REPLICATING REACTORS | NEW BUILD
Point C and Sizewell C in the UK. Depending on the exact skills required, we are supporting the replication aims of the project in part by transferring expertise between the two developments throughout the design and build processes. In many cases, the people with their direct experience and skillsets will transition from Hinkley Point C to Sizewell C, offering all the benefits that entails. Given the obvious benefits, why then is building
nuclear power plants around the world not just a case of ‘copy and paste’? Why are we not simply rolling nuclear reactors off the factory assembly line like the Ford Model T and accelerating the production of clean energy from nuclear? They are almost all different because the regulatory
requirements are different, and the favoured technologies diverge. The soil these plants are built on varies, their climates diverse, preferred site locations alter and their legacy hardware different. This all means that whilst we can bring our experience to projects worldwide, adaptation is always required. That is why the replication of Hinkley Point C and Sizewell C is such an excellent proposition for the UK – the overarching conditions for the two sites remain brilliantly similar.
Building the skills base for now and the future What the replication of Hinkley Point C and Sizewell C will also offer the UK are the skills needed to realise the benefits of nuclear energy into the future. With the European decline of nuclear energy in the later stages of the 20th Century the industry stopped attracting new talent and training the highly-skilled individuals that this means of energy production requires. The result today is a global shortage of talent in nuclear and a race now underway to solve it.
Nations around the world looking to grasp the benefits
of nuclear energy will require fresh approaches and partnerships to rebuild the skills base. Universities, colleges and research institutions will need to work in tandem with the nuclear industry to enhance the talent pool and increase the pipeline of qualified individuals entering the sector. For Hinkley Point C and Sizewell C, the idea will be to utilise the skills that have been brought together to further Britain’s nuclear energy ambitions at large. The UK is likely to be ahead of the international curve on nuclear talent
now which will provide the country with a real advantage going forwards. That talent pool is going to become invaluable as
the next wave of nuclear technology steps into its own commercial age. Further down the track will be nuclear fusion. Science that is in its relative infancy but that offers the world near infinite clean energy. But before electricity produced from nuclear fusion is coursing through the grid, Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) are likely to play an important role. SMRs are being explored around the world as potential solutions for increasing the amount nuclear contributes to the current energy mix. There are more than 70 versions of SMR technology being developed across the globe, nearly every country wants one, and for good reason. SMRs should be less complex to design and build than, say, large nuclear power plants, meaning they are faster from conception to coming online. As the name suggests, being ‘modular’ in design should also mean that they are more accessible and that could mean countries that have found larger plants unaffordable for their needs are able to adopt this form of clean energy production. Beyond skills and talent, what Hinkley Point C, Sizewell C and the UK’s wider commitments to its nuclear energy industry will mean is further investment and innovation in waste management and decommissioning. The energy produced from nuclear power plants today is increasingly cleaner and treatment processes have advanced dramatically since the first commercial plants became active. It can be said today that all of the waste is manageable, and we have the technology in place to safely treat waste to a greater extent than ever before. That will be an important part of the UK’s nuclear journey, historically a sticking point for opponents of an enlarged nuclear power industry. Replicating Hinkley Point C in Sizewell C through design,
expertise and much more, will undoubtedly present highly valuable cost and time savings for the projects themselves. But equally, this approach will help the UK solidify its position as a global leader in nuclear energy. With emergent technologies racing to come online, taking us closer to net zero by 2050, this replication represents a blueprint for innovation in both organisation and technology that should help the UK realise its vision for nuclear power. ■
www.neimagazine.com | March 2023 | 27
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