02 | The Opportunity

Regional growth and UK prosperity

We know that decision-makers across the country – from local authorities to regional bodies and planners – are all considering their role in and options for the upcoming energy transition. This will involve looking at whether new technologies are ‘nice-to-haves’ or essential, and if they are going to be economically beneficial or a costly risk.

Our independent polling shows there is recognition of the fact that new nuclear helps to drive up the local economy and, importantly, provides high-skill jobs for local people.

This becomes even stronger in those locations we spoke to – Anglesey, Hartlepool and Bristol – which each have their own relationship to a nuclear site but are different in terms of size and context.

Regional economic benefits from nuclear are not just a short-term opportunity. They are something that would have a potentially transformative impact for a generation or more:

giving young people a high-quality, high-paid and high-skill route into work
encouraging a flourishing services sector
putting an area on the map as a place of enterprise and innovation

Do you agree that...

...the development of nuclear in your area could provide local people with training and work opportunities for a skilled profession?

Creating high-paid, high-skill jobs for regions

Nuclear jobs are not all specialist nuclear roles

The majority of jobs required to run a nuclear site, once built, do not require a technical background in scientific disciplines such as nuclear physics.

There are also many office-based roles associated with the construction of nuclear reactors, such as procurement and planning.

Jobs are for the long term and not just for the construction phase

The long lifespan of nuclear reactors – around 60 years for large-scale plants – means local employment over several generations.

Wider job skills, from safety and quality management to security and procurement, are all required to keep a nuclear plant running and will be needed for its lifetime.

Nuclear training and apprenticeships are transferrable

Many nuclear apprenticeships support people to go on to college and university, picking up transferrable skills suitable for other non-nuclear career paths such as cybersecurity, electrical engineering and chemistry.

These skills can be easily transferred outside the sector and are valuable to the wider UK science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) job market.

Nuclear impacts positively on the local economy

Business rates generated by nuclear plants provide a reliable boost to Local Authority income, which in turn goes towards supporting local services.

The operation of a nuclear plant also offers a new customer base for businesses local to a reactor – such as in hospitality and other service industries.

Local jobs and regional innovation

Dr Charlotte Baxter, Chief Technician

Nuclear Futures Institute (A role co-funded by NNL and Bangor University)

North Wales has long been a home of UK expertise and capabilities in nuclear technology. But with the pace of global research and development, these skills need to be continuously developed, or else they are lost.

Equally, on the Island of Anglesey, driving opportunities for local people is of great importance. So advanced nuclear research and innovation – which is (beginning to) thrive in the area – has the potential to unlock high-skill jobs and help the region prosper.

Someone who knows first-hand what this means is Dr Charlotte Baxter. Originally from North Wales, Charlotte is now working as a Chief Technician at Bangor University’s Nuclear Futures Institute (NFI). Her role, which is co-funded by NNL and Bangor University, involves running test rigs for advanced nuclear research and development.

Engaged in various pioneering research projects, Charlotte investigates material degradation in thermohydraulic and molten lead facilities to support the next wave of nuclear technologies. It is a function that would be set to expand with new nuclear development in Wales and around the UK.

Charlotte is already taking the lead on building a specialist team based in the region, and an NNL-sponsored degree apprenticeship programme is the next step in the laboratory’s collaboration with Bangor University. This presents exciting opportunities for harnessing Wales’s PhD students and postdoctoral graduates.

“It’s all the small things that make a difference – my commute is just 20 minutes now, so I’m home at a reasonable hour and able to do more as a family. I already know friends and neighbours living locally. And I’ve got a fantastic job being involved in the test rigs here and developing our understanding of how materials can operate safely within new advanced reactors. My background is in chemistry, but this is my first role in the nuclear sector. Like most people, I think, you don’t realise how much research and innovation actually goes on behind the scenes to develop new nuclear technologies successfully. Often, the instant thought when you talk about nuclear with those outside the immediate sector is Homer Simpson – you know, glow sticks and things! Even my mum and dad were a bit like, ‘whoa, nuclear – what are you going to be doing?’ So I find the key is just to explain it. It’s not like people’s misconceptions whatsoever! I’m really excited to see where the role takes me and the influence we can have on clean energy through advanced technologies. This is an area of work that can seriously contribute to our area, to Wales more broadly and to the rest of the UK.”

Professor Simon Middleburgh, Co-Director

Nuclear Futures Institute, Bangor University

Work at the Nuclear Futures Institute (NFI) demonstrates the significant role small modular reactors (SMRs) and advanced technologies could play in North Wales – putting it at the centre of scientific development and innovation for the UK.

As Co-Director at the NFI, Professor Simon Middleburgh is ambitious about what can be delivered.

“We are building something different and unique here for the region and Charlotte is going to be at the centre of it. Not many universities have the capability of operating big test rigs like these – doing the engineering scale work that we can – so we are very fortunate. What is particularly significant is the ability to support crossover and collaboration between industry and academia. We have fabulous facilities, like the National Nuclear User Facilities, where this sort of partnership can thrive and accelerate research and development within the UK sector. By having a Chief Technician like Charlotte in post to help grow local, highly specialist expertise, she is going to be engaging with students coming through Bangor University who will eventually be working – hopefully – on new nuclear sites for the region in the future.

Ultimately, if we can have a centre of nuclear expertise in Anglesey that continues to flourish then that is incredibly meaningful for the local community and will keep jobs and talent here. One thing that isn’t fully grasped beyond the nuclear sector is that nuclear power is not just about electricity – it has potential right across the energy system, from hydrogen to direct heat. There are very few countries in the world that have capabilities across the whole fuel cycle – from fuels to reactors to decommissioning and waste – so the UK has every chance to be a global leader in these advanced technologies. Advanced nuclear development could transform North Wales, as well as supporting the rest of the UK. We are seeing signs of another nuclear renaissance but it’s timely – if we don’t seize the opportunity with nuclear here and now, we risk losing those capabilities and skills.

This is the moment to be supporting new careers and pathways, not just for people like Charlotte but for children in local schools now who should have the right jobs available for them at home too.”