By Malcolm Ramsay From Issue 1, 2025 of Breakbulk Magazine. In December 2024, the Hinkley project reached a new milestone when the reactor unit was finally installed, marking the first nuclear reactor to be installed in the UK for more than 30 years. The 13-meter-long reactor pressure vessel (RPV) was housed in a 500-tonne steel container and had been transported to the site from France, where it was fabricated by Nuclear Steam Supply Systems (NSSS) designer and manufacturer, Framatome.