Nuclear Academy leads Skills Drive

Two world-class facilities, one focused on training, the other research-driven, are being established in the Northwest in response to the huge challenges and opportunities facing nuclear industry employers in the next decade and beyond, particularly in decommissioning.

West Cumbria will be home to both centres. They are expected to have an influential impact on the area's economy, which is heavily dependent on the defence and nuclear sectors. Investment in the two projects will total nearly £40 million.

The Nuclear Academy, which is currently under construction, will retrain the existing 19,500 employees in the region and offer new career pathways for many of the 10,000 recruits that the nuclear sector nationally will require over the next 10 years as it moves deeper into the clean-up stage.

The other facility, a £20 million cutting-edge laboratory, will provide academic expertise and state-of-the art equipment to drive forward research into radiation sciences and engineering decommissioning.

Housed in an iconic building due to open in September 2008, the industry-led Academy will be the Northwest delivery arm of the National Skills Academy for Nuclear (NSAN), whose Shadow Board has also agreed to locate the NSAN head office in West Cumbria.

UK Young Apprentice of the Year Matthew McCarry, broke the turf at the site of the new facility on the Lillyhall Industrial Estate, near Workington, at a launch event in March.
The £18 million centre will provide education, high quality vocational training and business support for large employers and SMEs in a unique simulated work environment.

It's envisaged that most of the 8,000 people currently employed at Sellafield and many of those in Tier 1 and 2 supply companies will need reskilling to meet the industry's future needs in areas such as decommissioning, energy production, potential new build and defence.

Employer Support

The Academy is a partnership between the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) and West Lakes Renaissance with a combined contribution of £6 million to the project, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), which is contributing £5 million and British Nuclear Group with £2 million of funding support.

Jean Llewellyn who has been seconded by the NWDA to steer the NSAN concept to fruition, is pleased with employer support for the Academy.

She recently received a donation of £20,000 from the Washington Group International on behalf of the NSAN towards a project office during the construction phase. "We are working to ensure that skills development and training is entirely employer-led and meets the needs of key sectors," she says.

The National Skills Academy network is a government initiative to improve productivity and tackle skill shortages in England across key industries.

In another recent development the NDA and the University of Manchester's Dalton Nuclear Institute have agreed to collaborate on setting up a new world-class nuclear research centre with each investing £10 million over seven years.

The facility, which will initially house around 60 staff and postgraduate students, will be built on the Westlakes Science and Technology Park, near Whitehaven.

Key personnel have been attracted to the region to drive the projects.
Morecambe-born Andrew King, currently Sales and Project Director with Flagship Training Ltd, is relocating to Cumbria from Southampton following his appointment as the Academy's first ever Chief Executive.

In another example of the 'brain drain' in reverse Professor Simon Pimblott has been appointed from the United States to head up the Dalton Nuclear Institute's research into radiation sciences.

For further information: www.thenuclearacademy.com