagues. Campaigns were conducted that advised of the issue and risk of being over the limit from the night before, and many drugs can stay in the system for weeks.

West Burton introduced tests for drugs and alcohol - on a random basis, as part of the induction process, ‘for cause’, or if you’ve been involved in an accident.

Anybody found to have drugs or alcohol in their system would be supported where possible this came with rigorous monitoring or for people outside our control they would be prevented from working on site.

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EMERGENCY PLANNING The emergency plan was different at both Cottam and West Burton, pulled around in a cart at Cottam and in two files at West Burton. West Burton had several Management instructions to deal with different types of incident, there was a lot of repetition, they did not always align and there was also some conflict in setting out how we expected situations to be managed.

The project led by Mike West the Production Performance Manager at Cottam undertook to review how all incidents were managed and develop a consistent approach that was well documented, easy to use, easy to understand and identify how this would be deployed. The group looked at all events identifying classes of events that could happen and defining how these should be managed. It resulted in a list of areas for more detailed and specific guidance being required for Major Accident Prevention Policy (COMAH), Control of Environmental Incidents, First Aid rendering assistance to be renamed, the Fire Plan, Bomb Threat, Activist Threat, Plant, Apparatus and Infrastructure failure, Guidance Loss of Grid Supplies, Guidance Loss of radioactive source and Asbestos contamination and rescue of persons.

Whilst we had always trained our fire team members and first aiders, other roles required no training and relied on their competence in their day role. Being unable to demonstrate that Emergency Controllers (at the main control point, Incident Controllers (at incident) and Emergency Support Managers were trained was an issue. Investigating some events revealed that the lack of clarity for an events control meant senior managers often would try to take over when control should have remained with the duty Shift Charge Engineer.

To mitigate this, it became required that people had to be specifically trained before they could fulfil one of these roles, including the Senior Managers. Link associates a specialist emergency response training company industry were employed to deliver this training at their facility in Derby.

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COAL OPERATIONS SQEP FOR SUPERVISION TRAINING PROGRAMME This was part of the Zero Harm Delivery Plan. Its objective was continuing improvements supervision standards on site. SQEP ‘Suitably Qualified & Experienced Person’ is a person who is appropriately qualified person in their areas of expertise.

The program was about recognising that we had the right people on site to supervise others. Highlighting and refreshing the standards for supervision.

It was a bespoke training programme designed to verify and validate the core skills and competencies of those carrying out supervision on site.

The training rolled out also was used to align Human Performance Tools, SABREs, Setting People to Work, Quality and Foreign Material Exclusion, Work Area Readiness and Work Tool Quality.

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HELPING THE ENVI

IRONMENT

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A COUNTRYMAN’S DIARY In early 2006, there were a number of cases of avian influenza, which not only had a catastrophic effect upon the poultry industry, but concern was raised by certain other industries, especially those where there were large expanses of water which would attract waterfowl.

An EDF manager, based, I believe at Cottam, invited me to monitor all water courses at the two stations on a very regular basis. This was because both stations, mainly Cottam, were classed as Key Core Sites by the BTO for the movement of wetland bird species, (WeBS). I accepted, and became advisory ornithologist.

Naturally, the company put in place certain safety measures because of the possibility of diseased birds being found on site. The very virulent strain of bird flu was identified as H5N!. As a zoologist with a knowledge of avian diseases, I was fully aware of this particular strain. Not only did I monitor the two sites, but occasionally the company called upon me on other matter of natural history, mostly involving wild birds.

My job was to look at all WeBS, and watch for any unusual behaviour, or changes in such, and to report to the authorities of any birds found dead. Over several years of monitoring, I only found six mortalities, all singles. Because of a change in DEFRA’s reporting policy, only a single dead Mute Swan was reported to them. Their report showed that it had died from natural causes.

For many years, West Burton has been the home of one of our most iconic birds, the Peregrine Falcon, and pairs have reared young on many occasions. It has also hosted a bird ringing convention, organised by North Notts Ringing Group. The venue has always been near one of West Burton’s extensive reed beds, close to the angling ponds.

Dr Derek Scott

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WILDLIFE AT WEST BURTON West Burton Power Station is more than just a producer of energy, it provides a valuable natural resource for a wide range of species. Within its boundary lies a mosaic of established farmland, open grassland, mature woodland, interconnected drains, and a spider web of hedges. Secure within the footprint of the station species such badger, roe deer, brown hare, water vole and great crested newts make their home, moving through existing habitats with little disturbance from the station’s human occupants.

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SUPPORTING OUR

R COMMUNITY

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LANDFILL COMMUNITIES FUND The Landfill Communities Fund was an innovative tax credit scheme enabling operators of landfill sites to contribute money to organisations offsetting the Landfill Tax against spend on approved projects it was like a tax reclaim for a charitable donation.

Community benefits were numerous around West Burton but a particularly generous time was in the 90s when the station sent a lot of ash to landfill paying Landfill Tax for the privilege. One of the more notable ones was to help our neighbours to restore the walls of St Martin’s Church.

