|
Click on the cover to read the latest issue of PSB
Affiliate Links
|
Nuclear jobs on a scale of ‘three London Olympics’06 April 2010According to a report published last week by the Cogent Sector Skills Council, a significant nuclear new build programme would create jobs on a scale of three London Olympics. Thousands of training opportunities, new apprenticeships and new jobs will be needed in the construction, manufacturing, operation and maintenance of anticipated stations over the next 15 years, it claims, and up to 30,000 new jobs could be created in an ambitious building programme.
The report, Next Generation: Skills for New Build Nuclear, focuses on UK skills capacity and capability to deliver a new build programme up to 2025. It analyses the workforce required to build six twin nuclear reactor stations capable of generating 16GW of electricity (enough to supply 80% of current household electricity demands) by 2025.
The research shows that new build on this scale would require between 110,000 and 140,000 ‘person-years’ of skilled nuclear work, which it equates to the employment requirement of three 2012 Olympics. Cogent says this translates into a demand for around 1,000 new apprentices and 1,000 new STEM, (science, technology, engineering and maths) graduates, throughout the civil nuclear industry and supply chain, each year to 2025.
The new build nuclear programme demands critical skills in engineering, project management, high integrity welding and safety compliance, among the thousands of new opportunities, and one of the key recommendations of the Next Generation report is to establish a ‘skills risk’ register to monitor the supply of critical skills.
Higher level skills and research capacity are noted as essential elements of new build and the report recommends collaboration between industry and skills bodies, funding councils and the new Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre to focus MSc and PhD programmes.
Workforce mobility is a critical factor in complex and multi-site engineering and construction projects, so the report recommends that sector skills bodies and new build industries align skills accreditation schemes to ensure safe and efficient working on nuclear licensed sites. Cogent believes the Skills Academy’s Nuclear Skills Passport will be key to this activity, and is being supported by industry as ‘highly desirable’ in supply chain tenders.
Having identified the potential requirement for a substantial apprentice and graduate intake each year, Cogent’s report calls for industry to create and support apprenticeships and for government to prioritise funding for them. The report also recommends further joint industry and government support for nuclear foundation degrees.
The report is published at a time when nuclear power provides 70% of the UK’s low carbon electricity, a figure that will drop as older stations come off-line. The government has made clear its policy to include nuclear power as part of the trinity of low-carbon alongside renewable energy and clean fossil fuels and, according to the parliamentary under secretary of state for Energy and Climate Change, David Kidney, there’s no turning back.
He says the government is committed to supporting 1,000 apprenticeships a year in the nuclear energy sector if the demand from industry is there and invites comment from relevant organisations on how the government can work with them and other key players to develop the necessary skills. Meanwhile, Cogent’s science and research director, Brian Murphy says that if the collaboration of employers through the work of the Nuclear Energy Skills Alliance is a measure of the will for nuclear to succeed, then the future is optimistic, if challenging.
But how do key sectors of industry perceive the current rate of progress? Chris Ball, director of nuclear at consultancy, Atkins, is “hugely encouraged” to see how quickly government, skills bodies, academia and industry are starting to work together. “Government is clearly leading the way on policy and enabling actions to facilitate the new build programme,” he says. “Academia is benefiting from the labour market intelligence, co-ordination and facilitation provided by Cogent and the National Skills Academy for Nuclear, and industry is investing heavily in anticipation of the demand finally arriving.”
Les Hunt
Editor
Contact Details and Archive...Related Articles...Most Viewed Articles... |
|