Training Tomorrow's Nuclear Workforce

Training tomorrow's Nuclear Workforce Start with the children. That is the message Brian Molloy, a human resources expert in the IAEA's Nuclear Power Engineering Section, wants to convey to any country considering launching or expanding a nuclear power programme. Mathematics and science curricular and extra-curricular activities at secondary and even primary schools are of crucial importance to future recruiting efforts at nuclear power plants, he says:''You need to interest children in science and physics and engineering. The teaching needs to be robust enough to teach them, but it must also gain their interest.'' Recruiting high-calibre engineers needed for the operation of nuclear power plants is a growing challenge, even for existing nuclear power programmes, because of a wave of retirements combined with increasing global demand. But essential as engineers are, they are only a component of the staff at any nuclear power plant. In fact, most employees at nuclear power plants are not university graduates - they are skilled technicians, electricians, welders, fitters, riggers and people in similar trades. Molloy argues that this part of the workforce needs more focus. ''It's about getting a balance between focusing on the academic and the skilled vocational'', he says, adding that countries considering nuclear power programmes often initially place undue focus on nuclear engineers.