Nuclear power in the United Kingdom became a public limited company, British Nuclear Fuels plc, wholly owned by the UK government. A Thermal Oxide Reprocessing Plant (THORP) was opened at Sellafield in 1994. Construction had begun in the 1970s and cost £2.4 billion. The Sizewell B nuclear power plant was built and commissioned between 1987 and 1995, and began producing power for the national grid in February 1995. Its construction followed a four-year, 16 million-word public inquiry. As of 2014 it is the most recent nuclear plant to be constructed in the United Kingdom. Sizewell B was intended to be the first of a series of
Hartlepool Nuclear Power Station cost between £5 billion and £6 billion to construct, would employ up to 3,000 construction workers for the possible eight-year construction period, as well as providing 600 full-time jobs once completed. The new station has an anticipated operating life of 60 years. The plans are opposed by environmental groups such as Friends of the Earth and Stop New Nuclear. The power station lies from the local resort of Seaton Carew. Hartlepool Nuclear Power Station Hartlepool power station is a nuclear power station situated on the northern bank of the mouth of the River Tees, south of Hartlepool in County Durham,