Nuclear apprentice to address national conference 04 December 2014

A young, Warrington-based nuclear apprentice has secured a speaking slot alongside senior industry leaders at this week's Nuclear Industry Association's annual conference.

Sellafield apprentice Martin Hall, 19, heard about the London conference and spoke to his company's deputy managing director, George Beveridge, suggesting that the conference might be missing a trick.

"One of the biggest challenges faced by the industry is engagement with young people," comments Hall.

"To me it seemed a wasted opportunity to have such a prestigious conference, where all the major players in the industry are represented, and not have someone offering a view from the the next generation of nuclear workers."

"One of the most important challenges faced in nuclear is ensuring that we have the right people coming through the pipeline to take the industry forward – and who better to offer an opinion than someone starting out," comments Beveridge.

"As an industry, we have a choice: we can hope that the people and skills will be available where and when we need them, or we can be proactive and grow our own talent, by investing in skills and training.

"At Sellafield, we are doing the latter and to have someone as young as Martin delivering such a passionate plea to industry leaders and government demonstrates why that's such a good thing to do."

Says Hall: "It's estimated there's a shortage of 300,000—500,000 engineers in the country at the moment, so events like #Nuclear give companies like Sellafield a vital platform to address how we should grow the capability of the nuclear industry's workforce.

"I want to share how I discovered apprenticeships and my thoughts on what needs to be done to dispel any myths and stereotypes about engineering – as well as encourage and educate more young people about the nuclear industry."

Brian Tinham

Related Companies
Sellafield Ltd

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