In the control room - the UK has vast experience in safe closure of nuclear sites
This year has had a busy start for us. As UKTI’s civil nuclear team, we're helping the UK nuclear sector do more business internationally and attract investment to the UK.
We've been busy raising international awareness of our experience and capability across the nuclear life cycle, developing market campaigns to target major overseas opportunities and developing relationships with vendors and project developers.
And it's all been building up to this week's Civil Nuclear Showcase. It's been months in the planning and we’ve been working with our partners at the Nuclear Industries Association to deliver a fantastic event for the hundreds of attendees this year.
They are coming from all over the globe to hear about the opportunities to invest in the UK’s thriving nuclear sector and to hear about the skills and experience the UK has built up over the years. For many off our international guests, UK talent is not a surprise.
The UK has always been at the forefront of nuclear power worldwide. Calder Hall, now located on the Sellafield site, was the world’s first commercial nuclear power station when it was switched on by the Queen in October 1956. The UK’s interest in nuclear power has only continued to grow since then, with the fleet of Magnox reactors built in the 1950s and 60s followed by the advanced gas-cooled reactors (AGR).
As the UK was the first to switch to nuclear it means that the UK has also been one of the first to begin the decommissioning of an older reactor fleet. Since December 2015, when the last reactor at Wylfa was shut down, every Magnox station is now in decommissioning. The UK now has vast experience in defueling, reprocessing, waste management and countless other challenges that go with the safe closing down of a nuclear site.
We’ve been busy putting together a stellar cast of speakers. Energy Minister Andrea Leadsom, MP, will open the event and we have representatives from Hitachi, EDF, Westinghouse and others, all lined up to present on the main stage.
The Civil Nuclear Showcase presents an excellent opportunity to learn more about UK decommissioning expertise, with talks from the NDA, Magnox and Sellafield amongst others. Also, companies involved in the decommissioning process here in the UK will be present. These companies will be looking to further build partnerships with companies based both here and internationally to tackle decommissioning challenges faced worldwide.
The Civil Nuclear Showcase 2016 takes place from the 19th-21st January, with the 20th January having a decommissioning focus. If you are at the show don’t forget to tweet about the Showcase using the hash-tag #CNS16.