Sunday 25 May 2014

Earlier this week, the UK’s National Nuclear Laboratory (NNL) was pleased to host – with the support of the Department of Energy & Climate Change (DECC), – a major national conference entitled “Innovation in Resilience”, focused on improving resilience and preparedness for the UK civil nuclear industry.

The conference was attended by over 130 people from a range of organisations, including DECC, Cabinet Office, Sellafield Ltd, Health and Safety Laboratory, University of Liverpool, Nuvia, QinetiQ, Thales, North West Ambulance Service, ESRI and RiskAware.

Following the events at Fukushima in Japan last year, governments, regulators and operators have further stepped up their review of resilience arrangements in the civil nuclear sector. Some areas for potential improvements have been identified, and one area of focus is how technology and innovation can play a key part in enhancing resilience and emergency response. This conference brought together – for the first time – a specially invited group including Government, nuclear facility operators and technology providers to provide insight into the challenges faced by the UK nuclear industry and to identify potential ways to further enhance resilience and emergency planning arrangements.

The conference received support from Minister of State for Energy, Charles Hendry, who said:

“We have been absolutely clear that we must learn all possible lessons from events at Fukushima one year ago and have taken actions to do so. Safety is, and will continue to be, one of our top priorities. We commissioned the Chief Nuclear Inspector to report on lessons learned. His report makes clear that the UK has a robust and effective nuclear safety regime and that nuclear power can go on powering homes and businesses across the UK, as well as supporting jobs.

We must, however, continue to improve where we can, not just with operating power stations and new sites but by dealing with our nuclear legacy in a robust and effective manner too. As such I would like to express my support for the conference titled ‘Innovation in Resilience’ organised by the National Nuclear Laboratory for the UK Civil Nuclear industry. In particular I am interested in how innovative technologies can further strengthen our resilience in the civil nuclear sector.

I hope that the delegates, speaker and exhibitors use the conference to identify new opportunities where innovation and technology can boost the resilience of their sites and bolster their recovery arrangements.”