Hinkley Point C announces 30,000 training places

Hinkley Point C is offering 30,000 new training places between now and its completion date.

A spokesperson for the Somerset nuclear energy site said the places would give local people the chance to join the project as it hits "peak construction".

The new courses represent a £24m investment and will be paid for by the site's owner EDF Energy, which itself is owned by the French state.

Training on offer includes electronics, welding and pipe installation.

Apprentices, local business staff and the site's current employees are among those eligible for the courses.

Hinkley Point C is offering a further 30,000 training courses

Grant Shapps, energy security and net zero secretary, visited the site earlier.

He insisted it was a good thing the training programme was being funded by the French.

Speaking to BBC West he said: "I think we should all be rather pleased it is not the British tax payer - it is France and EDF who are paying.

"I am often asked how much this is going to cost us, and I say we are not having to pay."

Nicola Giles is training as a welder

Nicola Giles, 33, from Bridgwater has been training as a welder after being inspired to take it up by a friend already working in the trade.

"She told me how lots more women are entering this line of work now, so I felt comfortable," said Ms Giles.

While studying at Bridgwater and Taunton College she applied for an apprenticeship at Hinkley Point C and said she loved being shown the different types of welds and techniques.

Alex, 19, is studying digital production, design and development at Bridgwater College, and said he lacked confidence in his abilities before his placement at Hinkley Point C.

Placement days "confirmed to me that I want to become a software engineer, and that I'm capable of doing that", he said.

Alex said he hoped to use his placement experience to become a software engineer

Tilly Brown, an apprentice with EDF, said working at the power plant presented "non-stop opportunities".

"No matter where you start, it doesn't affect where you are going to end up."

Hinkley Point C has trained 1,130 apprentices so far.

Andrew Cockroft, a senior manager at the site, said: "(The courses) are in a huge, diverse range of careers and skill sets - welders, electrical technicians, mechanical engineers.

"We are going to need them all."