Last week, as part of their unit on nuclear power, Year 9 boys visited Dungeness B nuclear power station. Dungeness B is an Advanced Gas-cooled Reactor (AGR). The AGR reactors were built in the UK to replace the older Magnox reactors.
All boys were security checked in advance of the trip. Once they had again proved their identities on arrival, they were briefed and then kitted out with safety equipment. Everyone had to wear a radio in his ear.
‘The tour was amazing! We were taken all over the site. The sheer scale of the engineering involved took our breath away. The turbines were simply enormous. A huge highlight was being able to look down on top of the reactor core from a viewing platform and learning how the fuel rods are monitored and replaced. Our guides were very knowledgeable and were very impressed by what we already knew. We were so interested and asked such good questions that our tour lasted over an hour longer than expected.
After our tour, we were told about apprenticeships that are available from the age of 16. Attending the Royal Navy College at Plymouth for free room, board and tuition and earning £11,000 a year, just to train, sounded good to us. We were very impressed by the entire visit and it really brought the physics behind nuclear power to life.’
Mrs Callaghan
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