Careers

Tom Arnold

I knew at university that I wanted to become a chartered engineer, so I was very attracted by the idea of a graduate programme that would give me the training and assistance to gain my IMechE chartership. BNS Nuclear Services has the skills and facilities to take a project right through from initial requirements to design, manufacturing, commissioning and lifetime support. So the programme here gave me the ideal opportunity to explore a number of different roles and projects before deciding which direction to take.

So far, I’ve researched the potential consequences of a crane dropping a fuel flask into a cooling pond at Barnwood Nuclear Power Station; spent six months at the Hinkley Point B power station, reviewing mechanical safety systems on their fuelling machine; developed interactive training modules for use by British Energy; and worked on a 3D real-life process simulation of Dungeness nuclear power station on my own. This last project involved me attending a training course just so I could learn how to programme the software. I soon discovered that I respond well to a bit of pressure!

This was my first proper job – I hadn’t worked in an engineering environment before – so was quite surprised by how quickly you cover new ground and gain responsibility. There are a number of areas to cover in your first two years – from the business side of estimating and tendering to the different elements of design, commissioning and installation. The way this works is that you get together with your mentor and manager, and identify a project that will enable you to build your experience in a specific skill area. In the next five years, I’d like to go in the direction of hands-on project work – installation, commissioning and design. Getting stuck in and actually making things happen is what interests me most.

This sector of Babcock’s business alone has so many different aspects to it that there’s enough variety to suit many different career ambitions. The company is continually expanding its level of on-site support and engineering services. For the foreseeable future, the potential to work on a diverse range of challenging and important engineering projects is incredibly healthy.

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