AFTER nearly 45 years of being Britain’s most productive nuclear power station, Hinkley Point B’s reactors will be switched off for the final time on July 15 as the start of a three-year decommissioning process.

It will mean that for the first time in 60 years West Somerset will not have a working nuclear power station - Hinkley Point C is not scheduled to come on line until 2026.

Construction began in 1967 and the station became operational nine years later. It was originally scheduled to have a 25-year-life but has since provided electricity for 81 million homes.

In 2012, owners EDF Energy extended the station’s generating life by seven years. It suspended power generation in 2020 for extensive inspections and maintenance.

Many members of staff are expected to stay on to help with de-fuelling the station - the first stage of the decommissioning process and one expected to take several years - and all spent nuclear fuel will be taken from the site by 2025.

Station director Mike Davies said Hinkley Point B had been the UK’s most productive nuclear power station. He added: "We have saved about 100 million tons of CO2 from going into the atmosphere, which is something we are really proud of."

An EDF spokesman said: "Although there is much change to come, this is a moment to be proud of what we have achieved.

"While EDF has been busy building the first in the next generation of nuclear reactors next door, Hinkley B has been playing a critical part in keeping the UK’s lights on, and emissions down."

Bill Halder - who has worked at Hinkley Point B for 45 years - is about to help the station stop generating power. He started as an apprentice in 1976 and is now an engineer. "I’m really confident there’ll be masses of opportunities way into the future," he said.

The spokesman added: "While domestic electricity won’t be produced from Hinkley Point B’s two reactors after next summer, it’s far from the end of the station’s life.

"After the shutdown the nuclear fuel will need to be removed from the site followed by deconstruction. But there’s very much the feeling here of this being the start of the end of an era."