Turbine Hall Refuse

Residual material in the turbine hall at White Bay Power Station includes sections of lagging that have fallen from the pipe insulation, lengths of electrical conduit stacked against the wall, and coils of copper wire left from cable removal works during the 1990s decontamination. Timber packing from equipment removal is wedged under one of the turbine pedestal base frames. A rusted-out oil drum sits upright near the turbine hall entry, its side carrying a painted equipment label. Scrapped valve fittings are piled in one corner. Dust has settled on all the horizontal surfaces, including the turbine casing tops and the overhead crane beams. The residual material on the hall floor reflects the sequence of asset removal and remediation since the Christmas Eve 1983 shutdown.

The material visible on the turbine hall floor at White Bay Power Station is the residue of forty years of post-closure activity. After the station shut down on Christmas Eve 1983 and was formally decommissioned in 1984, the site entered a long period of decontamination, asset assessment, and selective removal. The 1990s decontamination focused on asbestos removal and the extraction of the largest remaining machinery. Three of the original four Babcock and Wilcox boilers were removed from the boilerhouse during this period. Most of the turbine plant was also taken out of the hall. What remains is the material too small or too difficult to justify moving: lagging offcuts, cable, valve hardware, and the fittings left when the main equipment was lifted out by the overhead cranes.