Nuclear jobs doubled as Amec profile increases

Dec 1 2009 by Peter McCusker, The Journal

THE nuclear division of engineering giant Amec is doubling its North East workforce as it looks to increase its profile in an energy sector poised for rapid growth.

Established in Wallsend in North Tyneside three years ago, the nuclear team in Amec’s Power & Process Europe division now employs 12 people and is in the process of moving to a new office in North Shields.

Within the next 12 months Amec, which has 300 staff in Darlington and 100 staff in Stockton, anticipates more than doubling the current workforce to 26.

Terry Inns, Amec’s operations manager for Reactor Services, consulting & engineering in the Power & Process Europe division, said: “We started as a small team but in the last three years we have grown. We have now outgrown our current premises in Wallsend and we are now set for a significant further expansion.”

Amec nuclear in the North East currently provides a variety of consultancy and engineering services to three British Energy-owned nuclear power plants; Torness in East Lothian, Hartlepool and Heysham, Lancashire.

It specialises in providing a diverse range of skills to British Energy including consultancy, technical engineering and safety engineering.

And Amec believes there will be further scope for growth in its nuclear division following this month’s Government announcement that there is to be a huge expansion of nuclear power.

Mr Inns added: “Our continued growth will place us in a good position to take advantage of the ongoing developments in the nuclear energy sector.”

The Government wants 10 new power stations to be built including one on Teesside and three in Cumbria. The first new plant is set to be operational by 2018 and nuclear electricity generation could amount to around 40% of new energy provision by 2025.

One plant is proposed for Hartlepool, where the existing nuclear facility is near the end of its life- span.

In Cumbria, plants would be sited at Sellafield, with another in nearby Braystones and the third at Kirksanton, near Millom in the south west of the county.