Army of Welsh workers key for enormous project

RACHEL

- RICHARD YOULE

Lee Jones, area health and safety lead at Hinkley Point C power station.

Lister says she can sometimes see cranes at the vast Hinkley Point C construction site across the Bristol Channel from Penarth and Barry.She has been involved with the project on the Somerset coast for years and is one of many people from Wales who are helping to build the UK's newest nuclear power station.

Those huge cranes, including a 250m-high one known as Big Carl which can lift 5,000 tonnes, seem like beacons luring an army of skilled workers from across the border.

EDF, the French-owned company building Hinkley Point C, said close to 2,500 people from Wales are currently working on the project out of a 14,000-strong workforce almost one in five.

The workforce is expected to peak at around 15,000. Contractors can stay at purpose-built accommodation near the site or at larger campuses in nearby Bridgwater and Brean. A fourth campus could open next year.

Closeup Hinkley Point C is a hive of activity. Security is stringent although there is no fissile - or nuclear material on site yet. The main canteen is packed with contractors. Numerous others are at work outside. To an outsider it feels like organised chaos.

Lee Jones, of Neath, greets almost every employee as he walks around. He is an area health and safety lead and started at Hinkley Point C 11 years ago after stints in the water and construction sectors. He also worked at the former Atomic Weapons Establishment and at the London Olympics in 2012.

The 50-year-old has spent many years on projects outside Wales and met his wife, Emma, while working away.

The couple have a daughter Tia, 13, and son Ki, 12, and Lee, who lives in a camper van in Somerset, heads home along the M4 when he can.