Nawah Energy Company (Nawah), the operator of the Barakah nuclear energy plant in the Al Dhafra region of Abu Dhabi, has become the first company in the world to develop English language standards for nuclear plant operations
These standards play a significant role in ensuring a high level of effective safety communication as part of a healthy nuclear safety culture.
With employees from more than 40 nationalities, Nawah is the most multinational and multicultural nuclear operating company in the world. Ensuring that the operators and maintenance personnel meet the highest standards of communication has a direct positive impact on the sustainable and reliable operation of the four Units at the Barakah plant.
Mark Reddemann, Nawah CEO, said, ?As we prepare to begin operating the first nuclear energy reactor in the Arab World, everyone at Nawah has been working to maintain high standards of effective safety communications. With the development of the first ?Nuclear English? standards, we can now ensure that our staffs have the language ability to effectively communicate, to support safe, reliable operations.?
?Our current focus is to finalise the assessment of the people who are essential to the fuel load and start-up of Barakah Unit 1, comprising operators, maintenance and security personnel, emergency response officers, as well as other groups. Our dedicated organisational effectiveness team is working around the clock to ensure that these people sit the exams and obtain the official certification needed to meet the Nuclear English standard,? added Reddemann.
The CEO also announced that about 90 per cent of the staffs have been evaluated and about 55 per cent have already achieved the required level.
As part of the implementation of the Nuclear English standards, and to facilitate continuous learning, Nawah has created the world?s first Nuclear English Development Center (NEDC) at the Barakah plant. The NEDC provides all employees with an immersive learning environment for maintaining high standards of language proficiency and promoting effective safety communication as a key component of a healthy nuclear safety culture.
?Effective safety communication at a nuclear plant is not about English and non-native speakers; it is about a group of people from around the world working together as a team, being able to adapt to changing situations, and using the same terminology to support the long-term safe and sustainable operation of the nuclear energy reactors they are working on,? he added.
