Nicholas Peter Baldwin

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

FIMechE FIET (born 17 December 1952) is a British businessman, and the Chairman of the

Office for Nuclear Regulation The Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) is the regulator for the nuclear industry in the United Kingdom.< ...

, and a former Chief Executive of Powergen (E.ON UK since July 2004)

Early life

He was born in

Gosport Gosport ( ) is a town and non-metropolitan borough on the south coast of Hampshire, South East England. At the 2011 Census, its population was 82,662. Gosport is situated on a peninsula on the western side of Portsmouth Harbour, opposite ...

. He gained a BSc in Mechanical Engineering from City University (now

City, University of London City, University of London, is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, and a member institution of the federal University of London. It was founded in 1894 as the Northampton Institute, and became a university when The City Univ ...

), studying from 1971 to 1975. He later gained an MSc in Economics from

Birkbeck College , mottoeng = Advice comes over nightTranslation used by Birkbeck. , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £4.3 m (2014) , budget = £109 ...

Career

Powergen

He joined Powergen in 1989. From 2001 to 2002 he was Chief Executive of Powergen. Powergen was sold to E.ON of Germany for £9.6bn, completed in January 2002. The UK business of

National Power National power is defined as the sum of all resources available to a nation in the pursuit of national objectives. Assessing the national power of political entities was already a matter of relevance during the classical antiquity, the middle ages ...

was bought by

RWE RWE AG is a German multinational energy company headquartered in Essen. It generates and trades electricity in Asia-Pacific, Europe and the United States. The company is Europe's most climate threatening Company, the world's number two in offs ...

for £3.1bn in 2000.

Nuclear Decommissioning Authority

He was Interim Chairman from 2007-08 of the

Nuclear Decommissioning Authority The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) is a non-departmental public body of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, formed by the Energy Act 2004. It evolved from the Coal and Nuclear Liabilities Unit of the Department ...

. He worked there from 2004 to 2011.

Office for Nuclear Regulation

He became Chairman of the

Office for Nuclear Regulation The Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) is the regulator for the nuclear industry in the United Kingdom.< ...

in 2011. The ONR became an independent public organisation in April 2014. Baldwin was appointed

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(CBE) in the

2017 Birthday Honours The 2017 Queen's Birthday Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded as p ...

for services to nuclear safety and security and to the charitable sector. He was replaced in the role by Mark McAllister on the 1 April 2019.

Personal life

He married Adrienne Plunkett in March 2002 in

Evesham Evesham () is a market town and parish in the Wychavon district of Worcestershire, in the West Midlands region of England. It is located roughly equidistant between Worcester, Cheltenham and Stratford-upon-Avon. It lies within the Vale of Ev ...

. They have a son and daughter. He lives in

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Englan ...

. In September 2000 he was hit by

lightning Lightning is a naturally occurring electrostatic discharge during which two electrically charged regions, both in the atmosphere or with one on the ground, temporarily neutralize themselves, causing the instantaneous release of an average ...

, and suffered serious burns and head injuries, whilst sheltering under a tree at

Bryce Canyon National Park Bryce Canyon National Park () is an American national park located in southwestern Utah. The major feature of the park is Bryce Canyon, which despite its name, is not a canyon, but a collection of giant natural amphitheaters along the eastern ...

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its ...

, when on a

horse-riding Equestrianism (from Latin , , , 'horseman', 'horse'), commonly known as horse riding ( Commonwealth English) or horseback riding (American English), includes the disciplines of riding, driving, and vaulting. This broad description includes t ...

holiday; he was taken to hospital in

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...

, where he was in intensive care for three days. A lightning bolt can carry up to one million volts in electricity. He was with his wife and two children at the time, and has no memory of the incident, and for two days after that.Lightning
/ref>

References

External links

ONR
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baldwin, Nick 1952 births Alumni of Birkbeck, University of London Alumni of City, University of London British chief executives in the energy industry Businesspeople in nuclear power E.ON Fellows of the Institution of Engineering and Technology Fellows of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers Injuries from lightning strikes Nuclear energy in the United Kingdom People from Gosport Business people from Worcester, England Living people Commanders of the Order of the British Empire