France’s nuclear watchdog has expressed concern over the loss of skills in the atomic energy industry after a near 20-year gap in building reactors.
In an interview with the Financial Times, André-Claude Lacoste, head of the French Nuclear Safety Authority, said:
“The relaunch of construction, and monitoring that relaunch, are not simple. We have to regain experience. We have not built reactors for more than 15 years.”
Lacoste said this issue was preoccupying all countries embarking on new nuclear construction.
“We discuss this often with our international colleagues,” Lacoste said. “They have the same problem as us. How can an authority which may have lost some of its habits monitor the construction of a reactor when the construction groups have also got out of the habit?”
The issue will be of particular concern to the UK industry, where the construction of 10 new stations has just been approved.
The UK has less nuclear capacity than France and suffers from a similar skills gap.
The last nuclear station to be built in the UK, at Sizewell in Suffolk, was completed in 1995.
A recent report by the Aldersgate Group pointed out that EDF's nuclear arm in Britain is expecting to see about a third of its staff retire in the next 10 years.
The UK government set up a nuclear skills academy to improve training two years ago.
The academy oversaw the opening of a training centre in the North West, and another centre will open in the South West next year.
British Gas owner confirms it is to buy stake in EDF's UK nuclear arm in a move the company says will bolster its green credentials 11 May 2009
Dungeness only proposed site to be rejected on environmental grounds 09 Nov 2009
Government has drawn up secret plans to tax electricity consumers to subsidise new nuclear reactors, the Guardian has learned 19 Oct 2009
Plans for more nuclear power stations increases the risk of terrorists seizing plutonium, report warns 17 Mar 2009
New facility expected to provide 100MW worth of thin film solar PV panels each year 29 Jul 2009
Resolution follows similar decision by Shell shareholders last month 09 Feb 2010
Measures needed to ensure cars do not charge from fossil fuel-powered grid 09 Feb 2010
Researchers use salicornia plants in carbon-negative process to grow biofuels 09 Feb 2010
More news
Friends of the Earth’s biofuels campaigner Kenneth Richter argues that biofuel targets are a distraction from tried-and-tested ways of reducing transport emissions 09 Feb 2010
Trewin Restorick wonders if the concept du jour of "nudging" behaviour change can help curb UK carbon emissions 08 Feb 2010
From feed in tariffs to vanishing top soil, we run down the top stories from the past week 08 Feb 2010 More in-depth
Post your comment
Send an email to the Business Green editor at feedback@businessgreen.com
