Nuclear: a sector that is once again attracting young engineers

French scientists are French like the others. And as much to say that in the country of nuclear power (more than 70% of our electricity production), its inhabitants have always had a complicated or even upset relationship with the atom. “You have to go back to the Second World War and the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to understand the distrust and criticism of the scientific world,” recalls Sezin Topçu, historian of science at the School of Advanced Studies in Social Sciences (EHESS) .

This suspicion would last for more than half a century, in particular when General De Gaule put France definitively on the rails of civil nuclear energy at the end of the 1950s. “In the meantime, water has flowed under the bridges and you understand then that for young engineers today, this industry has long been perceived as old-fashioned and not very innovative, explains Julie Champion, teacher and researcher at the Subatech laboratory at IMT Atlantique. long been more attracted to renewable energy.”

A big air pocket after the Fukushima accident

It must also be said that, recently, the sector has gone through a big blow of air after the Fukushima disaster (2011), the announcement of the closure of Fessenheim (2018), the delays in the Flamanville file or even the abandonment of the Astrid project (2019). Since then, things have changed. “Among the younger generations, there is an awareness of the role that nuclear power can play in the energy transition”, sums up Cécile Arbouille, general delegate of the Grouping of French industrialists of nuclear energy (GIFEN) which brings together professionals from the sector.

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It is the Jancovici generation, more pragmatic than dogmatic and who, like the famous climate expert, engineer like them (Polytechnique) and teacher in the same type of school (École des Mines), consider the atom as a lesser evil essential or the essential solution to get out of fossil fuels and move towards an energy mix with the least carbon content possible. Finally, even within the French population, positions on nuclear power have changed considerably in a decade. The barometer of the Institute for Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN) testifies to this year after year: the French have “an a posteriori look at the civil nuclear program which has become very benevolent”, note its editors in 2022. Thus 60% of them affirm that the construction of power stations was a “good thing” and 44% plead for new power stations.

For two years, a clearer roadmap

“We must also recognize that Emmanuel Macron’s speech at Le Creusot in December 2020 marks a turning point. In the midst of a pandemic, he is the only one in Europe to put the nuclear issue back on the table by ensuring that it is our energy future and ecological”, adds Sezin Topçu. A conviction that was translated into action at the beginning of 2022 with the announcement of the launch of the construction of 6 second-generation EPR (Evolutionary power reactor) by 2050. What a real boost whip to the entire die. “With, in addition, the various small reactor projects (SMR), we will need twice as many engineers as today, that is to say 4,000 more each year”, calculates Cécile Arbouille. Just the 6 new EPRs would represent a construction site (which is far from being stopped) at 50 billion euros and… 30,000 employees: 20,000 for construction, 10,000 for operation and maintenance. Not all of them are engineers and the sector also lacks technicians in essential trades and in tension: boilermakers, welders, mechanics, pipe fitters, controllers, logisticians or even electricians.

In total, the nuclear industry has 220,000 salaried jobs, a good half of which are engineers. However, it is difficult to count how many are those who, on leaving their school, join the world of the atom since their training is quite generalist. Some degrees, on the other hand, are more targeted towards nuclear engineering (or atomic engineering), generally at the Masters level. A handful of schools train them, such as the National Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology (INSTN) in Saclay, the National School of Physics, Electronics, Materials (INP – Phelma) in Grenoble, the National Conservatory of arts and crafts (Cnam) in Paris, the Ecole des Mines in Saint-Etienne and IMT Atlantique. As far as the latter is concerned, “we are seeing an increase of about 20% more students per year, so that of all our training courses around a hundred will go to nuclear energy, in particular within our specialized Master’s without engineering with 25 to 30 people,” explains Julie Champion.

And for each promotion, no hiring problem. “Our students are in high demand, right from their internship since we receive a lot of offers, continues Julie Champion. The vast majority have even signed a permanent contract before even completing their course.” With a first salary around 43,000 euros. Enough to encourage a large number of careers.