Dr Aris Candris, President and CEO of Westinghouse Electric Co. recently highlighted key industry statistics:
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58% of engineers at nuclear utilities are over 48 years old(2)
35% of the workforce could retire within the next 5 years(3)
Hiring has been extremely low or non-existent for many years (late 1970s to early 2000s)At the recent UK Suppliers Forum, 'New Nuclear Opportunities', hosted by EDF Energy, the delegates were asked what they saw as the main people/skills challenges for new contracts. By far the leading concerns were reported as:
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34% listed the re-skill or up-skill of the existing workforce(2)
30% listed winning enough business now to retain existing staff.
Forward-looking organisations, which rely on mission-critical skills in order to drive competitiveness, quality and growth, are increasing their investment in raw talent, training and knowledge capture.
KorteQ is helping to drive such programmes at several major industry players.
NuclearClients in this resurgent sector have welcomed our practical approach to reducing the risk of knowledge loss as the most experienced engineers reach retirement. We accelerate learning from experience, implement modern solutions for international collaboration and support robust safety cases.
The UK is among the vanguard nations of the nuclear power renaissance, adjusting from three decades of consolidation and rationalisation to a phase of rapid expansion. It is already clear that international demand from a further 15 nations which are well advanced in new-build planning and construction will quickly stretch global capacity and supply chains.
The pace of nuclear decommissioning is also set to increase, while plant lifetime extensions must also be achieved, working with technologies from earlier generations of nuclear build. We are working across the sector to help ease the strain on design, engineering, maintenance and project management skills.
"British Energy - part of EDF - is in the process of transforming the organisation in order to support its long-term mission; an ability to capture and re-use knowledge within the business is a critical factor for success. We have been impressed by KorteQ's professionalism, their ability to get a complex job completed on time, and their experience of working in teams with our staff. We are achieving rapid results from these projects."
David Barber, Head of Training
British Energy