“Skills, commitment and sense of purpose” was the phrase GBE-N chief executive Simon Roddy reached for as the organisation marked Armed Forces Day. In a government press release published on 26 June 2026, Great British Energy – Nuclear said it had received the Ministry of Defence’s Defence Employer Recognition Scheme Bronze Award, a public sign that it wants veterans, reservists and military families in the frame as Britain’s next nuclear projects move from policy talk into delivery. (gov.uk) For the North West, this is not a distant Whitehall note. GBE-N says its main headquarters is in Warrington, and its teams operate across England, Wales and Scotland, putting a sizeable part of Britain’s nuclear planning effort firmly outside London. (assets.publishing.service.gov.uk)

The Bronze award is the starting level within the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme, run by the Ministry of Defence for employers that back the Armed Forces community and align with the Armed Forces Covenant. According to official MOD guidance, Bronze holders must sign the covenant, show they understand what that support means, and make their workforce aware of it. (gov.uk) GBE-N’s own statement says that support covers serving personnel, reservists, veterans and military families. That matters because the organisation is not hiring for a side project; it is the government body set up to support the development and deployment of new nuclear technologies in the UK. (gov.uk)

That gives the award a harder edge than the usual bit of corporate self-congratulation. In April 2026, GBE-N signed its contract with Rolls-Royce SMR, formally starting technology design work for the UK’s first small modular reactors after Rolls-Royce SMR had been chosen as preferred partner in June 2025. (gov.uk) GBE-N says the first SMR project is expected to support around 3,000 jobs at peak construction, with thousands more across the UK supply chain. Because the programme is built around standardised, factory-built components, the work will not begin and end at one site, which is why manufacturing towns and engineering firms across the North will be keeping a close eye on what comes next. (gov.uk)

In that context, the push towards ex-forces recruitment is easy to understand. GBE-N says veterans and reservists often come with experience of tightly regulated workplaces, complex programmes, strict safety practice and leading teams under pressure, all of which fit the demands of nuclear work. (gov.uk) For readers outside the M25 bubble, that is the practical point of this announcement. GBE-N is signalling that military experience should count as a serious route into major civilian infrastructure work, not just as a line tucked away in a careers brochure. (gov.uk)

Roddy’s argument is not only about filling vacancies. In the 26 June statement, he said Britain’s future energy security will depend on people who can deliver complex programmes safely, and he argued that people who have already served the country should have the chance to keep doing so in new roles. (gov.uk) Rachel Welch, GBE-N’s chief people officer, made the same point from the workplace side, saying staff do their best work when they feel “valued, supported” and able to be themselves. It is a fair line, but it also sets a clear test for GBE-N: veteran hiring only means something if progression, flexibility and day-to-day backing are there once people actually come through the door. (gov.uk)

There is a clear regional angle here that should not be missed. GBE-N’s Warrington base places this policy in a town with long-standing engineering links, while the wider SMR programme already reaches into North Wales. GBE-N said in December 2025 that the UK’s first SMRs will be built at Wylfa on Anglesey, and its April 2026 contract announcement talked about thousands of supply-chain jobs on top of the headline construction figure. (assets.publishing.service.gov.uk) That is why this matters across the North and North Wales. If ministers are serious about selling nuclear as a jobs plan for the nations and regions, then veteran employment has to be more than a good line for Armed Forces Day; it needs to show up in apprenticeships, training routes and actual vacancies. (gov.uk)

Bronze, though, is only the first rung. The MOD describes it as the entry point in a three-level scheme, and GBE-N itself says the award is an important milestone rather than the finish line. (gov.uk) For a government body overseeing one of Britain’s biggest industrial bets, that is probably the right note to strike. The press release says the right things about veterans, reservists and military families. The next measure of success in Warrington will be much simpler: who gets hired, who stays, and whether this new nuclear push leaves lasting skilled work in the places being asked to back it. (gov.uk)