Memorandum 104
Submission from The Royal Society
KEY POINTS
- A wide range of nuclear skills and expertise,
and substantially increased numbers of individuals with these
skills, are required if future nuclear activity undertaken by
the UK (including decommissioning, expansion, etc) is to be successful.
- A lack of these skills may also mean that
the UK does not have the expertise needed to design new nuclear
facilities.
- A lack of indigenous nuclear technical
skills would diminish the UK's ability to be an intelligent customer
since economic, technical, and security judgements might be flawed.
- There is a growing recognition of the importance
of nuclear security. Maintaining the expertise to deliver nuclear
security should be included in assessments of the UK's requirement
for nuclear skills.
NUCLEAR ENGINEERING
CASE STUDY
1. In 2007, the Royal Society published
Strategy options for the UK's separated plutonium. One of the
recommendations of this policy report was that the Government
should ensure that its strategic thinking about UK energy needs
and the safe disposal of nuclear waste is informed by a review
of the staff and training needs in nuclear science and technology.
The Government needs to know what future options could be missed
through skills shortages and whether it would be desirable economically
to import these skills from overseas. The Society therefore welcomes
this review of the UK's engineering capacity to build a new generation
of nuclear power stations and carry out planned decommissioning
of existing nuclear power stations.
2. If a new nuclear power station is built
in the UK, much of the technology will have to be imported as
the UK no longer has the capacity to deliver it. The UK may also
have to import much of the expertise to deliver and install it
as the number of nuclear engineers in the UK has been in decline
for many years. The recently launched National Skills Academy
may go some way to address this, but a new nuclear plant will
put additional demands on the need for nuclear engineers who are
already required for the decommissioning and disposal of radioactive
waste.
3. Design work has now started on new Generation
IV reactors optimised to further minimise waste, improve safety
and proliferation resistance, and decrease the building and running
costs of nuclear energy systems. The Generation IV International
Forum (GIF) is currently considering six reactor types. GIF membership
comprises: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, EU via the European
Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM), France, Japan, Russia, South
Africa, South Korea, Switzerland, UK and USA. In October 2006,
the former Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) withdrew from
active membership of the GIF charter, although it still retains
"non active" status. This action reflected a refocusing
of DTI's priorities following the Energy Review towards near term
objectives, and means that the new Department for Business, Enterprise
and Regulatory Reform (BERR) will no longer provide the annual
funding of up to £5 million for UK researchers to participate
in GIF. The European Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM) is an active
member of GIF, so UK researchers could participate through the
EU Framework Programme 7. This will require researchers to find
up to 50% of the required funding for the research either from
their own resources or by obtaining a customer that is willing
to provide these funds (RS 2007).
4. The change in the UK's GIF status and
the loss of direct involvement with these developing technologies
will affect the UK's capacity and willingness to implement Generation
IV reactors, as the necessary nuclear engineering skills would
have to be imported. A concern is therefore that a lack of indigenous
technical skills in the future will mean that the UK would not
be an intelligent consumer as economic, technical and security
judgements might be flawed. It would also make any assessment
whether Generation IV fast reactors should be used in future to
dispose of the UK's stockpile of separated plutonium much harder
to undertake. New nuclear build that redevelops the UK nuclear
power capacity and nuclear engineering skills base would increase
the possibility of Generation IV reactors being introduced in
the UK in the long term.
5. There is a growing recognition of the
importance of nuclear security. In December 2007, the Society
held a two day workshop that explored innovative ways to detect
the illicit trafficking of nuclear and other radiological materials.
It brought together 70 leading scientific and policy experts from
the UK, USA, Russia, Israel and several other European countries.
Workshop participants were concerned that there may not be sufficient
skills and expertise available to sustain nuclear and radiological
detection research and development activities in the future, and
so more people need to be trained in the area of nuclear security.
Some participants felt that a possible global revival in nuclear
power would help create new job opportunities and university places
for relevant nuclear scientists and engineers. Maintaining the
expertise to deliver nuclear security should be included in assessments
of the UK's requirement for nuclear skills.
REFERENCES
Royal Society (2007) Strategy options for the UK's
separated plutonium. Royal Society: London.
Royal Society (2008) Detecting nuclear and radiological
materials. Royal Society: London.
March 2008
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