Oldbury power station (de-commissioned)

Power station picnic

Al fresco dining, power station-style

In the distance, Cottam Power Station

Vue de l’intérieur (encore)

From front to back, the ground floor of the admin block, the turbine hall (the one with the pyramiddy bits on the roof), the boiler house, and the chimneys

Vue de l’intérieur

Three of the eight cooling towers at West Burton Power Station. At times I forget just how surreally huge they are. The one on the far left had concrete rings added to reinforce it after it showed early signs of cracking.

Better safe than sorry, eh?

Heysham power station

Longannet power station

Widnes: revisited

The eagle-eyed and strong of memory among you may remember we’ve looked at a couple of Widnesian landmarks over the last few months. I have to confess those photos weren’t ones I took myself. I recently corrected that anomaly though (hurray!) during a visit to Widnes, and specifically the top of the Catalyst Museum.

First, Fiddlers Ferry Power Station, with Spike Island (scene of the (in)famous Stone Roses 1989 gig) in the foreground, and second, the Widnes-Runcorn brige, both viewed from the top of the museum:

The inside of a power station: a 500 mega-watt unit

This much I know.

That duct-looking thing at the top left is where the pulverised coal comes in, I think (the single thing you’re guaranteed to hear about the coal used in a coal-fired power station is that “it’s ground as fine as face powder”).

The big rectangular thing to the right of the duct is the boiler.

Near the extreme right of the picture is the turbine (the three cylinders).

And the bits inbetween? Um… Pipes, mostly.

Flamanville nuclear power station

Flamanville, Manche, France