More than 250 people from across the nuclear industry came together recently for the inaugural Nuclear Skills conference. The sold-out event took place at the Bridgewater Hall and was delivered by the Nuclear Skills Strategy Group (NSSG).
The purpose of the day was to bring together nuclear employers, partners and Government on the skills agenda and, for the first time, present a holistic programme on both nuclear skills and skills for nuclear, demonstrating industry leadership and collaborative thinking to meet the current and emerging skills challenge. Chair of the NSSG Fiona Rayment opened the conference, setting the scene by stating that the aim was for the event to become unnecessary within the next five years.
Speakers included David Peattie, CEO of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, Dame Sue Ion, Dan Whittaker, NNL; and Jack Gritt, President of Women in Nuclear. Workshops aligned with programmes within the NSSG’s Strategic Skills Plan, which supports the People element of the Nuclear Sector Deal.
NNL’s Robert Alford and Samantha Ree ran a fringe event for the Young Generation Network (YGN), focused on inspiring young people to join the industry; by providing an insight into the breadth and depth of roles in the nuclear sector.
Robert said; "The fringe event went well and it was brilliant to see some great discussions forming. Our challenge now is to embrace, enthuse and enable those who are beyond the fringes of our industry, making opportunities available to them. Hopefully, we’ll all be inspired by this event to go away and do just that"
WiN UK led an interactive fringe event designed to help delegates identify what the next steps in their career might look like. Using coaching tools delegates were able to assess their current level of satisfaction with different aspects of their career and explore what career next steps might look like.
The event was followed by the annual UK Nuclear Skills Awards, which topped off a truly inspiring day.