nucleareurope participates in panel dedicated to workforce and skills
On 21 March 2024, nucleareurope Director General Yves Desbazeille participated in an event entitled ‘Skills for the Nuclear Sector in Europe – Towards a Large-scale and Regional Partnership?’.
During his intervention, Yves provided an overview of the results stemming from the ENEN2Plus project, in particular the work conducted under Task 1.1. He noted that target of having 150GW of installed nuclear capacity in the EU by 2050 will translate into strong demand for a highly qualified workforce. In this respect a survey was conducted on human resource needs in the nuclear energy sector up to 2035. According to the results, estimates suggest that between 148,000 and 167,000 people will need to be recruited by 2035 (EU+UK), with 50,000 to 60,000 direct jobs.
In terms of recommendations for external stakeholders, Yves highlighted the following:
- Government policies and plans play a vital role in providing a clear and stable framework for the nuclear sector. Clear, long-term commitments will help strategic workforce decisions.
- Promotion of National Nuclear Workforce Assessments (NWA) emerge as a crucial tool to comprehensively understand current and future human resource demands.
- E&T providers are invited to introduce multidisciplinary curricula to better fit with the evolving needs of the industry
When it comes to industry he noted
- The need to systematically provide inputs to update national National Workforce Assessments
- Ensure greater harmonisation of vocational education and training at international level in order to adapt to changes in the labour market
- Preserve and disseminate knowledge within the industry to ensure the transfer of critical expertise and best practices.