In the early part of my working life I worked in several different industries outside of Electricity Generation. These were Confectionery, Cotton and Woollen Textiles, Boot and Shoe manufacturing, Heavy Transport maintenance, Warehousing, Building and Shopfitting. This gave me a good grounding in industrial practices, safety awareness and management procedures.

Since joining the Electricity Generating industry I have worked in four different power stations, but have spent most of my time at Trawsfynydd PS. During my time at Trawsfynydd my job changed to meet varying requirements. I learnt new skills, and ventured into areas where I could be of value to the station and its management team.

In the middle of the 1970s, when the Plant Modification Procedure was introduced on nuclear stations, I took over administration of the PMP scheme. This not only meant developing a close working relationship with our Operations, Maintenance, Engineering and Physics Departments, but also brought me into contact with the HQ safety assessment and coordination departments. I had to advise on the content of proposed modification submissions and developed a good understanding of the safety arguments. I continued to administer the Plant Modification Procedure until my appointment as Quality Assurance Engineer at the beginning of 1989.

Similarly when the Nuclear Plant Event Reporting (NUPER) scheme was introduced, I was given the task of setting up the site system, collecting Plant Event Reports, seeing that they were correctly dealt with, and making the reports to the NUPER database. I continued to look after NUPER until the appointment of the Operational Experience Feedback Engineers early in 1989.

Upon being appointed Quality Assurance Engineer I was required to form a team to set up and develop the station QA System in accordance with corporate guidance and international standards. Also to train and advise on quality matters, to coordinate the implementation of the QA system and to monitor its effectiveness. During the course of this I have become knowledgeable about Total Quality Management and have enrolled Trawsfynydd as a member of the Wales Quality Centre. I have also been closely involved in the Document and Plant and Building Fabric Enhancement programmes, representing the station at the quarterly Enhancement meetings. The Quality framework and procedures are in place, QA is now accepted and a quality / safety awareness has developed. A successful initiatives for which I was largely responsible, was the setting up of ten Quality Improvement Teams (QITs) for the promotion of quality in each of the "Management Target" areas. The teams were self motivating, problem solving and solution implementing teams.

When the Nuclear Electric company adopted the International Safety Rating System (ISRS) as a management system for safety, it was realised that there is a very close relationship between safety management systems and quality management systems. A small reorganisation took place, the Industrial Safety Engineer started working for me, and I became involved with the ISRS baseline audit, follow up audit, preparation for the audits, and development and promotion of the safety culture. As a result of a further reorganisation in 1992 the Operational Experience Feedback Engineer reported to me and I became responsible for that function also.

As a trained Lead Quality Auditor, and a person experienced in Nuclear Power Station quality systems, I was a member of the Plant Evaluation Team at Torness Power Station in October 1992.

When the closure of Trawsfynydd PS was announced a decommissioning structure was formed. Since February 1994 I have been the Management Services Engineer, responsible for Information Systems and Technology, QA and Operational Experience feedback, as well as disposals of surplus computing hardware. The computing part of this job has been the major work load. This means support and problem analysis / resolution for PCs, terminals, Local Area Network servers, workstations, plotters, PC software and End-User connectivity to local area and corporate networks. This is a single man post and a great deal of specialist knowledge has had to be gained by myself in this area in a very short time scale!

Made redundant in October 1995. Now self employed with James Enterprises, only taking work which interests me.

C J Mackie