Examination of Witnesses (Questions 80-84)
SIR ANTHONY
CLEAVER AND
DR IAN
ROXBURGH
28 MARCH 2006
Q80 Mr Binley: Do you really think
that will be done that quickly?
Dr Roxburgh: I do not see why
not. The local community are very keen to host it. I would like
to think that they will reflect that in their planning committee.
Q81 Mr Binley: How are you working
with the gentlemen sitting behind you on this particular exercise?
One assumes there is some mutual interest there.
Dr Roxburgh: Very much so and,
as I say, there is a hub that will be based up in the north-west
of Scotland of the Nuclear Skills Academy.
Q82 Chairman: Can I be clear about
what the difference is between the Institute and the Academy?
They are both near West Cumbria.
Dr Roxburgh: The Institute is
very much the upper echelons of university research, Masters degrees
and PhDs, that type of approach. The Nuclear Skills Academy is
more the craft skills, NVQs. I should say that we are also talking
to a number of business schools with a view to enhancing generally
what is called project management and cost control and scheduling
expertise amongst graduate engineers.
Q83 Chairman: It is true that the
clean-up programme you are engaged on will depend very heavily
on United States engineers and expertise as well to supplement
the British skills base, such as it is?
Sir Anthony Cleaver: I think it
will depend on the very best skills that we can find anywhere
in the world. Obviously there is a number of companies in the
United States that have expertise in this area and have been successful
on a number of their sites. There is obviously expertise in France
in particular, and they have already shown interest. Yesterday
I had four delegates, if that is the right word, from the Japanese
Government that came to see us interested in whether there were
opportunities for Japan. I hope that we will attract to the competition
the very best skills that are available around the world. We are
delighted to see that the UK Atomic Energy Authority has already
entered into a partnership and that is a partnership that brings
together both skills from outside the sector, those in the UK
and specific sectoral skills from the United States. It seems
to me that is what we really need to apply to get the objective
that we are all after.
Q84 Chairman: There is one last question
from me, unless my colleagues have any points they want to raise.
You have already obviously taken over BNFL's sites and the assets
and liabilities that went with them but there is a delay in taking
over the UKAEA's sites. Why is that?
Sir Anthony Cleaver: It is simply
a question of the sheer amount of work that was needed in terms
of getting all the legal documents assembled and signed, great
piles of contracts, in order to ensure that all the liabilities
and so on passed correctly. In the case of UKAEA, both they and
we are NDPBs—that is what brings us here today—and
both are directly owned and funded by Government and therefore
there was not quite the same urgency as there was in the case
of BNFL where we are dealing with at least a semi-commercial organisation
to make that transfer. It is planned for April next year and that
will be in time for the authority then to be able to put in place
the appropriate licensed companies. The requirement is ultimately
that there be an organisation that can compete for sites on the
basis on which we choose to compete.
Chairman: Thank you. I think that completes
our questioning, gentlemen. I am most grateful to you for your
time.
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