THE nuclear industry needs to break the stranglehold of “middle-aged white males”.

That’s the view of management consultant Al Mather, a former chief executive of the Centre for Leadership Performance in Cockermouth.

She argues that, as in nature, diversity is the key to success in business and the nuclear industry is nowhere near diverse enough.

Mrs Mather said: “If you happen to attend one of the many nuclear shindigs and conferences you will notice a common theme – male, white and middle aged – a singular form a sociocultural monopoly that has featured for many years. 

“Monopolies on the whole are viewed as unsustainable, risky and undesirable. “However, in our nuclear world we have all let this be the status quo for some considerable time.”

The Centre for Leadership Performance is a not-for-profit private limited company that works to develop Cumbria's leaders of tomorrow.

Mrs Mather ran it for two years before stepping down earlier this year.

She added: “Diversity delivers business results. “The fact is that companies that have both male and female board members perform better.

“To be fair, the nuclear industry has started to grapple with how to promote women. “But diversity is not merely about gender,” she said.

“Having a diverse team in terms of race and sexual orientation, as well as gender, enables and facilitates different perspectives to become part of the company narrative and in turn will lead to better, more rounded thinking, creativity and results. renaissance

“Ultimately, a diverse labour base will better enable UK plc to engage with, and play a leading role in the global nuclear renaissance.

“If the nuclear industry is serious about bridging the looming skills gap, developing a more dynamic and effective supply chain and engendering a stronger culture of innovation, then making a conscious decision to mix it up a little might be a good start.”

Around 25 per cent of the workforce at Sellafield is female, and the nuclear site says it is striving to get more women to work there.

Dr Donna Connor, technical programme manager at Sellafield and founder of the company’s Women’s Network, said: “Nuclear has an ageing workforce and we desperately need to get more young people to see it as a place where they can grow a career.

“Central to that is our ability to convince young women that it can provide them with the secure, diverse and fulfilling careers they deserve. “

At Sellafield Ltd our recent intake of apprentices was 25 per cent female. That’s an impressive start but there’s still a huge portion of the talent pool we aren’t getting to.”