Expert Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineers in Bradford

Valvology: helping to harness the power of the sun Blackhall Engineering first began its work in the nuclear industry during the 1950s, providing the valves for Cumbria's Calder Hall Power Station. As well as being the first to open in the UK, it was also the world's first full-scale commercial nuclear power station, producing electricity all the way through the latter half of the 20th century, until its closure in 2003. It has been almost 20 years since a nuclear power station was built in the UK, however recent breakthroughs in the viability of nuclear fusion are leading to an exciting resurgence of the possibility of a wholly clean and virtually limitless power supply for the UK. But more on that shortly. First, it's important to look at the differences between the processes used to generate power by old stations like Calder Hall, which used fission, and those that will be employed at West Burton, Nottinghamshire, which has been selected as the home for the UK's prototype fusion plant. For us at Blackhall Engineering, power-related services currently form about 30% of our business, and we are already 'hydrogen ready' with a fully developed hydrogen valve. But we are not planning to stop there, in fact, part of our mission statement is that we would like to drive our business to generate 50% of its revenue from new products and services over the next five years. Find out more on the blog!