Emmanuel Macron has made it one of his priorities: to relaunch the nuclear industry in France. But for that, the sector needs to replenish its workforce. About 100,000 people should be recruited in the decade, according to a new report from the Gifen union (Grouping of French nuclear energy manufacturers) presented on April 21.
Gifen submitted a detailed note to the Minister for Energy Transition Agnès Pannier-Runacher and to the Minister of Industry Roland Lescure, after having studied the needs of 20 business segments and their 84 key professions. Among them, the professions of electrician, engineer, instrument adjuster, welder… Civil engineering is particularly in demand, with a 220% increase in recruitment over the next decade, as is boilermaking (140%).
“One of the most important industrial programs”
The report, called “Match”, announces “one of the most important industrial programs for our country since the 1990s” underlines Gifen. The sector currently has 220,000 jobs, including the “core” trades of operators and their first suppliers, but also second-tier suppliers and support functions (HR, management, sales).
Hiring will take place for these two categories. Thus, “60,000 full-time equivalent recruitments” will take place in the core businesses, of which “half to respond to the renewal of retirements or to other economic sectors”, specifies Gifen. “The bulk of the effort on this growth in employment” will focus in particular on suppliers, and this while “they do not always benefit from the same attractiveness as the large groups”, underlined Olivier Bard, general delegate In order to specify these needs, the university of nuclear professions will submit its detailed action plan in terms of training and skills to the ministers at the beginning of June.
These new staff are supposed to support the recovery effort. “We are going to recruit at all levels, from professional baccalaureate to engineers,” promised the Ministry of Energy Transition. Between the maintenance of the existing nuclear fleet, the construction of new EPRs, uranium activities or even waste management, the sector estimates that the volume of work will increase by 25% over the next decade.
In 2022, nuclear provided 60% of electricity in France. The government is working on the development of 14 additional EPRs by 2050, while no reactor has been built since 2002. To justify this recovery plan, the executive highlights the climate emergency and the need to stop relying on fossil fuels. He also evokes the context of the war in Ukraine, which undermines the German energy model based on cheap gas imports.
