nucleareurope discusses nuclear skills at SET Plan conference high level plenary session

On 14 November 2024, nucleareurope Communications and Advocacy Director Jessica Johnson participated in a high-level plenary session on inclusive and competitive skills for societal needs, organised in the framework of the Strategic Energy Technology (SET) Plan conference, taking place in Budapest on 14 and 15 November.

In her intervention, Jessica highlighted nuclear’s contribution to the EU economy, with over 1 million jobs currently sustained by the nuclear industry. She added that new build would further mobilise workers and boost European industrial competitiveness but stressed that skills would play an essential part in sustaining and expanding nuclear capacity in Europe.

Detailing skills need for the nuclear industry, Jessica noted that in the construction phase of nuclear reactors, up to 75% of workers involved in the construction of nuclear power plants are craft labour, while for lifetime operation of nuclear reactors, 45% of the total number of jobs are highly skilled.

“If we aim for the Nuclear Alliance objective of 150GW of nuclear installed capacity by 2050, we would need as much as 116GW of new build, this represents a very high level of jobs created for the construction and operation of those reactors” said Jessica, adding that such a scenario could sustain around 1.7 million jobs annually.

Concluding her intervention, Jessica stressed the fact that in many instances, the nuclear industry mobilises the same basic skills as other technologies, and called for a cross-sectoral approach to tackle skill shortages in these fields rather than working in silos.