Dr Ian Hudson, Head of Technology and Skills at the NDA

Last updated 22:15, Tuesday, 25 March 2008

AFTER what could only be described as a somewhat wet and grey winter the last couple of weeks brought us sharp sunshine and the early signs of Spring. I hope that it signals a bright start to what will turn out to be a very fruitful year for the future of West Cumbria and the many projects we in the NDA are involved with.

Ian Hudson

Turning ideas, theories and initiatives into practical reality takes time and that was certainly brought home to me earlier in the month at my son’s second birthday. I suddenly thought that he is part of the next generation that will reap the benefits of the work we are now involved with. He will see those initiatives develop, watch the economy diversify and strengthen, and – who knows? – may choose to forge his career in a modern West Cumbria.

Talking of next generations, I’ve just returned from the first assessment centres to select the first wave of newly-qualified graduates that will take part in the groundbreaking nuclear industry- wide training programme that gets underway this month. It was so refreshing to meet a group of young, determined people who wanted to join the industry and carve out a successful career. That’s what makes my job worthwhile: encouraging young people from school age through to university graduates to achieve all that they can.

Elsewhere in this edition is the latest news about The Nuclear Academy and I was personally delighted that a local firm, Thomas Armstrong, submitted the strongest tender to build this important new facility and did so in open competition. They perhaps can be seen as a role model of a local company with an entrepreneurial spirit that are now winning contracts to build world-class facilities. A success story if ever there was one.

And moving West Cumbria to be that world-class centre in the fields of energy technologies and environmental restoration will not be easy. We will challenge existing thinking and traditional methods. No doubt we, too, will be challenged and our approach robustly examined, but that’s just how it should be. Perhaps Hamlet got it right: “To be, or not to be: that is the question: Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles.”

The drive towards innovation and excellence isn’t easy but the prize is worthwhile – to create a local economy and a quality of life that we can all benefit from; and, whilst not Shakespeare, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going” springs to mind!