Nuclear industry brings back ‘silver tsunami’ of retirees

The nuclear power industry is seeking to lure back thousands of retired engineers and older professionals as western companies try to fill a skills gap to deliver the biggest wave of new projects in decades.

Reactor constructors are aiming to hire tens of thousands of employees as climate change concerns drive a revived interest in the low-carbon technology, according to developers and government officials.

Countries such as India, the US, France, Britain and Poland are also planning new orders amid jitters about energy security and the threat to gas supplies following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Retirees with decades of experience are in demand as a result after a golden era for the sector that began in the late 1950s gave way to a decline following the 1986 Chernobyl disaster — a slump compounded by the meltdown at Japan’s Fukushima plant in 2011 after it was damaged by a tsunami.

“I loved my job,” said 69-year-old Jean-Marc Miraucourt, a former engineer at French state-owned nuclear operator EDF, who has advised the company on tenders and other projects since retiring in 2019.  

“Demand is greater now as we have concrete programmes. We know there are needs and it would be a shame not to share some of our experience.”

Miraucourt, previously a senior manager who worked on the launch in the late 1990s of the last EDF reactors to go online, is one of hundreds of former nuclear experts in France offering their services.

In France — Europe’s biggest nuclear power operator, with 56 reactors — the first new reactor in 25 years is about to be connected to the grid this summer, at Flamanville in Normandy.

Setbacks in the project, which is 12 years behind schedule, have been partly attributed to a loss of skills, including among suppliers, after the western world cooled on new nuclear projects. This contrasts with a gradual build-up in construction capacity in China in recent years.

Russia and Chinese reactors account for more than two-thirds of those being built around the world, according to the International Energy Agency.

France is planning at least six new reactors for the late 2030s, which could rise to 14, while some countries that had decided to scale back their nuclear projects, such as Sweden and Japan, are reversing course.

The US, home to the world’s largest national fleet of 94 reactors, is also developing next-generation nuclear technologies and is among countries also seeking to produce smaller reactor models. The energy department estimates the industry will need an additional 375,000 workers by 2050. About 55,000 of those would be required by 2030, it said. 

The skills shortage has been partly driven by the retirement of a wave of baby boomers. Of the 60,000 extra full time hires in core nuclear jobs that will be needed in France by 2033, according to French trade body Gifen, half will be required simply to replace people leaving the industry.

Experconnect, an agency that specialises in placing retirees, said it had 1,600 ex-nuclear workers, from scientists to welders, on its books.

“Demand has really grown,” said Marie-Pierre de Montessus, an energy expert at the agency. “With the nuclear winter we experienced, there were no investments and hiring was frozen. We now go and see the big companies and show them that the skills of retirees are worth their weight in gold.”

Nuclear start-ups are also tapping older workers. At Newcleo, a two-and-a-half year old small reactor developer based in London, Lyon and Turin, the chief scientific officer is aged 75.

The phenomenon, including where workers are being asked to stay on as consultants, is not confined to Europe. “You are seeing people stay in the nuclear game longer. I see a lot of people retiring who are not retiring,” said Craig Piercy, chief executive of the American Nuclear Society, which represents scientists, engineers and other professionals.    

Describing a “silver tsunami”, Piercy said the average age of ANS members was 51. 

Industry figures say the hiring challenge could be eased as the emissions-free profile of nuclear power attracts a younger cohort concerned about climate change.

“Gen Z’s generational issue is climate change and I find that most young people are very open to talking about nuclear energy,” 22-year-old Grace Stanke, a nuclear engineer who was crowned Miss America 2023, said in an interview.

Stanke, who was dubbed “a real life Barbenheimer” by US media for her advocacy work in the sector, added that she aimed to boost the image of the profession among young people by showing engineers could “approachable, social, funny and ready to take on the world’s challenges”.

Todd Allen, head of nuclear engineering at Michigan University, said colleges were investing in their atomic engineering faculties once more as student numbers increased.

“For a long time the numbers got a little smaller each year. Something may now be changing,” he said, noting that between spring 2023 and 2024 undergraduate enrolment in his department had jumped to 79 students, up from 53 in the previous 12 months.

“We no longer have the problem of the sector’s attractiveness,” said Christophe Neugnot, a spokesman for Gifen. He said retirees did not form the main pool of recruits but had been particularly valuable in mentoring roles.

At Newcleo, 62-year-old engineer and technical adviser Antony Woaye-Hune is helping train new joiners after a 38-year career, including at reactor designer Areva, now owned by EDF.

Perrine Malchair, a 26-year-old mechanical engineer at Newcleo’s operations in the French city of Lyon, said Woaye-Hune’s experience had helped her understand the safety culture around the sector. “There are so many things to learn about on the regulatory front,” she said.

Woaye-Hune has no plans to leave the industry just yet. “Newcleo is a start-up, there’s a new drive, a new dynamic and new engineers who are going to add energy,” he said. “I told myself I have to be there.”

“People might say I’m at the end of my career,” he added. “Maybe. I don’t know when the end of my career will be — we’ll see.”