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Comment by speedbird | Hacker News Reader

Back in the day, when you could also blag a jump seat ride in the cockpit, nuclear plants used to do tours. Had a fascinating afternoon once in the Wylfa plant in Anglesey that included walking over the top and seeing the refuelling gear.

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I visited Sizewell A for a tour as a young teenager, though I don't remember much about it beyond walking over the top of the reactor, and getting an educational comic booklet about how nuclear power worked. I think this was when they were going through the planning process to build Sizewell B, so they were probably in a "community outreach and PR" phase.

You can see both from a way along the coast; personally I think they add to the landscape rather than detract. The sea is also apparently noticeably warmer in the immediate vicinity due to the cooling outflow.

I used to swim near it. It is indeed warmer and I have had no issues (other than my natural personality )

You can still visit Sizewell B, the plant in the article. I visited last year.

Two very knowledgeable guides led our group of 4 on a 3-4 hour tour of the facility, including the turbine hall.

https://www.edfenergy.com/energy/power-stations/sizewell-b#v...

In France too, and they have an efficient way of solving the “what if there are terrorists among the visitors” problem: the groups are escorted by armed members of the French special forces (there's an on-site platoon of them on every nuclear site to act as a rapid reaction force).

I did too. I also visited Hinckley Point as a teenager, but for that we could just turn up whereas for last year's trip we had to book well in advance and submit ID information for vetting.

Meh

Sellafield visitors centre was open until 2008 and only closed because of falling popularity and visitor numbers.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sellafield#Sellafield_Visitor_...

(Yes that Sellafield)

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