The
UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) and
East Midlands Combined County Authority (EMCCA) have announced a new 20-year collaboration that will focus on developing and delivering fusion related skills, including apprenticeships and wider vocational training programmes, to support the Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production (STEP) project — the UK’s first prototype fusion energy power plant. It will be built on the West Burton site in Nottinghamshire and not only provide crucial skills for STEP but also support a growing fusion industry across the region.
Furthermore, an ‘Economic and Wider Impact Assessment’ commissioned by local authorities has calculated that by the time it is fully operational, the West Burton site could accommodate 6,500 full-time jobs across STEP and the surrounding business park, equivalent to 12.5% of the current total workplace jobs in Bassetlaw. Around half of the forecast STEP Campus construction jobs are expected to require Level 3+ qualifications, and it is estimated that nearly three quarters of the on-site jobs on the STEP Campus are expected to require individuals with Level 4+ qualifications.
Nick Walkden, UKAEA’s head of fusion skills and programme director of Foster (Fusion, opportunities, skills, training, education and research), said: “I am delighted to announce EMCCA as our partner in this exciting new training collaboration, which will be delivered out of our planned West Burton Training Facility; and because people are the most important element of any programme or project, we have listened and learned from other major research, engineering, and infrastructure projects and believe that an early and focused attention to local skills and workforce growth will be a critical enabler to success.
“STEP is a programme with global impact; and, as with the successive Governments who have recognised fusion’s potential to have a significant and positive impact on the nation’s economy, we are equally committed to leaving a lasting local legacy. The training provided will equip people across the East Midlands, Lincolnshire, and South Yorkshire with the skills needed for the prototype fusion powerplant at West Burton, as well as long-term career opportunities in fusion.
“The STEP programme, led by UK Industrial Fusion Solutions (UKIFS), provides an enormous opportunity for regional growth and regeneration, with the potential to create thousands of jobs during construction and a pipeline of long-term highly skilled careers over decades of operations. Permissions and consents will be sought for construction to begin in the early 2030s, with the prototype powerplant targeting first operations in 2040.”