The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority

 

Well-qualified, skilled staff are a fundamental requirement for the complexities of decommissioning, a challenge the NDA is addressing with a wide range of initiatives.

One issue for the nuclear industry, which appeared to have a limited future until recently, has been the diminishing skills base as long-serving employees began to retire and the supply chain looked elsewhere for work. Young people consequently tended to overlook careers in decommissioning while the challenge was compounded by a decline in the uptake of science, maths and engineering subjects.

The NDA, with a statutory obligation to develop and maintain skills while helping to tackle socio-economic decline in areas affected by decommissioning, has been working in partnership with other organisations to create the foundations for a world-class workforce. The Skills and Capability Strategy was launched by NDA Chairman Stephen Henwood two years ago.

The aim is to encourage apprentices, students, graduates and post-graduates into decommissioning, while supporting educational facilities with expertise and funding assistance. The NDA's partners include regional development agencies, local authorities, training bodies, universities, private-sector companies and government departments.

The NDA's Head of People Strategy Nigel Couzens added:

"We have aimed to fulfill our obligations under the Energy Act but at the same time, are making a positive contribution to developing skills on a wider basis and attracting people into the industry."

Much of the work of the last few years has been carried in partnership with the Site Licence Companies which operate the NDA's 19 sites, but the NDA and its partners, including site operators and training bodies, have now begun to broaden the scope to develop a more people-focused strategy. This looks in detail at the resource demands across the estate, the current skills base of the 18,000 staff, along with future skills and training requirements, and opportunities for greater collaboration.

Work to date has led to the detailed mapping of the existing workforce skills and job roles against planned demand over the next 30 years.

This has also been made available for use by the National Skills Academy for Nuclear, Cogent, the UK's industry skills body for chemicals, pharmaceuticals, nuclear, oil and gas, petroleum and polymer businesses, and is being used as a model by the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership to measure international resources that are available, a valuable tool as new nuclear developments gather pace across the world.

Another key development, led by the National Skills Academy on behalf of employers and supported by the NDA, has been the Nuclear Skills Passport which captures an individual's qualifications, training and skills in a format that is transferable across the nuclear sector with the potential to reduce recruitment and induction timeframes, while matching people more precisely to employment opportunities. 

The NDA People Strategy has been developed in partnership with the Site Licence Companies and will become fully integrated in our forthcoming Strategy II.

• More information on our people strategy