Skills Shortage Threatens UK Power

The building schedule for a new generation of UK power plants is under threat due to staff shortages, a leaked government report reveals.

A shortage of inspectors means the government cannot undertake the initial stages of designing new plants, according to papers leaked to UK newspaper the Financial Times.

The problems mean any nuclear programme would have to be put on hold until April 2008 – the planned start-date.

A spokesperson for the UK Association for Consultancy and Engineering (ACE) says the shortages are not unexpected.

"We would not be surprised to hear about staff shortages in this particular sector, given that there are 20,000 unfilled engineering and consultancy jobs across the UK at the moment, which equates to 13% of all positions currently being vacant," the spokesperson says.

Problems of disposing nuclear waste are also threatening delays according to the documents.

By staff writer