NRI Annual Review 2024 - Flipbook - Page 33
By Chris Lambert,
Westminster Energy
Forum and NRI
Consultant
The following summary is a
re昀氀ective note based upon the
commentaries of representatives
of the organisations invited to
present the Frontiers programme,
rather than the speci昀椀c views of the
individuals presenting.
In 2023, NRI again hosted
two leading international
webinars as part of our
Frontiers initiative. The
aim was to examine
emerging global issues
in nuclear technology,
safety, regulation and
insurance, with a range
of eminent public and
private representatives
from the sector.
According to the UN, we need
relentless mitigation and
deployment of low-carbon
technologies and, clearly, nuclear
is one of those. Last year nuclear
was 昀椀nally included in the EU
taxonomy, and although the case
for new nuclear is accelerating, its
deployment is not yet happening
quicky enough. The reduction
in carbon emissions required
globally will necessitate a tripling
of existing nuclear capacity
by 2050. While governments
recognise the critical role of
nuclear, delivering national
nuclear ambitions within such
challenging timelines presents
a range of issues in many
jurisdictions.
During the Frontiers webinars,
we heard from Great British
Nuclear (GBN) about the
huge 24–48-gigawatt market
opportunity that the UK alone
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presents, and the key steps
required to make this a viable
prospect. These include a
competitive process to appraise
the optimum SMR and AMR
technologies, followed by a
technology selection process
which will include at least two
technologies supported by coinvestment towards building at
least two 昀氀eets of SMRs. Given
the scale of such ambition, skills
and supply chain challenges are
already at the heart of industry
discussions.
and decarbonisation strategies.
In some jurisdictions, this
can fuel the perception of an
unpredictable market, with jobs
that are often in fairly remote
locations and heavy competition
for skills. In the UK, 7,000 people
have been entering the sector
each year, up from about 3,000
before the current new build
programme started; but over the
next 20 years more than 20,000
new workers will be needed
annually to execute the UK’s
current plans.
The World Nuclear Association
(WNA) spoke about the WNA’s
new Workforce and Talent
Development Working Group.
Initial steps taken to address the
skills gap include: connecting the
different global stakeholders to
make sure successful strategies
are shared; ensuring that talent
attraction strategies appeal
to diverse workforces; and
devising strategies for retention,
development and the long-term
leadership and operation of
nuclear plants, with a focus on
knowledge succession.
As one might expect, given the
proposed scale and demands
of new nuclear globally,
international collaboration in the
regulatory and safety arena is
also ramping up. The Department
of Nuclear Safety and Security,
International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA) outlined some of
the key activities that the IAEA
have been undertaking to develop
and capture good practice in the
area of safety and regulation. She
also considered whether current
safety standards would apply or
not to new nuclear technologies.
The Nuclear Skills Strategy Group
in the UK reiterated these points,
pointing out that the workforce
demands of decommissioning
and waste disposal will also be
increasing as new build projects
start to deploy in earnest.
Globally, many sectors are
drawing on very similar skills
and capabilities but at a time
when, in long-established nuclear
power nations, the workforce is
also top-heavy and ageing.
These new technologies are
different not only in design,
where new concepts emerge
to increase passive safety, for
Recruitment and training
clearly takes signi昀椀cant time.
However, new build contracting
still has uncertain timelines,
and in many countries there is
ongoing ambiguity about the
amount of nuclear that will
be included in energy security
According to
the UN, we
need relentless
mitigation and
deployment
of low-carbon
technologies and,
clearly, nuclear is
one of those
