The Group of French Nuclear Energy Manufacturers (GIFEN) estimates at 30,000 the number of recruitments necessary for the construction of the six EPRs announced by Emmanuel Macron on Thursday.
The announcement Thursday by Emmanuel Macron of the construction of six new EPR reactors – and the launch of a study for eight others – gave a smile to the nuclear industry. But it also poses a colossal challenge: that of finding the workforce to bring these projects to life. The President of the Republic himself underlined this during his speech from Belfort. “In many professions, from the most technological to the most industrial professions, we have needs for engineers, needs in the steel industry, boilermaking, and in many other sectors.“, he said.
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The Group of French Nuclear Energy Manufacturers (GIFEN) estimates that 30,000 the number of employees needed for the construction of the six EPRs announced. “20,000 for construction sites and 10,000 for operation and maintenance“says Cécile Arbouille, general delegate of the professional union. Corn “we have time to finish getting ready“, she tempers. Indeed, the construction of the first reactor will be launched in 2028, indicated Emmanuel Macron, for a hoped-for commissioning “by 2035“.
Need for “4000 engineers per year”
The needs are in particularconsiderableon the profession of engineer, pointed out at the beginning of the year the president of the Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) Bernard Doroszczuk. “To cope with new projects, dismantling operations and work on the current fleet, companies in the sector […] provide for the recruitment of around 4,000 engineers per year“, did he declare. The nuclear sector will also have to find technicians to ensure the operation of the new plants. “We will need people in particular in six professions, which have been experiencing a lack of attractiveness throughout the industry for a long time: boilermaker, mechanic on rotating machinery, welder, pipe fitter, inspector and industrial electrician“, enumerates Cécile Arbouille, of GIFEN.
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EDF has already announced that it will recruit nearly 3,300 people in the nuclear field this year, half engineers and half technicians. That is more than 20% of the energy giant’s recruitments planned for 2022 (15,500 in total). Automation engineers, instrument engineers, boilermakers and civil engineering experts (project managers and engineers) are mainly sought. “Recruitments are also planned in information systems (IS), especially in cybersecurity and for IS architect positions.“, we say at EDF.
Orano (ex-Areva), another major nuclear player, explains for its part that it recruits “each year 1,000 people on permanent contracts and 550 work-study students“, without specifying whether these figures would swell in the coming years. “Our recruitments are more specifically oriented towards the professions of production, maintenance, project management, studies/engineering and ITexplains the operator specializing in all stages of the fuel cycle (uranium extraction, enrichment, recycling, logistics, dismantling, etc.).
Return to favor of nuclear power among students
But we still have to succeed in attracting young people to the nuclear sector, which has been handicapped in recent years by “deindustrialization and the lack of attractiveness of this industry», Analyzes Cécile Arbouille. “We hope that the major program announced by Emmanuel Macron will revive the dynamic“, she waits. “We had trouble hiring because people were telling us: what is your future? And there we have a future and I think it will attract talent“, abounds Valérie Faudon, general delegate of the French Society of Nuclear Energy (SFEN), quoted by AFP. The sector, aided by the State, is in any case the package. A “university of nuclear professionswas set up in April 2021, with the support of the government, forrevitalize training systems in the nuclear sector“. GIFEN launched a program in July 2021, subsidized by the State, to identify and categorize the needs of the sector.
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In engineering schools, the atom did not wait for Emmanuel Macron’s announcements on Thursday to benefit from a comeback. For example, the INSTN has seen the number of students in its engineering training specializing in atomic engineering jump by 50% over the last two years, rising from 48 to 73 students at the start of the 2021 academic year. At the École des Mines de Saint-Etienne , “In recent years, there has been a renewed interest in the nuclear industry“. It was reflected in particular by the increase in the number of students in apprenticeship training in nuclear engineering – aftera dip visibly linked to the Fukushima nuclear accidentin 2011 – increased to 55 per year over the last four years compared to 40 during the previous four.
Pascal Yvon, part-time professor at CentraleSupélec, where he leads nuclear education, also observes that the atom “today has a much more positive connotationamong students. Its course is full every year. “It’s even becoming “trendy”, it’s no longer a shame to work in nuclear», says the CEA engineer, who anticipates «a call for air“After the speech of the President of the Republic on Thursday. Stating that nuclear power was a “sector of the future“, the Head of State called on the youth to “commit to it, because we must meet these industrial needs on our territory“, he insisted.
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