Heysham 1 power station
Heysham 1 is a nuclear power station on the north west coast of England near Lancaster. Heysham is the only site in the UK to have two operating nuclear power stations.
Since 1983 Heysham 1 has generated 237 TWh of zero carbon electricity
Enough to power every home in Lancashire for 93 years
Avoiding 83m tonnes of CO2 emissions*
Like taking 39.7m cars off UK roads for a year
* when compared to direct emissions of combined cycle gas turbines | all figures rounded to the nearest hundred thousand
Heysham 1 careers
After starting her career as an Electrical Design Engineer, Eloise has worked in the nuclear industry for over 20 years, developing her experience and expertise with engineering firms and design offices until joining EDF 5 years ago.
Apprenticeship Opportunities
Heysham 1 apprenticeships
The Heysham 1 apprenticeship schemes will open for applications in January 2024. Details will be available earlier next year, but in the meantime, you can find out more, here.
Industrial Placements
Our Industrial Placements at Heysham 1 offer you the chance to gain an insight into life at EDF by discovering what it's like to work in the energy industry during a paid 12-month placement. Current placement opportunities for 2024 are currently being advertised here.
Work experience
Heysham 1 enjoys relationships with many local schools and colleges as we look to build our links with our potential future employees. If you’re interested in doing some work experience here at Heysham 1, we can accommodate work experience placements aimed at current school / college students, for a period of up to five days. These must be pre-arranged before being undertaken. If you would like to get involved or have any questions, please email: Work.ExperienceMailb@edf-energy.com.
Help for graduates
If you’re considering a career with EDF, check out these videos, tips on how to apply and insightful advice from previous graduates, here.
About Heysham 1
- Station Director: Martin Cheetham
- Reactor type: 2 Advanced Gas-cooled Reactors
- Total supply to the national grid: 1155 MW
- Coolant: Carbon dioxide gas (CO2)
- Start of construction: 1970
- Start of generation: 1983
- Estimated end of generation: 2026
- People: Approximately 530 full time EDF employees plus over 200 full time contract partners
- Daily plant status - find out which reactors at our eight nuclear power stations are in service and what they are generating (data updated on weekdays)
- EDF also operates another nuclear power station in Heysham. Find out more about Heysham 2
Visit Heysham 1 power station
Our Heysham site is unique to the business, as it is the only location to have two operating nuclear power stations. Our visitor centre supports both sites – with tours taking place on Heysham 2.
- The visitor centre has an interactive exhibition to help visitors learn about nuclear power generation, alongside a classroom facility.
- Tours take around 2 hours and can be pre-booked for free at least 3 weeks in advance. Minimum age is 8 years old.
- Trained station guides accompany the tours which include the reactor viewing gallery, the turbine hall and the control room viewing gallery.
- All tours include a safety and security briefing and relevant Personal Protective equipment.
Frequently asked questions
If you have any questions about the visitor centre, or about taking a tour, please check our FAQs.
Contact the visitor centre on:
Telephone: 01524 868451
Address: Heysham 2 power station, Morecambe, Lancashire. LA3 2XH
Email: heyshamvisitorcentre@edf-energy.com
Opening hours and events
Tours of Heysham Power Station are currently fully booked for November and December 2023. Please contact us if you would like to be added to the waiting list for January 2024 onwards.
We also offer visitor centre only experiences. If you would like to book an hour in the exhibition area please email heyshamvisitorcentre@edf-energy.com to check availability.
Monday to Thursday: 10:00 - 16:00
Friday: 10:00 - 14:30
Weekends and bank holidays: Closed
Contact us
- Address:
EDF Heysham power station
Morecambe
Lancashire LA3 2XH
Reception:
+44 (0)1524 853131 - Media and community requests:
HeyshamCommunity@edf-energy.com
Heysham Visitor Centre
Heyshamvisitorcentre@edf-energy.com
01524 868451
Community
EDF hold regular meetings (Local Community Liaison Council or LCLC) with local people, the media, council and emergency services representatives and local politicians to maintain regular communications about the nuclear site. Members of the public are invited to observe the meeting and questions will be taken at the end of session.
Safety and reporting
Our number one priority is safety. Find out about our commitment to Zero Harm.
How we generate our power
As Britain's biggest generator of zero carbon electricity(1) we generate power from wind + nuclear + solar.
Careers at EDF
Interested in working at EDF? Find out about our graduate programmes, apprenticeships, internships and current vacancies.