Proving a commitment to gender balance
As the world celebrates International Women's Day, we should take note of the contribution women make - and have always made - to the nuclear energy industry. But the Conservative Party-led British government needs to do a lot more to show today's young women that the sector can offer them a fulfilling and rewarding career, writes Lisa Nandy.
Women have been central to the nuclear story from the very beginning. It was that great scientist, Irène Joliot-Curie, who pioneered research into radioactivity, which laid the ground for the discovery of nuclear fission and earned her a Nobel Prize. She was the less famous daughter of perhaps the most well-known woman scientist of all, Marie Curie. And Marie's granddaughter is an esteemed nuclear physicist too. Three generations of women in nuclear in one family. What an inspiration. Yet in the time I've been Shadow Energy Secretary I've been struck by how male the energy world is.
The data shows women are underrepresented right across the energy industry, and in science and engineering departments in our universities too. The government says it wants more women in the sector. But the latest figures show it is the Department of Energy and Climate Change that is the Ministry with the biggest gender pay gap in Whitehall. So I want to celebrate what you've achieved, by contributing so much to this industry and by helping to inspire the next generation of young women.
It angers me that so little is being done to give today's girls the confidence that this is being addressed. It angers me too that the energy sector is devaluing the contribution of women because of the immensity of the challenges that we must address, which will require everyone's talent.
Britain's power supply is going into the red. Half of Britain's coal-fired stations will close this year. All but one of our country's nuclear stations are scheduled to shut by 2030. New figures show how for the first time National Grid expects Britain will be forced to rely on backup measures, and importing electricity from abroad, to keep the lights on and avoid power shortages this winter.
Nuclear stations can dependably produce consistent supplies of large quantities of power. Crucially they can do this without producing the air pollution that is so damaging to public health, or the gases that are causing climate change and contributing to flooding that is putting homes and businesses under water.
The scientist often described as the world's foremost authority on climate change, the former director of NASA, Professor James Hansen, has said: "Nuclear will make the difference between the world missing crucial climate targets or achieving them." So I believe it would be wrong to take nuclear - such a major carbon-free energy solution - off the table.
With our economy still over-dependent upon jobs in London and the South East of England, our world-class nuclear industries offer many communities across the rest of our country - like the one here in Warrington - good, well-paid work. A report by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation last week found that almost all of the towns and cities most struggling to thrive are in the North of England. Rochdale, Oldham and my town of Wigan. Whether at Rolls-Royce in Derby, or the Forgemasters steelworks in Sheffield, or at Sellafield in Cumbria, our nuclear industry offers skilled work to thousands of people in the North and right across the rest of the country.
The government says it has job creation in its sights, and they are right to. But too often they ignore the quality of the jobs - and it's a question about our future. 'Zero hours' contracts , low-paid, repetitive, low-skilled work. Or work that has quality, that helps to give meaning to our lives, and makes a contribution to our future. Purposeful jobs helping to address some of the greatest challenges that threaten our collective security. Skilled and well paid too. That's why I want Britain to be a country that doesn't just have nuclear, but that does nuclear too.
With our proud history of successful nuclear research, and gold standard regulatory system, Britain cannot be allowed to fall behind. Some of these new reactor designs even hold the potential to turn Britain's nuclear waste stockpile into fuel, to reduce the risks of proliferation, and to cut costs. Through innovation in our own universities and businesses, Britain can be at the fore of the next generation of nuclear research. That is why I will hold this government to account on their promise of £250 million ($354 million) of support for nuclear innovation.
Britain cannot afford for these funds to suddenly 'disappear' like the budgets did for other energy innovation projects. All options must be kept on the table.
And that's why I will demand of this government that they act to invest in better careers advice and education, and support work experience and apprenticeships in this area, to increase the numbers of women working in science and engineering. I want to congratulate the Prospect union on all the campaigning they have been doing on this. Because we cannot afford not to open up the energy world to talented young people from communities like Warrington, to continue to deprive ourselves of the talent we need in the face of the risks posed by climate change and energy insecurity. I want a girl in Warrington or Wigan today to grow up knowing that she will have the opportunity to build a sparkling scientific career.
It is only by investing in you, and the skills and expertise of workers throughout our industry, that we can beat the threat from climate change, safely close Britain's energy gap, and discover the next generation of Nobel Prize winners.
Lisa Nandy
This is an abridged version of Lisa Nandy's speech at the Women in Nuclear conference held on 4 March at the UK's National Nuclear Laboratory.
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Lisa Nandy is Shadow Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change in the British government. A Labour Party politician, she has been a Member of Parliament for Wigan since 2010.