BOLE CHURCH WALLS Bole is a small village and West Burton’s closest neighbour, its church is a Grade II listed building, it dates from the 13th century being restored in 1866 by Ewan Christian. As with old buildings it requires a lot of maintenance to keep it sound.

In 2012 / 2013 the church walls needed some attention.

West Burton donated about £30k through the fund to help restore those walls.

Being the only communal building in the village it gets used for lots more besides worship. There is a plaque in the church commemorating our support, Leslie Gudalajtys represented EDF at the completion event.

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COMMUNITY – HELPING HANDS EDF ran a community initiative called Helping Hands where every employee was allocated up to two fully paid days a year to be a force for good in their local community. The benefit to providing these away days was twofold; team building and bonding and for the community. The EDF company magazine Connect reported on the Helping Hands events across the business.

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IDLE VALLEY Once West Burton joined the EDF family, one of the initiatives launched and quickly adopted was “Helping Hands” we adopted Idle Valley, a local nature reserve. This grew from an idea between Kath Bradley and Steve Lee once the idea formed the Business Support and Development Team Leader Leslie Gudalajtys ran with the idea, coordinating “the idle volunteers” which was probably the biggest voluntary taskforce the station ever saw.

For seven years in a row, the volunteer base grew and grew. The clean up day at Idle Valley was undoubtedly the most popular event with more than 65 people attending on the last year in 2015.

Idle Valley is a reserve managed by the Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust, covering 375 hectares, it’s a network of lakes, wetland grassland and scrub. Idle Valley is home to a diverse range of wildlife and welcomes visitors through the gates all year round. It is home to a diverse range of wildlife and is recognised as one of the richest birding sites in the region. The Idle Valley Rural Learning Centre is a high-quality educational facility based at the south end of the site and is a venue for a range of training courses and events.

A typical Helping Hands day at idle Valley included weeding, strimming, painting, moving rubbish and clearing “the Island” in the middle of the Nature Reserve. This meant you got a turn in the boat to the island where the waste foliage was burnt on a huge bonfire.

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THE POWER SURGE In the past, staff at the stations would run from one location to the other. This was a popular pastime, especially amongst the fittest who would compete for the best times and places.

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YOU CAN’T MISS IT You can’t miss West Burton, it has a major impact on the local landscape, it’s a lighthouse used as a marker as people travel home or as a milestone on their journey. This set of pictures through its own journey are a record of the seasons and its life.

BEAUTIFUL WEST

T BURTON

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WEST BURTON FROM THE AIR When you see a picture of the site from the air, it gives a whole new perspective on its complexity and size. These pictures are a selection from over the years of those we have been able to obtain.

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IN ALL ITS GLORY You can’t miss West Burton, it has a major impact on the local landscape.

It’s a lighthouse used as a marker as people travel home or as a milestone on their journey.

This set of pictures through its own journey are a record of the seasons and its life.

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THE PLANT IN 2023 The pictures chosen in this section are a selection, hopefully, that captures the focus of all our efforts over the year. The individual elements of the plant are the essence of the station, that in combination with each other made the station work.

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APPARATUS IMAGES Looking through the book there is not many pictures of what the site is actually about, electricity, which is a difficult element to capture.

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ARTISTIC IMAGES When reviewing all the photographs we have taken over the years, many have an aesthetic quality that we wanted to record. Often, they capture the soul of West Burton and how the weathering leads to ageing, whilst others capture the events we have gone through and sometimes it’s just the people at work.

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FROM THE ASHES

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AN EXTRA YEAR The station was due to close on the 30 September 2021, however the graphite safety case at Hunterston led to its closure. West Burton was asked to fill the gap.

The staff were asked if we should support keeping two units on line to cover Hunterston’s Capacity Market Contract, they supported it overwhelmingly.

Whilst the station would not make a profit, it was a good business decision reducing the losses that would have occurred with Hunterston’s early exit from the Capacity Market. Hunterston only required two units to cover the contract and in September 2021 Units 3 and 4 ceased generating and Units 1 and 2 had a planned closure date 12 months later 30 September 2022. The loss of two units meant that we did not need as many staff and 42 members of staff left the station on 30 September 2021 on voluntary redundancy terms.

YOUR COUNTRY NEEDS YOU After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, the sanctions placed on Russia meant there was risk of interruption of fuel making electricity supply in the UK vulnerable. The UK Government requested that West Burton looked to defer the station’s closure.

Due to West Burton’s people, age profile and skills levels it was clear that any running beyond 31 March 2023 was not a credible option to commit to and it would only be possible to operate in a very limited capacity, West Burton agreed to try.

To allow Unit 1 to operate, West Burton’s team with Uniper and our insurers identified what works were needed to ensure the plant could operate safely and legally for six months. To be certain of delivering a reliable service we had to put constraints on running. We guaranteed to provide one unit for operation Monday to Friday 07:00 to 22:00 at a de-rated capacity of 400 MW. Any generation outside that window or running two units would only be attempted if we had adequate staff to safely operate them. Suitable coal was identified in South Africa, but it did have problems as burning it would probably exceed the NOx emission limits, before committing we required the Environment Agency to agree to this risk should an electricity emergency occur. This allowed West Burton to provide an emergency back-up supply function. Whilst the site prepared to deliver on a number of occasions over the winter this service was required only once on the 7 March 2023 both units ran Unit 2 was the last unit ever to run at West Burton coming off load at 20:45.

