Reacting to the skills shortage

With decommissioning, waste storage and a massive clean-up bill on its plate, the UK nuclear industry has enough food for thought to keep a 747-load of highly trained minds busy for years to come.

That much is clear from the debut report of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), which laid bare the tough choices facing the industry, and the nation, over the coming decade.

The NDA makes clear that decisions taken now will affect generations to come, but one of the lesser-heralded sections of its massive draft strategy document raises the issue of whether the future industry will have the most important resource of all: skilled people.

According to the NDA, the UK’s nuclear industry could be facing a skills shortage within three to five years. Its workforce is ageing, creating ‘a long-term succession problem… which needs to be addressed now.’

As part of a raft of proposals for maintaining an effective skills base, the NDA has allocated £25m to develop a national nuclear skills academy and a nuclear institute, both based in West Cumbria.