Leaving Euratom: what next?

In the wake of the government’s decision to withdraw from Euratom as part of Brexit, Dr Jenifer Baxter, head of energy and environment at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, outlined the implications for the nuclear industry and what needs to happen next.

The Euratom Treaty was established in 1957 and signed at the same time as the treaty of the European Economic Community that formed the institutions of the EU, explained Baxter. It:

• enables a single market of goods and services for nuclear new build, ongoing generation, research and development and decommissioning in Europe
• provides funding for the nuclear fusion research at Culham in Oxfordshire and access to the European R&D community
• provides the safeguards regime to ensure compliance with the non-proliferation treaty, including inspection, reporting and accounting
• manages and develops the nuclear co-operation agreements with non-EU countries on behalf of Euratom members.

Euratom is governed by directives that fall under the EU treaties and are overseen by the European Court of Justice. This seemed to be the reason the government wanted to leave, said Baxter.

The directives cover nuclear safety, radioactive waste and decommissioning, radiation protection, nuclear fusion, proper use of materials and safeguards, nuclear security and fuel supply security.

Baxter said leaving Euratom would mean the UK was no longer subject to its directives. It would no longer have a clear, internationally recognised safeguards regime – the state system of accountability and control. This monitors where all the nuclear material is in the UK and ensures it is not moved around to make nuclear weapons.

A new system to replace all this would have to be in place by March 2019, though it was more likely the UK would still be negotiating how long it had to transfer the new systems.

Developing this new safeguarding regime would be the duty of the Office for Nuclear Regulation. “We need to develop new nuclear co-operation agreements as a priority – some countries will not even pick up the telephone to talk to you unless you have an NCA.” The UK also had to decide how to manage continued fusion and other nuclear research.

She described the Nuclear Safeguards bill in the Queen’s Speech as “pretty vague”, explaining that its purpose was to give the ONR the powers and responsibility to establish a UK nuclear safeguards regime.

What does a new deal really mean?

Tom Greatrex, chief executive of the Nuclear Industries Association, welcomed the “impeccable timing” of Prospect’s call for a New Deal for Nuclear* and new document detailing the union’s demands.

He identifed three priorities facing the industry:

• withdrawal from Euratom
• nuclear’s place in the energy mix
• what the government’s industrial strategy might mean for a nuclear sector deal.

On Euratom he said that 21 months till 29 March 2019 “is not a long time to do a hell of a lot”. Unlike other sectors, there were no World Trade Organisation arrangements to fall back on. “We do not have in place a new regime or transitional arrangements. This affects absolutely everything.”

It was not just about Hinkley Point C, Horizon or the new build projects but also existing generation, decommissioning, medical isotopes and research at Culham.

“When it came to voting in the referendum hardly anyone thought about Euratom and the impact on lifesaving medical treatment, power supplies and jobs. So I think this is going to become quite a political issue over the next period.”

Drawing attention to the rhetoric about the need to mitigate the impact on jobs of leaving the EU, he said Euratom provided a perfect opportunity to turn that into a reality. It was uncharted territory and a negotiation where everyone had the same desire – the same standards that apply now.

“That gives scope for the government to take a more pragmatic approach than the dogma which seems to have driven the early part of the decision.”

Above all, a transitional period was necessary to understand safeguarding outside Euratom.

More widely Greatrex stressed the distinction between energy and electricity was diminishing rapidly, particularly as more electrified transport and different heating options came on stream.

These would increase electricity demand at a time when there was a focus on energy efficiency, better use of data on the demand side, management techniques, storage development technology and so on.

But the UK could not depend too much on importing fossil fuels from unreliable parts of the world.

To come anywhere close to meeting domestic and international emissions targets, a significant chunk of low carbon baseload power was essential, which nuclear could provide.

Finally, he said the new Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy had come about in recognition that leaving the EU would mean addressing how to have a thriving, growing economy.

Opportunities for young people were really important. The government’s industrial strategy had flagged up a nuclear sector deal, and the NIA, with Prospect and other unions, was working on a clear message about how best to achieve this.

A deal had to address how costs were constructed, with the biggest single factor the cost of capital, and what part the government could play in reducing headline costs.

It had to ensure a continued pipeline of skills for decommissioning and at the heart of it there had to be a “cordial, constructive relationship between people that work in the industry and those who run it”.

*Download Prospect’s A New Deal for Nuclear from https://library.prospect.org.uk/download/2017/00997

Do something different to attract women

Jack Gritt, president of Women in Nuclear UK, said that as a businesswoman there were several reasons why more women are needed in the nuclear industry – or any other, for that matter.

“One is they are a largely untapped resource. Secondly the research shows that diverse teams outperform non-diverse teams,” she said.

She identified current issues as:

• a growing nuclear industry in many areas
• shortfall in science, engineering, technology and maths (STEM) graduates and resources
• a lack of diversity in the workforce
• a perceived narrow resource pool of people with nuclear experience
• difficulties attracting people to the industry and retaining them.

So the focus had to be on three key areas: attraction, retention and dialogue.

To attract skills in a competitive, male-dominated envionment, the nuclear industry needed to think long-term.

This meant investing in school programmes to attract girls to engineering, investing in apprentice and graduate recruitment with a focus on women and looking for transferable skills, such as petrochemicals or pharmaceuticals.

Making the industry look fresh and relevant to new talent was also a challenge. Offering networks for women and other minority groups could help.

She appealed for new thinking and action on diversity and for everyone present to play their part by doing something different, such as visiting local schools or colleges to raise awareness of engineering or pressing for positive action in their own workplaces.

• Women in Nuclear’s industry charter: http://www.nuclearinst.com/WiN-Industry-Charter

Photo credit: Dr Jenifer Baxter, Dai Hudd, Tom Greatrex and Jack Gritt
Photographer: Stefano Cagnoni