Reflections from the Nuclear Summit – by Trudy Harrison

A Gathering of Innovation and Ambition

The Clifford Chance Auditorium in the heart of London’s Canary Wharf was the destination for a First of a Kind event bringing together new nuclear technology, developers, financial and regulatory firms and big data.

• Big to small
• Few to many
• Public to private

One of the predictions as the hyper scaling accelerates and computational energy demands focus minds on clean 24/7 reliability that only nuclear energy has been proven to provide. Sovereignty and security are also front of mind and the winners will be regions and countries which provide an abundance of energy. We should be in pole position, with the right policies and an atomic heritage to be very proud of.

The Role of Westlakes Recruit in Nuclear

At Westlakes Recruit we specialise in nuclear specific skill sourcing and global recruitment. Founded by Claire Wilcock in West Cumbria, also the home of Calder Hall – the world’s first nuclear reactor to transmit to the National Grid. Westlakes Recruit now has offices in Cockermouth and Dubai serving all aspects of nuclear, from fuels to new build, operations, decommissioning, waste management and across defence.

Supporting Innovation at Every Stage

With new partners and exciting new collaborations accelerating their developments, we are supporting embryonic and established businesses from startups and scaleups to multi-nationals, placing Suitably Qualified Experienced Persons (SQEP) in line with regulatory requirements, ensuring the legacy of world class skills continues.

A Thank You to Industry Leaders

Huge thanks to Jacob Higley at Infosys and Eric Lewis of Foresight for bringing together such fantastic panellists including developers; Community Nuclear Power, Fylde Coast Energy and Severn Edge who updated on their progress. And new nuclear frontiers of Lucid Catalyst, Lloyd’s Register, UKNNL and the IMO and of course the aptly named nuclear technology titans – RRSMR, Holtec, Westinghouse, GE Hitachi and X-Energy.

Data and Energy – The Terawatts for Terabytes Session

The Terawatts for Terabytes session focussed on scaling the coming wave of data centres. Speakers from Virtus Data Centres, Turner Construction Company, Infrapartners, EDF and Amentum formed a high ambition coalition seeking to make projects fundable and faster through modularisation of both power plants and data centres.

The Urgency of Net Zero

As Lord Hunt, Minister for Nuclear said at the outset, the pace of net zero cannot slow down. Net zero needs nuclear and increasingly so does AI. The cost of failure will be higher than the cost of transition, we have some greatly awaited decisions from Government in June and we stand ready to support with the most important factor – the brightest and best people for this most exciting and transformational programme.

A New Dawn for UK Energy

The UK thrives when energy is abundant – historically that’s been because of coal extraction and oil and gas explorations, this new dawn of nuclear is the next big thing.

SHARE