Last updated 15:49, Friday, 27 June 2008

Dr Ian Hudson, Director of Engineering & Technology at the NDA

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SPRING and early summer is always seen as a time of change and that’s certainly the case within the nuclear industry and more generally in the West Cumbrian economy.

Last month it was announced that Dr Ian Roxburgh, the NDA’s chief executive, would be standing down at the end of July after we announce the preferred bidder to run the Sellafield site, which too will signal change for the area’s major employer.

I was particularly pleased to see Ian’s hard work for the West Cumbrian economy and community recognised by the editor’s comments in The Whitehaven News. I also want to publicly thank Ian for the fantastic support and encouragement he has given to me and colleagues to develop new facilities and infrastructure that will help West Cumbria become that world-class centre of Energy skills.

Whoever becomes the NDA’s new chief executive will come to West Cumbria during exciting times. Many of the projects and initiatives that we talked about over three years ago when the NDA was in its infancy are now coming to fruition.

Energus is now being built and the framework of the building is rising from the construction site at Lillyhall. Andrew King and his team are active in the local community making sure that their business plans meet the needs of local employers, schools and training providers. We hope, too, that Energus will become a quality community resource.

We eagerly await the launch of the Energy Coast initiative which brings together a host of projects to transform the area, Energus being just one of many them, and announcements are expected shortly about the new acute hospital and the National Nuclear Laboratory. All this has been achieved by the West Cumbrian community pulling together.

That community also has to think seriously about its role in potentially playing host to a nuclear waste repository, and put itself in a position to maximise the opportunities that that could bring.

And as for the future, our first cohort of nuclear graduates have found their feet and are well into the first of their six-month secondments in the industry. They are also deciding how they can put something back into the local community as we have allocated some of their time to work on community projects.

Looking back to my own time as a nuclear graduate in the nuclear industry, many of my colleagues from that time have found their way here to West Cumbria, in the industry, in local councils or support agencies. In my view, this emphasises the long-term nature of the changes facing this community.

So let’s get back to that change – new management for the Low Level Waste Repository and Sellafield; new people entering the industry; and new opportunities for the current and future generations. And with the Energy Coast clearly on the horizon, then perhaps the tide is turning towards that brighter future.

What we have achieved so far is due to West Cumbria working together and supporting each other – long may that continue!