Part 1 of 3 Parts
A major challenge for the nuclear industry is how to train and develop the workforce needed for the proposed tripling of nuclear energy capacity by 2050. This issue formed the basis of a discussion at a side event organized by South Africa and World Nuclear University at the International Atomic Energy Agency’s 69th General Conference in Vienna.
Loyiso Tyabashe is the CEO of South African Nuclear Energy Corporation (Necsa). He outlined the nuclear energy expansion plans in the country and said that its existing nuclear reactors mean that South Africa has developed lots of nuclear skills over the years. “But because there have been no new programs come through, most of our skills have been going to different parts of the world. We had about two hundred people who were helping with building their plants in Abu Dhabi. We had some people in the UK at the Hinkley project and the Sizewell project. So we have skills that are overflowing, and we’re hoping that as we start our programs, we’ll get those skills back and more other international skills coming back”.
Jan van der Lee is the Executive Director of France’s International Institute for Nuclear Energy (I2EN), which supports education and training in the development of nuclear energy worldwide. He explained that “we are in the business of human capacity building on an international level. So what we try to do is to develop the capacity, specifically for countries wanting to develop a nuclear program. And we do so by looking at the experience we have in France. So in terms of education and training at the academic level, but also a more professional level”.
He outlined the French plans for six new EPR2s with more likely to follow to expand new nuclear capacity. He said that it has been estimated that one hundred thousand skilled nuclear engineers will be needed in the coming ten years. Referring back to the 1970s and 1980s when France built fifty six reactors in twenty years, he mentioned the public confidence in big infrastructure projects and said it was a cause of national pride and a “vision shared by the whole country … perhaps that’s a takeaway for countries wanting to develop a new program today, is that having more than just an energy policy, but truly a vision for the country where people can be proud, is really extremely helpful in building confidence. And that led to education and training that led to schools and parents being proud, sending their kids to these kinds of engineering schools because they saw the future, this vision, long term.”
Martin Darelius is the Commercial Manager for New Nuclear and Acting Deputy Head for New Nuclear at Vattenfall in Sweden,. He said that the country was aiming for two and a half gigawatts of new capacity by 2035 and an additional ten gigawatts by 2045. He said that there had been enthusiasm and training for nuclear skills, but the 1980 decision to shut down nuclear power plants by 2010 was a “wet blanket for all education and nuclear training programs. So we need to really recruit people … the big challenge that we have is not nuclear science and nuclear physicists, it’s more on the construction workers. The big reason for that is that most of our knowledge and expertise went abroad, just like in South Africa. And the good thing is that they have been within different types of consultant firms, and they are now ready to come back and support us in our program. So that type of knowledge we have. A bigger thing we see as a challenge for our nuclear program right now is actually people, like we say, who do things with their hands. It’s the concrete workers, it’s the welders, it’s the electricians that are going to install all the equipment. That is not something that has been done on a big scale in Sweden for many years.”
Sama Bilbao y León is the Director General of World Nuclear Association and Session host agreed with that point. She said, “We are going to need lots of people, this is clear. But not all those people are going to need to be nuclear scientists or nuclear engineers or master’s or PhDs. Some, yes, but not that many. We are going to need all kinds of engineers, mechanical or electrical or civil, whatever … but we are also going to need the welders and the project managers … and what I would say is this is not a problem that is unique to nuclear energy, or even to energy.”
Please read Part 2 next