Drax Power Station in North Yorkshire was built by the Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB) and was constructed and commissioned in two stages between 1974 and 1986.

Coal arrives by rail in trainloads weighing an average of 1,400 tonnes, upon delivery it is either sent directly to the Mills or transferred to the coal stock by conveyers. Bucket wheel machines are used to add coal to the stock pile or reclaim it for burning, whilst Catterpillar coal scrapers are used to profile and condense the coal.

Drax has Pulverising fuel mills (6 Mills per Generating Unit), which prepare the coal for burning; each has a capacity of crushing 36 tonnes of coal per hour. The coal powder is then blasted through a burner and into one of the 6 Babcock boilers, the steam created is then fed through the Turbines. After which the water is sent to the Cooling Towers .

The large Turbine hall (1,300ft long) houses the 6 Generating units, each has a capacity of generating 660 Megawatts, giving a total capacity of just under 4,000 Megawatts, making Drax the largest coal-fired power station in the UK .

Drax has 12 cooling towers (374ft high), standing in two groups of six. The main chimney is the tallest industrial chimney in the country, at 850ft high, and is the 2nd largest free-standing structure in the uk .