Refuelling Nuclear Britannia

0

Rate this Column: (4.3 Stars | 29 Votes)   Thanks for your rating!

The UK nuclear industry is at an important phase in its development. 50 years ago we were embarking on the design and building of our new nuclear fleet and beginning to generate nuclear power, which they said would be so cheap that it was not worth charging.

The reality of today is that we have offered a carbon floor price that will attract investors from other European partners to generate our base load power. In terms of timescale the original guesses of Christmas turkey on new nuclear power by 2017 as being completely unrealistic and now the dates look more like 2023 or later before we will be able to say our nuclear power is starting to flow.

In the UK, it looks like the race is about to begin, the Generic Design Assessment GDA being delayed by Fukushima until the end of 2011. With the licensing process started and the concrete being poured, it will be a challenge to find the right number of people with the right skills to start working on the new generation of nuclear power stations.

Over the last decade there has been a growth in the number of people working under contract rather than in permanent roles. Because of the ageing workforce many engineers have found it a great solution to start working under contract to add to their early retirement industry pension. Because of the scarcity of safety engineers and project managers it is possible to pick up work at £70+ which is certainly nice work if you can get it. The permanent position will never pay as much as the equivalent contract role, but the long term security and benefits package can never be matched by what is available on contract.

In these difficult times of recession and job security issues it is good to be part of an industry which has 100 years to run on the decommissioning side and 20-30 years on new build, with opportunities globally. There are new degrees and apprenticeships coming up to speed which will over the next 5-10 years feed in some new talent and in reality the skills needed in nuclear are used in other safety critical industries such as oil & gas, rail and aerospace. What is needed for these people is an entry scheme to allow them to learn the language and context of the nuclear industry and fill the gap of the 10 year+ experienced engineers we need.

It is a very exciting time to be involved in nuclear and it is our job to communicate this fact to the public, whose perception is being manipulated by events in Japan, to politicians who need to minimise red tape to get station building under way, and to engineers who will need to play their part in building the next generation of nuclear power stations.

Contributor:   John Sadler

John Sadler is a Business Development Manager with 8 years experience in the UK nuclear industry in civil and defence work. He is also a qualified Engineer, Project Manager and ISO9001 Quality Manager.

John has eight years experience working in recruitment for the UK Nuclear industry, providing specialist engineering resources to Magnox Electric, British Energy and British Nuclear Group (BNFL).

John is also the author of the Nulcear Matters blog, focusing on the nuclear industry particularly in the UK.

You Should Check Out:

Nuclear in 2020 - The Past, Present and Four Views Of The Future

Nuclear By Numbers - Facts & Figures Behind The Energy Phenomenon