Memorandum 84
Submission from the Institution of Mechanical
Engineers (IMechE)
The Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE)
is a professional body representing 78,000 professional engineers,
working in all sectors of industry, including over 3,900 in nuclear
engineering. The following evidence is in submission to the Innovation,
Universities and Skills Select Committee nuclear engineering case
study. The evidence is structured in response to the case study's
terms of reference.
1. The UK's engineering capacity to build
a new generation of nuclear power stations and carry out planned
decommissioning of existing nuclear power stations
1.1 The UK's capacity to build a new generation
of nuclear power stations is uncertain. Over the past two decades
the capacity to fabricate the major components for a nuclear power
station (over 1,000MW) has decreased to the extent that they are
likely to have to be imported from overseas. Further there are
relatively few engineers with experience of pressurised water
reactors; at present the only pressurised water reactor in operation
in the UK is Sizewell B. In contrast the UK has significant experience
in decommissioning existing nuclear facilities, particularly those
used in early atomic energy development. British Nuclear Group
has also successfully undertaken the decommissioning of early
Magnox graphite reactors.
1.2 In general, much of the engineering
associated with a nuclear power plant is not nuclear engineering
in isolation; broader engineering skills issues have a significant
impact on the sector (including mechanical, civil, chemical etc.).
Any nuclear new build will require additional engineers, the scale
of which depends on the scale of the programme itself.[1]
More generally, recent reports[2]
indicate that the UK needs to double the number of science, technology,
engineering and mathematics graduates it produces if we want to
remain competitive, attract high technology inward investment
and match the growing countries of the world.
2. The value in training a new generation
of nuclear engineers versus bringing expertise in from elsewhere
2.1 Trained engineers (from a range of disciplines)
will be needed to ensure that decommissioning and new build programmes
can take place. Historically the UK's approach has been to produce
nuclear competent engineers rather than specifically nuclear engineers;
graduates and technicians from other engineering disciplines have
been trained in the nuclear sector. Although some universities
and employers are now investing in courses to provide education
and training in areas essential to new build and decommissioning,
the demise of development opportunities with BNFL, the Royal Navy
and UKAEA is a cause for major concern.
2.2 New build projects will compete globally
for available engineering resources. With 300 to 500 engineers
needed per operational nuclear site, plus the many more needed
during construction and in the supply chain (eg heavy manufacturing,
control and instrumentation engineering), it is unlikely that
new build projects can be supported by imported expertise alone.
In short, it is likely that the scale of the nuclear new-build
programme and, in consequence, decommissioning programmes, will
be shaped by the availability, or otherwise, of suitably skilled
engineers and tradesmen-the exacting standards of the nuclear
sector cannot be compromised.
3. The role that engineers will play in shaping
the UK's nuclear future and whether nuclear power proves to be
economical viable
3.1 Engineers will play an absolutely critical
role shaping the UK's energy future, of which nuclear is unlikely
to provide more than 10% of total energy needs. In terms of the
UK's nuclear future-assuming it proves economically viable-engineers
will be employed by plant owners to design, specify and manage
the construction phase, to operate the plant and ultimately to
decommission it, throughout the supply chain and within the various
regulatory and licensing authorities.
3.2 No one knows with absolute certainty
whether a UK new build programme will be economically viable.
Representatives of industry suggest nuclear power will be competitive
alongside gas and coal but no plants have yet been built without
subsidy in a truly competitive market. Further the cost of building,
operating, maintaining and decommissioning nuclear power is subject
to significant uncertainty. Engineers have a central role to play
in assessing and mitigating this uncertainty and will find innovative
and more cost effective solutions, but the fundamentals are unlikely
to change in the near to medium term.
4. The overlap between nuclear engineers in
the power sector and the military
4.1 Civil nuclear engineering is principally
focused on power production whereas military covers both nuclear
weapons and the nuclear propulsion plants in the UK submarine
fleet. In general military engineers working with nuclear weapons
stay within that area whereas engineers involved in nuclear power
production on submarines do often move to civil power production
at some time in their careers.
4.2 There are many parallels between civil
and military nuclear decommissioning and there is a strong argument
for combining both of these under the Nuclear Decommissioning
Agency (NDA).
March 2008
1 Estimates indicate that the nuclear industry will
need to attract between 5,000-9,000 new graduates over the next
decade just to meet the existing demands of operation, maintenance
and decommissioning. Back
2
Shaping up for the future: The business vision for education
and skills (CBI, April 2007) Back
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