Rat invasion plagues nuclear power plant at Hinkley Point

Workers building the troubled Hinkley Point C nuclear reactor in Somerset have raised concerns that the construction site is overrun by rats.

- Jillian Ambrose

The Unite and GMB trade unions are understood to have warned the developer, the French energy giant EDF, that urgent action is needed because the rodents are "everywhere".

The growing vermin population has prompted fears over the health of the workforce building Britain's first new nuclear power plant in a generation, which is running years late and billions of pounds over budget. A source on the site told the Observer: "They're all over. You see them just sat there, looking at you. It is worse near the canteens, where I guess it started. But they are everywhere now."

A second source confirmed that the trade unions had broached the issue with EDF, describing the number of rats on the site as "quite grim".