Monday 22 July 2024

On Friday 12 July NNL was delighted to welcome Josh MacAlister OBE, the newly elected MP for Whitehaven and Workington, on his first official visit to our Workington site.

Josh was welcomed by Chief Nuclear Officer Des Wright and Bid Manager Simon Walker, who introduced him to NNL and the work we do at the cutting edge of the nuclear industry, highlighting some high-level ongoing projects and our future scope of work.

Josh was then shown around various project and rigs within the rig hall, which provides a dedicated facility for non-radioactive test rig activities.

He spoke to Capability Manager Mark Pearson about the work NNL does with robots as part of our National Nuclear User Facility hot robots area, including our robotic Sort and Segregation area and automated stores.

Next, he stopped by our sand bed filter area and spoke to Capability Manager Allyson Harris, who explained the work we do on filtration.

Senior Plant Inspector Paul Coates then spoke to Josh about the projects he and his team design and test on their own rig. He also explained the work we have been doing alongside Sellafield Ltd on inspection and decontamination involving robots.

Finally, Josh was introduced to Senior Technology Manager for Waste Management & Decommissioning Ed Butcher, along with CINDe PhD students Einan Solomon (University of Liverpool – Working on Hot Isostatic Pressing for Plutonium) and Nathalie Edwards (University of Manchester – Working on graphite core dismantling). They discussed the work NNL does alongside our university partners and the role apprentices and students play at NNL.

NNL welcomes the opportunity to engage with elected representatives at all of its sites, demonstrating the value it brings to local communities and its contribution to the nuclear industry, and looks forward to welcoming Josh back to Workington over the coming years.