OLDBURY nuclear power station is to have a new skipper to help it steam safely into retirement.

Joe Lamonby will be preparing the Severnside atom plant for the final switch-off in less than four years time when it will be 40 years old.

Joe, 48, will take over as site manager at Oldbury in April, succeeding John Vlietstra who is moving on to an important new post with British Nuclear Group.

Currently site manager at Hinkley Point A power Station in Somerset, Joe has a wealth of experience in the nuclear industry and for a time lectured at Oldbury Training Centre. Joe said he was looking forward to the new challenge.

"My prime focus will be ensuring the station is able to continue generating through to 2008 and making sure it is fully prepared for the defuelling and decommissioning process," he said.

Hinkley Point A officially closed in 2000 and under Joe's management became the first nuclear power station in the UK to defuel and begin decommissioning at the same time.

It was also the country's first nuclear power station to be subject to the new Environmental Impact Assessment for Decommissioning Regulations. This process required a lengthy public consultation and Joe led a team that gave numerous presentations to the community to explain decommissioning.

"The formation of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority from April presents us with huge challenges as we become a management and operations contractor," said Joe. "They are challenges I am confident we can meet and I look forward to working with the site and the community to achieve them."

Joe joined the former Central Electricity Generating Board as a graduate trainee in 1977 and worked at various nuclear installations including Hartlepool, Sizewell B and Dungeness A. He also gained international experience during a secondment to Westinghouse in the United States where he was involved with Pressurised Water Reactor operations.