UK Announced A New Taskforce To Strengthen Nuclear Skills

Following the launch of its flagship body Great British Nuclear (GBN), the UK Government announced the creation of a New Nuclear Skills Taskforce to support skills activity in the nuclear sector and to meet nuclear skills growth opportunities by bringing together government, employers and academia.

It will develop a national skills strategy for jobs across the industry, from technical scientific and engineering roles to logistics, project management, commercial and finance.

Sir Simon Bollom was appointed as Taskforce’s Chair and will be joined by representatives from the Ministry of Defence, Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, Department for Education, academia and professional bodies as well as industry partners.

In order to pursue the ambitious plans announced with GBN, namely to deliver up to 24GW of nuclear power in the UK by 2050, a recent report by MPs said there will need to be a more than doubling of the current nuclear workforce from 65,000 to as many as 215,000 people.

Read more on the UK Government Official Press Release

New nuclear projects feed a growing demand for the workforce and the nuclear sector has to deal with complex needs to meet it.

In the EU Year of Skills, the European Nuclear Society is dedicating special interviews with international experts to innovation, talent attraction, knowledge management and challenges in the nuclear industry.

“In the UK the overall future prospects for the sector are exciting”, said Callum Thomas, CEO of Thomas Thor (ENS Corporate Member), in the interview “The Nuclear Workforce Of The Future – Opportunities And Needs For The International Nuclear Sector”.

“Several discussions are ongoing around how to attract people to the industry, and how to communicate to the public the great opportunities that a career in nuclear offers. Furthermore, there are several, big infrastructure projects going on in the UK in other sectors, so nuclear has to compete for the best talent,” he added.