Nuclear professional skills and French-British collaboration

France and the United-Kingdom were among the pioneers of nuclear energy in Europe. Nuclear power was considered then as a tool to get energy independence. The United-kingdom has launched a program for replacing and extending its nuclear fleet of reactors while France has launched its refurbishment program for life-extension of today's operating reactors. As a consequence both countries need a vast pool of qualified workers which is becoming so hard to find that competencies themselves have become an important topic of cooperation between the 2 countries as much as dismantling or waste management. A co-seminar has been organized to study that topic. It appears that an equivalent training between the 2 countries in nuclear sciences curricula and a common qualification of skilled workers could improve the situation and that the negative opinion of the public on nuclear energy has to be changed to become an attractive sector for young scientists and technicians. Another point is to have a more organized nuclear sector, particularly in France, while in UK, NSSG (Nuclear Skills Strategy Group) and NIA (Nuclear Industry Association) are active in competency managing. (A.C.)