Simon Wittridge CEng FNucI RPP

Simon Wittridge CEng FNucI 

Simon Wittridge is Head of Project Management at Sellafield Ltd, a company, which employs over 10,000 people, spending over £2bn on operations, site remediation and project delivery.  Simon has an impressive list of accreditations reflecting his engineering and project management background developed in the nuclear industry.

He is a Chartered Engineer, Fellow of the Nuclear Institute, Member of the Association for Project Management and a Registered Project Professional.

 Simon has a long career in the nuclear industry including roles in Operations, Maintenance, Engineering, Project Management and Outage Management. His current role involves leading the 1,500 strong project community at Sellafield Ltd and overseeing the standards to which projects are delivered.

Simon’s work supports major multi-billion pound projects through government, including: sanctioning and setting up projects to ensure their success and managing them through delivery. Ensuring learning is taken back into new projects is also a key part of Simon’s work.  Working with and supporting the supply chain is also an important part of his role and Simon maintains strong links with local suppliers and small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs).

Route into nuclear
Simon achieved his BSc (Hons) Engineering (Mechanical and Nuclear) at Nottingham University.  The Nuclear Institute was, he says, the obvious route to Chartership for him, given his mixed discipline degree and working in nuclear sector.  He achieved his Chartership shortly after completing the Sellafield Ltd Graduate Scheme.

An additional string to his bow is his European Registration (Eur Ing) with the Fédération Européenne d'Associations Nationales d'Ingénieurs (FEANI). Simon has a strong commitment to seeing others achieve professional registration and to career development in general. “I became the local representative for the Nuclear Institute to help others achieve Membership and Chartership through what can on occasions, be a challenging process,” he says, and,  “I wanted to use my experience to support others in navigating this routé and achieving professional accreditation. This is important to myself and especially within the Sellafield project management community.” 

Simon later went on to achieve his Fellowship with the Nuclear Institute, after 15 years contribution to the industry. He is proud to also be a Membership Assessor for the Nuclear Institute and for the Engineering Council.  He is currently supporting accreditation of Sellafield's Design Apprentice scheme through the National Skills Academy for Nuclear (NSAN). He is a trained leadership coach and a strong advocate of training and development, supporting project managers through apprenticeships, degrees and professional registration.

Nuclear Professionalism 
For Simon nuclear professionalism needs to be at the centre of the industry. “As an individual it is my responsibility to promote and instil an enhanced sense of 'nuclear professionalism' as part of a wider approach to promoting high levels of nuclear safety culture in all those who work in the nuclear sector.” For Sellafield Ltd ‘Safety,’ which includes all aspects of EHS&Q is number one priority.  Nuclear safety and nuclear security is applied relentlessly through appreciation and understanding of the Nuclear Institute’s Nuclear Delta® which sets out the competences and behaviours required, and which differentiates a nuclear professional from professionals in other fields. Simon is one such stand out nuclear professional!