Skills Academy welcomes report from Chief Nuclear Inspector on lessons from Fukushima
22/11/2011
The Chief Executive of the National Skills Academy for Nuclear, Jean Llewellyn OBE, welcomed the publication of the UK’s Chief Nuclear Inspector Dr Mike Weightman’s final report on the lessons to be learned from the Fukushima Dai-ichi incident.The final report highlights that there is no reason to restrict UK nuclear reactors or stop building new ones, as the Chief Inspector did not find any fundamental weaknesses in the current licensing regime or safety principles. The report also highlights that by learning lessons from events such as those which unfolded at the Fukushima Dai-ichi site, the nuclear industry in the UK can be made even safer.
The work of the National Skills Academy for Nuclear is referenced in the report, with a particular emphasis on the work the Skills Academy is undertaking to promote sustained high levels of safety culture and the promotion of ‘nuclear professionalism’.
Jean Llewellyn OBE commented: “The Skills Academy is the lead skills organisation for the nuclear industry. We work with employers via a non-competitive forum to enable us to develop solutions to skills issues on behalf of the nuclear industry, which meet the industry’s specific requirements and meet the quality standards the sector needs to maintain its high level of safety.
The Skills Academy will be launching the Certificate of Nuclear Professionalism next year, which is a higher educational programme supporting continued professional development of existing and new members of the UK nuclear industry workforce. A collaborative product developed with the Open University and to be delivered by members of the Skills Academy High Quality Provider Network, the certificate is set to become the benchmark for a nuclear professional.”
The report recognised the general shortage of nuclear skills in the UK and commended the efforts being made by a number of organisations to address this. The Chief Nuclear Inspector particularly highlighted the National Skills Academy for Nuclear’s Nuclear Skills Passport Scheme as a credible mechanism for the recording of the basic training of a large number of personnel that could be utilised in an event of the scale of Fukushima.
The National Skills Academy for Nuclear will continue to work closely with Industry, ONR, Government and Cogent Sector Skills Council to ensure a full understanding of the key skills priorities for the nuclear sector, and how the skills demand can be met.
www.nuclear.nsacademy.co.uk
