Two students use a block and tackle to lift a pipe over their heads.

The Big Rig’s back!

Think Up are thrilled to be heading back to Lakes College West Cumbria to deliver two more courses on the Nuclear Big Rig – our three-storey tall, immersive learning environment where aspiring engineers get to learn by doing.

Later this month we will be training a cohort of twenty or so Level 3 Apprentices. And in July we’ll be returning to run a two-day-long course for Nuclear Graduates in problem-solving, teamwork, leadership, and project management.

The Nuclear Big Rig is a steel-framed structure supporting an arrangement of pipes, vessels, pumps and valves. Using these we simulate the operation of a nuclear fuel reprocessing facility.

The Rig provides an immersive learning environment in which participants can have direct, hands-on experience of constructing and operating engineering plant.

Participants on our courses experience myriad challenges including leaks, and faulty valves, as well as the usual challenges of time pressure, communication, and team dynamics.

Since our first Nuclear Big Rig course in 2014, Think Up and Lakes College have been doing our bit to plug the UK skills shortage and inspire the next generation of nuclear engineers.