Wednesday 19 February 2020

NNL is delighted to announce that the company is the 2020 Industrial Partner of Women in Nuclear (WiN) UK. The partnership will see the two organisations work closely together to promote gender diversity in the nuclear industry.

The 2018 Nuclear Sector Deal saw the nuclear industry commit (amongst other things) to directly addressing the current gender imbalance in the sector. At present, only 22% of the nuclear workforce is female with that number declining steeply at more senior levels. This issue was one reason behind the establishment of the UK chapter of WiN and the partnership with NNL will help to further their work.

WiN UK’s primary aims revolve around:

• Attraction – encouraging more women to choose a career in the nuclear sector
• Retention – supporting women already in the industry and helping their career progression
• Dialogue – at all levels about the benefits of the nuclear industry

These aims align closely with significant parts of NNL’s own strategy.

NNL Chief Executive, Paul Howarth said:

“NNL is fully committed to addressing gender balance issues in the nuclear industry so the partnership with WiN UK is a natural step and a good fit. Our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion committee has been up and running for a couple of years now and continues to have an increasing impact on the way we do business. NNL has been involved with WiN UK since its inception in 2014, with one of our employees being a founder member. We continue this support with Kirsty Hewitson – our VP for Innovation – now being a WiN UK Board Member.”

Recently appointed WiN UK President, Lynsey Valentine commented:

“We’re delighted to be in partnership with NNL. Our first industrial partnership last year with Jacobs really helped WiN UK to communicate our messages into industry. We’re looking to build on the successes of last year and continue to further WiN UK’s aims of encouraging girls and women into STEM subjects, supporting women working in the nuclear industry and continuing to find supporters to help us reach the goal of at least 40% of our industry being female by 2030. We’re looking forward to working closely with NNL over the next year and beyond.”

The partnership will see events, presentations and other forms of collaboration throughout the course of the year.