But Nigel Cann, Construction Delivery Director, has warned that the impact of Covid on cost and schedule will not be known until more predictable normality returns.

Contractor Bylor has kept the site progressing while adapting to Covid safe site working procedures.

The two reactor units are rising out of the ground after the completion of the second reactor base this summer.

Unit one’s turbine hall is taking shape as heavy-duty steel columns are being erected. These are designed to support a reinforced concrete ‘table’ where the turbines will eventually sit.

Next to the project’s huge heavy-lift crane Big Carl, factory bunkers are delivering large amounts of prefabrication while under the sea the first cooling tunnel is nearing completion.

The vast nuclear power station is due to start generating power by end of 2025, which remains a challenging target after the challenges of 2020.

Cann said: “2020 has been a test of resilience. Right from the beginning in March we worked really hard to create a Covid-secure site here.

“When you walk into the site you see a lot of Cornish business here, we had to really increase our bus fleet and decrease numbers people on buses.

“We’ve got temperature checks at the gate, we’ve got a robust testing regime, which includes random testing and blanket testing to curb the risk as soon as possible to both site workers and the community.”

Cann added: “We’ve not worked as efficiently as we could have done through this year and there will be a cost to that.

“We’re not out of the of this pandemic at the moment, until we get to the end of it we will not know the impact from a cost and schedule point of view.

“We have done everything we can to keep this site moving forward and we hit some key milestone.”