Edward W.’s Post

A quick reflection on the last couple of days at Hinkley Point C with an inspirational team of people from UKAEA STEP Programme, Bassetlaw and West Lindsey District Councils and Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire County Councils. We met on Thursday evening in Somerset and were hosted by EDF with a site tour on the Friday to experience the way HPC has landed in their community, expanded their workforce, created solutions that have worked and worked in effective partnerships to get to where they are today. It brought back lots of happy memories from my EDF days. Their story at HPC since 2011 is truly amazing and never fails to inspire me. Thank you to the team at Cannington Court for hosting us. Every single employee was friendly and helpful and the park and ride service was seamless. Our tour guides were great too. Special shout out to the guru Andrew Cockcroft for the Q&A before the tour and to Big Carl, one of Europe’s heaviest lifters (if you know, you know!). Finally thanks to my supportive colleagues in the UKAEA Team who work so very hard to make great things happen in our Fusion mission. We’ve all come away with so many ideas and it was great to see my colleagues building their excitement for the future of STEP at West Burton. I’m really determined that we can draw some synergies from this experience, and bring that force for good into our local communities through our combined forces.

The second event for me last week was the East Central England judging panel in the Primary Engineer If you were an engineer, what would you do? Leaders Award Competition hosted by University of Lincoln The panel was mix of returning and first time judges from our national partners Nippon Gases UK & Ireland and DXC Technology alongside regional funder Siemens Energy and University of Lincoln plus invited guests. A real bonus for the panel was having Nick James from Nippon Gases who had been interviewed by one of the schools in the region and a number of the entries cited him as their engineering inspiration! The engineers like Nick who visit schools and inspire pupils in secondary and primary school are fundamental to the competition. We firmly believe that introducing pupils to engineering professionals as early as possible in their education is the key to closing the skills gap and creating a more diverse engineering sector. A fantastic day was had and entries focused on many interesting subjects including food testing, transportation, allergy safety, vehicle safety and AI. We now look forward to the Award Ceremony and Exhibition on the 2nd July back at the University of Lincoln more details can be found through this link https://lnkd.in/ew6TRXf5 June Wass Nick James Nicole Fielding Alex Borland James Bright Rick Hackney BEng MSc CEng MIMechE Lexi Page Graves Kaye Robinson Edward W. Alex Nightingale

A team from UK Atomic Energy Authority has launched a new online tool to support the development of the STEP (Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production) vision for West Burton site, where the prototype fusion powerplant will be built to demonstrate net energy from fusion.   Residents and local businesses can see for the first time how UKAEA are approaching the layout of the site, which is underpinned by four key themes:   ·       the environment, innovation and climate change resilience ·       health and wellbeing ·       an inclusive economy ·       identity / distinctiveness, taking into consideration culture and heritage The four themes are supported by eight ‘spatial principles’ which is a planning term for how the site will develop, including sustainable transport, ecology & environment, connecting with communities and clean growth & innovation.   Dr James R Cowan, STEP Director Programme Development, said: “One of the most important parts of what STEP will do is to benefit the wider region, and to achieve that, we need to focus on developing the vision specifically for STEP at the West Burton site. “Launching our visual online tool, also accessible in other formats, provides the local community and other stakeholders with an opportunity to help inform and shape how the West Burton site should take shape. “STEP will only be a success with the continued support of the community that it will impact most, so please do provide us with your feedback. We want to hear from you!” The energy transition can make a real difference to individuals as well as the global climate challenge and STEP aims to do that at West Burton, creating thousands of jobs during the construction phase in addition to employment opportunities for generations to come.   Fusion energy is based on the same process that powers the Sun and stars and promises to be a safe, low carbon and sustainable part of the world’s future energy supply.   UKAEA is actively seeking views from residents and other stakeholders about how the vision for STEP at West Burton site is evolving. Visit https://lnkd.in/ervBgTgv, or request a brochure from WestBurtonVision@ukaea.uk.   Feedback on ‘Developing a vision for STEP at West Burton’ must be received by 31st July 2024. #STEPtoFusion l Midlands Engine l Nottinghamshire County Council l Lincolnshire County Council l Bassetlaw District Council l West Lindsey District Council

We have some new information to share about the site vision at West Burton. Please come along, find out more and tell us what you think. #nottinghamshire #lincolnshire #fusionenergy Nottinghamshire County Council Bassetlaw District Council West Lindsey District Council Lincolnshire County Council Midlands Engine

We are hiring! Looking for an early career materials graduate. If you know anyone that may fit the bill please point them to the link below: https://lnkd.in/eX3himpW