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The Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) is to take on as many as 150 extra engineers over the next two years.
The recruitment programme coincides with the ONR’s switch from being an agency of the Health and Safety Executive to becoming a statutory regulatory body in its own right. The move will free the watchdog from existing employment restrictions, allowing it to offer higher wages and better conditions to new staff, said Nick Baldwin, ONR chair. “We need the brightest and the best. And we need more flexibility in terms of wages and pensions,” he said.
The ONR acts as the independent regulator for the nuclear industry, holding to account those building, operating and decommissioning power stations. At present, the organisation employs 450 staff, many of whom are engineers, and that figure is expected to grow to around 600. The organisation has its headquarters in Bootle, Merseyside, with other offices in Cheltenham and London.
“This is an exciting time to be involved with the nuclear industry,” said Baldwin. “The generic design assessment for new reactors is progressing, while decommissioning at sites such as Dounreay and Sellafield remains a challenge. There is a lot of work to be done.”
Baldwin admitted that engineering skill shortages could hamper the ONR’s recruitment programme. So, for the first time, the ONR is to sponsor students at universities and will take on a clutch of graduate engineers. “There is a pool of suitable people out there,” he said. “The ONR is to start growing its own engineers, training them up to become nuclear inspectors. They will learn from the inside. The ONR needs the most capable people – the graduates of today are the leaders of tomorrow.”
The ONR completed its switch to being a statutory body in its own right on 1 April. Baldwin said the move would make it a more open organisation, with a more consistent approach. For example, details of all interventions at nuclear sites will be published on its website, where issues of national security allow.
Baldwin said there had been a history of unnecessary secrecy surrounding the nuclear sector, and that had to change. “We are there to hold the industry to account,” he said. “There needs to be greater transparency. The industry will have to get used to that.”