Sellafield: new state-of-the-art research facility |
WE ASKED Dr Paul Howarth, director of research at the Dalton Nuclear Institute (DNI), part of the University of Manchester, about the challenges facing the nuclear industry and its partners in UK HE.
The UK Government has put nuclear power at the heart of its new energy policy. How will the nuclear industry rise to the challenge?
In early 2008, HM Government reached its conclusion on the way forward for UK energy policy. Although the Government wishes not to place targets on the percentage of nuclear generation capacity, the commonly shared perspective was one of "replace nuclear with nuclear". This would equate to about 20% nuclear capacity or 10GWe. However following the announcement by the Government to welcome new nuclear, there has been very little backlash and with relentless price increases for gas and electricity, it is most likely the Government would like the nuclear contribution to be much greater.
The deployment of nuclear reactors is, however, not a short-term process. The first stations will not be online for another 10 years, allowing time for the regulators to give approval for various reactor systems, the public inquiry process and then construction. Currently there are three reactor systems that are being assessed by the UK regulatory authorities. These are very large plants producing between 1100 and 1600MWe and they are costly to build, at approximately £2bn each – though over their 60-year design life they can prove highly economic, approximately 3 to 4p/kWh.
A renaissance in nuclear energy has begun in countries such as the UK, Finland, France, South Africa, Canada and the US. Whilst this nuclear renaissance is regarded as excellent news for the nuclear industry it does not come without its challenges – one of the main ones being that of skills supply coupled with a supportive research and development base. The nuclear industry has suffered over the past few decades and been unable to attract a large, high-quality talent pool, which has resulted in what many refer to as a skills crisis.
Recently, however, conscientious young people have begun looking afresh at nuclear, attracted by the diverse career options and attractive salaries that the industry has to offer. Many of them want to make a significant difference to tackling climate change, encouraging sustainable development, and providing developing nations with access to a clean, green energy source.
The UK industry can also rise to the challenge of new nuclear build through an active supply chain, with a large fraction of the necessary components being made in the UK. This will require tooling up and investment in equipment and also trained engineers, but starting now provides an excellent opportunity.
If you were asked to write the UK's energy strategy for the next two decades, what would be its main elements? What balance would you strike between nuclear, renewables and fossil-fuel generation?
The challenge on meeting security of supply, increasing energy demands, reduction in CO2 emissions, and replacement of some of the UK’s ageing energy infrastructure, means we need every available energy technology. This challenge is also not about a quick fix but about putting the UK on a sustainable development path for the next 100 years. I think we need a balanced mix of fossil (with sequestration), nuclear and renewables, as well as a push for energy efficiency. Ruling out nuclear at this point in time would be wrong – indeed many countries see nuclear becoming a major energy source in the future.
One of the problems for the UK's nuclear industry is a lack of graduate scientists. What are UK HE and the Government doing to turn this round?
The need for a skilled workforce and for new research are, fortunately, now being met by an increasing willingness on the part of young people to enter the nuclear industry. In response to these pressures, a number of universities have retained or are developing nuclear capability, including Imperial College London, Leeds, Sheffield, Lancaster, UCLAN among others. Over the past few years (even while policy was against nuclear) the University of Manchester put the subject right at the centre of its strategic aims by establishing the DNI as the vehicle to drive forward its ambitions; namely to become a world-leading academic institution by 2015 and ranked within the top 25 universities worldwide.
Government, for its part, needs to provide new funding routes for nuclear energy – currently, nuclear R&D is not included in the Energy Technology Institute, Carbon Trust, Energy Research Partnership, and Technology Strategy Board programmes. Whilst future systems for new build are ready to go 'off the shelf', R&D is still required in a supportive sense, and it helps to train people as well.
How is DNI involved in training the UK’s nuclear scientists and technologists?
We facilitate the Nuclear Technology Education Consortium (NTEC), which is an MSc course in nuclear involving 11 HEIs. This is a flexible course allowing people to mix and match modules and can be completed as just CPD per module or at diploma level or as an MSc. Involving other HEIs helps to keep UK academia involved as part of an inclusive programme. Numbers have been increasing significantly on the NTEC course.
We also provide a Nuclear Engineering Doctorate programme at Manchester in partnership with Imperial College London and supported by four other universities (Bristol, Leeds, Sheffield and Strathclyde). This is an attractive option for individuals looking to become future nuclear leaders, as it provides them with a qualification that’s between an MBA and PhD; they also get to work in industry for a large fraction of the time.
We don't do a specific nuclear undergraduate degree as this is considered to be too specialised too early – what industry wants is young people graduating with good quality science and engineering degrees and then nuclear training on the job, and through postgraduate degrees and industry-led courses.
Within DNI's research portfolio, which areas are you particularly excited about at the moment? What breakthroughs might we look out for in the next few years?
A lot of exciting things are happening. We are currently developing the Centre for Nuclear Energy Technology (CNET), which is a Manchester-led initiative (involving other northwest academic institutions) to support new nuclear build. We are also developing capability to support Geological Disposal, which will be a significant programme in the coming years.
DNI has signed a £20m agreement with the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) to establish new capabilities in Radiation Science and Decommissioning Engineering, and to build a new research facility in West Cumbria near Sellafield. Manchester University's NDA agreement will open up academic access to the Central Laboratory at Sellafield, which is a state-of-the-art research facility operated by the newly formed National Nuclear Laboratory. |
