Event Report: YGN Annual Day Seminar & Dinner
This year’s YGN Annual Day Seminar and Dinner took place in the Royal Armouries Museum, Leeds on Thursday 9th November.
The YGN would once again like to thank the sponsors of the event, without whom it would not be possible to put on this event:
Plantinum: Nuvia
Champagne: Abbott Risk Consulting
Silver: Ansaldo Nuclear, Areva, Atkins, Horizon Nuclear Power and Kier.
The seminar was opened by YGN Chair Anthony McGrath, who was closely followed by Chris Moore, an Independent Business Consultant, who gave the opening remarks. With the theme of the day seminar being ‘The UK’s Role in a Global Nuclear Market’ and with Chris having extensive international experience, he provided a thought provoking view. The global nuclear marketplace isn’t just a market of import and exports, all countries have different capabilities that we can learn and benefit from; but more important than all that, we need to work together so that we, as a global nuclear industry, so that we can play our part in combatting climate change.
Xavier Poteau of Sellafield Ltd followed up Chris exploring an area where the UK has world leading capabilities within the waste management and decommissioning sector, focusing specially on robotics and their use in accelerating high-hazard decommissioning at the Sellafield site.
To address the challenges that Chris and Xavier discussed, we need the right people, which is where Martin McManus of Cogent stepped in to present on the work of the Nuclear Skills Strategy Group, the skills challenges we are facing and how we are going about tackling them.
After lunch, the opportunity to network and support the nucleargraduates charitable SMEs, Anthony McGrath and Tom Eastup, Chair and Vice Chair of the YGN, shared how the YGN are stepping up to help tackle the skills challenges being faced and took the opportunity to launch YGN Strategy 2020. Tom took us on a journey of discovery, sharing the story of who we are as a network, how we’ve developed over the years, before sharing the YGNs new vision, mission and objectives, and what this means for the network. In short, it means more development opportunities, more outreach activities, more engagement and more added value to our sector, delivered by more volunteers powered by their pride and passion for our industry.
Sarah Cole, a Naval Architect, shared with us the vitally important role of nuclear within the defence sector and the long-term nature of their programmes. She also remarked on the importance of continuity of programme in maintaining our capability and our skills base.
Johnny Stephenson of the Nuclear AMRC followed up from Sarah showcasing areas where the UK isn’t just maintaining capability, but also developing it with international collaboration. He shared examples where advanced nuclear manufacturing techniques is helping to drive costs and lead times down and how the NAMRC is supporting the supply chain and getting them ‘nuclear ready’.
The capabilities and supply chain readiness Jonny discussed is critical for our future major nuclear programmes. One of these programmes is on Fusion, which is where Richard Kembleton of UKAEA stepped in. Richard showed how human development is linked energy usage, so low carbon power sources are vital to our future. He also showed how through R&D, the costs of fusion are becoming more economically viable, and will one day be comparable to fission and wind. He highlighted the golden opportunity we now have to capitialise on the fusion opportunity and that we need to really focus on turning this R&D opportunity into an industry scale solution.
YGN Chair Anthony McGrath then wrapped up the YGN Annual Day Seminar, summarising the challenges and the fantastic opportunities discussed throughout the day, before reflecting on the opening remarks from Chris Moore. It’s not just a global nuclear marketplace, it’s a global nuclear industry where we can learn from each other and help tackle the huge issue that is climate change, whilst providing reliable, secure, low carbon energy.
Following the day seminar, guests arrived back at the Royal Armouries Museum for a champagne/drinks reception [apologies to ARC and our guests - there was a mix up on our end with the drinks order, which resulted in a drinks reception rather than a champagne reception] and a sneak peak at the theme for the night, as we were entertained by two fighters in suits of armour, who battled it out in front of the large crowd.
After a brief fight, they called it a draw and guests were chaperoned to dinner by a number of Jesters. Following an opening speech by Anthony McGrath, it was over to Victoria Blake and Ryan Bellas who shared stories of the important outreach work undertaken through the “Reach for Excellence” & “Thomas Transition” projects, run by the University of Leeds.
After dinner, Michael Drury, Head of Existing Generation, Magnox Business and Small Modular Reactors at Nuvia, shared stories of his career and inspired the young generation before handing over to Tom Eastup to present the YGN Excellence Prize. It was another hot contest this year for the YGN Excellence Prize, which is awarded to an individual who is new to the nuclear industry (of less than 5 years’ experience), and who has gone above and beyond in the roles required of them. Tom was delighted to announce Bethany McKee of LLWR as the 2017 YGN Excellence Prize winner, closely followed by runners up James Craven of the Ministry of Defence, and Katie Fernyhough of Sellafield Ltd.
Congratulations to Bethany, James and Katie, and to everyone who was nominated for the award this year. We had a number of very high calibre entries this year, and is is reassuring to see the talent and commitment of those joining the nuclear industry - the future is in good hands!
The formal part of the evening was wrapped up with the charity raffle, which raised over £1500 for the “Reach for Excellence” & “Thomas Transition” charity projects. The YGN would like to thank all of those organisations who donated prizes for the raffle.
All that was left to do was experience the medieval entertainment, throw shapes on the dance floor and enjoy the rest of the night - we hope you had a great time and look forward to seeing you again next year!