UK nuclear plans risk delay by engineer shortage, inspectors warn

By IRNA,

London : The British government's plans to build a new generation of nuclear power stations risk delays due to a shortage of skilled engineers, inspectors have warned.

The chief inspector at the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII), Mike Weightman, refers to delays in receiving documentation from various parties and the difficulties of talking to overseas regulators and receiving final reactor designs.

In a letter to the Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, Weightman warns that no decision can be made on reactor designs because of a shortage of skilled engineers, the Guardian newspaper reported Monday.

Details of his letter comes after the government made changes earlier this month to its new point-based immigration system by adding specialist foreign workers such as reactor physicists and nuclear design engineers to the list.

It is estimated that some 40,000 people are employed in the country's nuclear power industry, but Business Secretary John Hutton has said he hoped future expansion would turn it into a 100,000-strong industry.

The NII is beginning the third stage of the generic design assessment (GDA) of various reactors put forward by companies such as Areva of France, needed to kick-start plans for a new generation of atomic power to make up for Britain's growing energy gap.

Weightman, who also cites the risk of rising costs, said that there had been difficulties in all areas but that the the main concern we have is the continuing lack of an adequate build-up of resources." "While we remain determined to complete GDA process as close to the original programme as possible, there is a risk of this not being achieved. Therefore we cannot commit to a firm completion date," he was quoted saying.

The Guardian said that there was a similar letter to the department from Joe McHugh, head of radioactive substances regulation at the Environment Agency, referring to other potential delays caused by the Health and Safety Executive.

Critics have repeatedly voiced concerns that costs can rise rapidly if skill shortages arise. An Areva project to construct the first new European reactor for 30 years, in Finland, has already seen major time and cost overruns.