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STATION CLOSURE It’s a very sad day when you have to say goodbye to something like West Burton, but it happens to everything in time. West Burton has reached the end of its life and by the end of 2027 it will have been removed from the landscape.

The closure of West Burton was delayed twice, predicted many more times when you consider its design life, escaping closure in the late 1990s early 2000s.

West Burton was a great well-built piece of equipment a credit to those who designed it, built it, maintained it and ran it. We all worked hard to keep West Burton going having a lot of fun as we went. We eagerly adopted the strap line to be the Last Plant Standing, we were very close with only Ratcliffe lasting longer than us, all our other sister stations have long gone.

Units 1 and 2 should have closed a year later but the Government asked for the units to be kept available in case supplies became at risk over the winter closure was put back to the 31 March 2023 and as as a result of that on the 7 April 2023 a further 21 members of staff left, 40 more followed in June, after making the plant safe from gasses, most oils, coal in bunkers and switching off the auxiliary systems.

The 57 remaining would leave West Burton by 31 December 2023 staying to complete the decommissioning and documentation required by for the demolition contractors to start in January 2024 with six remaining to work with the demolition contractors to put West Burton to bed well prepared with another 113 years of service.

Of those who left West Burton on or after 30 September 2021; 44 people had over 40 years’ service and 30 over 30 years. They had power station service ranging from 1 year to 49 years, whilst long service on all the coal power stations was the norm with many of our colleagues retiring with similar long service, but the 4,250 years’ experience that went could fill several volumes of this book. This excludes many other valued people who left for new jobs outside of the redundancy dates for other employment opportunities.

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BEYOND COAL

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SO, WHAT DOES THE FUTURE LOOK LIKE FOR THE WEST BURTON SITE? In December 2020, UKAEA launched a siting process, seeking a home for the STEP (Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production) prototype fusion energy plant.

Following two rounds of detailed analysis and assessment, West Burton was eventually announced as the successful site in October 2022.

The aim of the STEP programme is to demonstrate the ability to generate net electricity from fusion energy. It will be a spherical tokamak, connected to the National Grid and although it is not expected to be a commercially operating plant at this stage, it will also demonstrate how the plant will be maintained through its operational life, and prove the potential for fusion plants to produce their own fuel.

In the coming decades, the STEP programme will provide significant opportunities for many organisations and aims to provide a catalyst to the fusion supply chain across the UK.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS If one person tried to write a book about West Burton you’d probably find it was a narrow account. It takes a team with mixed skills, good memories, and a keen eye for detail to gather balanced and accurate information and when we asked for information, the people delivered.

Some of the areas we hoped to cover were lost or just not possible in the timescales.

Other images and accounts landed in our laps and we discovered a depth of detail we had not realised existed. We are very grateful to a number of people who have gone out of their way to contribute, from checking the facts and figures, getting information, raiding their archives for pictures and information through to writing up their personal accounts.

It is important to acknowledge the following people, who have made a contribution to this book in some way.

Glyn Allen Katie Barker-Grey Adi Beresford Mick Beresford Michael Bradley Mark Bray Deb Brown Tony Bryer Phil Burton Andrew Carter James Cartwright Paul Collins

Richard Collins Scintilla Design Graham Ellis Brian Farmer Ged Freeman Phil Gibson George Gilbert David Goddard Leslie Gudalajtys David Hennessey Phil Holmes

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Graham Howitt Doug Jackson Katy Jarvis-Morgan Ian Kitchin Steve Knight Mick Lamb Pete Large James Marchant Ray Marchant Paul Matthews Becky Nunes Gary Parker John Parry Rebecca Parry Saranne Postans Andy Powell

Dr Derek Scott Dennis Shemilt Tom Smart Geoff Tasker Nathan Taylor Andy Teasdale Ross Thompson Ralph Tittley Teresa Tong Steve Walker Nigel Wallis John Ward Mike West Paul Whitby Dave Wigham Kathy Wright

All the staff and contractors who worked to help West Burton keep the lights on.

The Central Electricity Generating Board who had the foresight to build such a great plant EDF Energy for the commitment to West Burton in an increasingly difficult environment, we almost made it as the last plant standing.

Finally a special mention to Matt Sykes for his unwavering support to West Burton and its people.

ISBN: 978-1-7393732-0-7 Designed by Scintilla Design 100% of the inks used in this document are vegetable oil based, 95% of press chemicals are recycledfor further use and on average 95% of any waste associated with this product will be recycled.

This document is printed on Lumisilk, paper containing 30% post consumer recycled fibre it contains material sourced from responsibly managed forests together with recycled fibre, certified in accordance with the FSC® (Forest Stewardship Council®) and is manufactured to the ISO 14001 international standard, minimising negative impacts on the environment.