Decommissioning

In just five years, the Advanced Gas Reactor (AGR) fleet moves from Electricity Generation into the defueling phase and then into decommissioning. That will call for an immense skills drive into site restoration and clean-up. So what exactly is being done to meet the challenge?

By Jack Craze

The UK’s civil nuclear industry provides employment for 44,000 people.

Of these, 24,000 are employed by nuclear operators, with the supply chain accounting for the remaining 20,000.

Of those working directly for operating companies, around 50% are involved in decommissioning, which is by far the largest of the three main nuclear sectors.

Although it is essentially a deconstruction process, the main skills required for decommissioning are construction and engineering skills.

At present, the nuclear workforce has the expertise and experience required to meet the challenges of decommissioning.

As Clive Smith, Skills Director for Nuclear at Cogent Sector Skills Council, told Nuclear Energy Insider:

“Many of the sites have been in decommissioning for a long period, so their workforce is trained and experienced in the tasks necessary to decommission and restore [those] sites.”

But new challenges and demands will require a deep and diverse skill pool.

As Smith points out: “the decommissioning process is, by its nature, an ever-changing picture, so new skills are always needed.”

The most recent Labour Market Intelligence[1] of the nuclear industry echoes this view, pointing to future skills gaps if no recruitment action is taken.

Specifically, there will be an “expansion into decommissioning” from 2015, which is predicted to be a watershed year for skills across the whole of the nuclear industry.

From 2015, as the current Advanced Gas Reactor (AGR) fleet moves from Electricity Generation into the defueling phase and then into decommissioning, the demand for skills in site restoration and clean-up will increase significantly.

“As the nuclear plants come offline and we see a bulk in decommissioning, the industry needs to be tooled up and ready to go”, said Smith.

Workforce skills reorientation

From 2015, different numbers of skilled personnel will be required in different areas of the decommissioning sector.

Crucially, there will also be a greater demand for highly skilled employees who are able to balance risk and deliver innovative decommissioning solutions. 

According to Jean Llewellyn, Chief Executive of the National Skills Academy for Nuclear, the main aim now is to enable the reorientation of skills and the cross-sector migration of employees to ensure that a sustainable skills base is established.

As Ms Llewellyn remarked:  “the skills required for decommissioning are being met by existing resources.

“The emphasis is on re-skilling the current workforce and reapplying existing skills to new environments, as well as bringing new blood into the industry.”

Employees coming from other nuclear operations will be well placed to work in decommissioning, but will need to learn how to handle waste and contaminated materials.

To provide such sector-specific knowledge, the National Skills Academy for Nuclear is offering an NVQ Level 2 and 3 in Nuclear Decommissioning, and a Foundation Degree in Decommissioning, to people already working within the industry.

A Nuclear Skills Passport has also been developed to help employees move between different operations and sectors.

But as the decommissioning and new build programmes move forward simultaneously, there will be internal competition for construction skills and expertise.

This will result in a growing need for new engineering talent across all of the nuclear sectors.  

Another area of concern is the age-profile of the nuclear workforce; a workforce which is older and retires earlier than the UK workforce in general.

With many people coming into the industry early, up to 70% of current employees are set to retire by 2025. This will leave a gaping hole which urgently needs to be filled. 

Recruitment drive

To ensure these issues are resolved, Cogent, the National Skills Academy for Nuclear and the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) have kick-started a nuclear recruitment drive.

Needing to draw in 1,000 new recruits a year, these industry partners have launched a range of training schemes and awards for new apprentices and graduates.

Once such award is the Nuclear Bursary aimed at “quality individuals on programmes of study relevant to the decommissioning sub-sector”.

The Community Apprenticeship Programme, meanwhile, offers wage subsidies to nuclear suppliers to help them bring young apprentices into their businesses.

And with the green light given to new build, the industry is also attracting experienced professionals from other power sectors. Oil and gas engineers, for example, are starting to move across into nuclear. While the new build programme is the main draw, with future career paths opening up in what was once perceived to be a declining industry, decommissioning is also attracting interest: 

“The size of the decommissioning task is enormous,” says Jean Llewellyn.

“But people don’t seem daunted by it. In fact they seem to relish the challenge.

“Applying your skills to, say, the clean-up operation at Sellafield, holds all kinds of professional and technical challenges and rewards.”

Nuclear awareness

The main knowledge gap for these new workers is “nuclear awareness”, which as Llewellyn explains, is “the basic understanding of safety; the right behaviours and the right attitudes to bring to the job. Training in nuclear safety and awareness is absolutely critical.

“And it’s this that we are working to provide”.

Offering new employment possibilities and cross-sector skills development, the nuclear industry is now more cohesive and more attractive than ever before.

As Llewellyn concludes: “The new build agenda has opened up long-term career opportunities, while the climate change debate has helped to shift public perception.

“Nuclear is now seen as an expanding and vibrant sector that is crucial to our low-carbon future.”