10.000 permanent job vacancies in the nuclear sector

The main companies in the sector, which employs some 220.000 people, are managing to fill their positions "because there is a renewed attractiveness of nuclear power, which we feel both among people looking for work, but also among young people looking for guidance", Hélène Badia, president of the nuclear careers university, assured AFP.

This entity, created in 2021 by companies in the sector and training stakeholders, is launching on Thursday, with France Travail, the third week of nuclear careers (from February 3 to 7, 2025), in the presence of the Minister of Industry, Marc Ferracci, on the Framatome site in Le Creusot.

A sign of the growing enthusiasm for the atom, the event, during which companies and training organizations will open their doors to the public, "attracted 8.000 people the first year, 16.000 people the second year," stressed Ms. Badia.

Furthermore, the National Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology (INSTN) has seen the number of students in its specialised engineering diploma in atomic engineering almost double in five years, welcoming 80 students for the 2024 academic year, according to EDF.

Extension of the existing fleet, new EPR2 nuclear reactors, small modular reactors (SMR), Orano fuel cycle plants, expansions of Framatome plants, the sector expects "around 100.0000 recruitments, from 2023 to 2033", recalled Ms. Badia.

Among the professions in demand are those of operations, maintenance, electrician, boilermaker, pipefitter, automation engineer, radiation protection technician, and, as always, the essential welder.

France Travail is counting on "innovative recruitment systems", particularly to encourage professional retraining, explained to AFP Frédéric Toubeau, director of France Travail for the Auvergne/Rhône-Alpes region and responsible for the nuclear sector at the national level.

"We use a lot of the recruitment method by simulation", which consists of "judging a person on their abilities to perform a professional gesture", he explains. If the tests are conclusive, as for a young pastry chef who became a welder in the North, the training is financed.

As a sign of the need to broaden the pool, this edition of the nuclear careers week is focused on "the inclusion of profiles that are under-represented in the sector", in particular people from priority areas of the city, seniors and women.