Industry update

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Friday, 25 January 2008

Congratulations, to all involved in gaining government approval of an employer led proposal for the creation of a National Skills Academy for Nuclear (NSAN). This is a encouraging message to the industry by boosting education, training and skills development in the nuclear sector. In parallel to this achievement for our future workforce, I was fortunate to have witnessed the safe and successful demolition of the Calder Hall cooling towers - quite a spectacle. On reflection this significant achievement is an important milestone, historically changing the West Cumbrian skyline and with the demolition of the towers at Chaplecross earlier in the year, marks a major step in decommissioning and site removal of legacy facilities. As this project demonstrates, overcoming unique complex challenges in order to deliver projects safely is central to the success of addressing the UK’s civil nuclear legacy. One such complex challenge continues to be of critical importance; the current procurement practices reducing the attractiveness of the NDA market and limiting the effectiveness of the supply chain to support decommissioning activities. Momentum of the NDA Supply Chain Improvement Project (SCIP) returns, with the task team focused on standardisation of generic contractor information confident positive steps have been taken. Each SLC has outlined the current system used and working together to understand scope for improvement.  Whilst suppliers may need to continue to submit information separately to each SLC, if that information was more standardised and submitted only once, this would be a significant efficiency saving. A formal report detailing progress on the NIA suggestions to improve the NDA supply chain paper submitted is expected at the end of the year. In order to better understand your needs and areas of interest a questionnaire will be distributed with this year’s annual reminder to refresh your NIA Trade Directory entry.  We urge you to take part to inform and influence our core activities.

 

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