Europes aggressive blueprint to bolster its nuclear fleet for the energy transition is jeopardised by a lack of key components skilled workers.
Atomic power producers in France, the UK and Sweden are having trouble finding the hundreds of thousands of welders, engineers and planners needed for reactors theyre building now and ones theyre eyeing for mid-century.
Thats why representatives from lectricit de France SA EDF and three subcontractors gathered recently in a classroom at the Lycee Polyvalent de lEdit in Roussillon, a small town near the Saint-Alban nuclear plant in the Rhone valley. In a new recruiting initiative, they were pitching internships and job opportunities to about a dozen high-school pupils taking industrial maintenance courses.
Every company is hiring, notably in the nuclear industry, even more now with the new reactor projects, Morgane Robin, a recruiter for Dalkia, a maintenance unit of EDF, told the pupils. Were counting on you and on your teachers to raise your skills.
Nuclear energy is on the verge of a renaissance after 25 countries, including more than a dozen in Europe, set a goal to help triple global capacity. Yet their follow-through is hampered by a labour shortage so dire some French companies hire back retirees, the UK government advertises industry careers in London Underground stations, and a Swedish university offers free sandwiches to students attending information sessions.
