Staff shortage threatens long-term operation of nuclear power plants (Full article in the comments)

4 comments

1. >__A wave of retirements is exacerbating the shortage of skilled labour. Nuclear power operators are coming under pressure. At Axpo, the supervisory authority even had to intervene.__

   >The pension solutions for employees of the Leibstadt nuclear power plant are “above-average and generous”, according to the advertisement in which the plant is currently looking for reactor operators. To get the job as a specialist who operates and monitors the plant, you need to have completed a four-year apprenticeship. The nuclear power plant takes care of everything else. The necessary training at an external technical college is provided on a full salary, and there is financial support for other further training. And don’t forget: “Sports and nature lovers appreciate our location on the beautiful banks of the Rhine”.

   >If you click through the website of the Gösgen nuclear power plant, the adverts sound similarly enticing. Switzerland’s second largest nuclear power plant not only advertises its “excellent pension fund” to young people. But also with the “excellent catering in its own staff restaurant”.

   >__Difficult recruitment__

   >Nevertheless, the operators of nuclear power plants are becoming increasingly worried. Recently, the application phase for an important position in a Swiss nuclear power plant ended with no one applying for the job, according to a recruitment consultant. At the latest when the interested parties saw the salary for the demanding work, they turned it down.

   >The issue is also of concern to the Swiss Federal Nuclear Safety Inspectorate (Ensi), the supervisory authority for nuclear energy. The Ensi has focussed in particular on the Leibstadt nuclear power plant. It is managed by the north-east Swiss electricity giant Axpo. It is striking that the company did not increase its workforce between 2020 and 2022, but instead reduced it from 514 to 479. But then the authority intervened. In its 2022 supervisory report, Ensi writes that it “also critically monitored” the reduction in personnel in Leibstadt in 2022.

   >Spokeswoman Stefanie Oehler cites various reasons for the Ensi’s criticism. For example, the supervisory authority questioned whether the necessary monitoring activities in the area of radiation protection would be “sustainably guaranteed” with the planned adjustments. The Ensi also made critical comments on an IT project that envisaged the centralisation of IT services.

   >According to Oehler, the feedback from the Ensi to Leibstadt nuclear power plant has contributed to the power plant talking about a significant, medium to long-term increase in personnel in the various specialist areas. This is being done with a view to “the ongoing generational change and the planned long-term operation”, Oehler continued.

   >The Leibstadt nuclear power plant confirms the expansion. In addition to retirements among the baby boomers, it is also due to additional modernisation projects that are necessary for the long-term operation of the plant, says Head of Information Thomas Gerlach. “Of course, we have also discussed this with Ensi and taken on board the supervisory authority’s input.”

   >The two large Swiss nuclear power plants pursued different strategies when it came to personnel, at least at times. In Leibstadt, Axpo placed particular emphasis on operating as efficiently as possible. Alpiq, on the other hand, which manages operations at the Gösgen nuclear power plant, sometimes allowed duplication in order to avoid staffing problems as far as possible. This can be seen from the figures: During the period in which the workforce in Leibstadt fell from 514 to 479, it rose from 566 to 582 at the similarly powerful plant in Gösgen.

   >According to Ensi spokeswoman Oehler, maintaining expertise is not only a key issue in Switzerland. “Nuclear supervisory authorities regard the long-term safeguarding of competent personnel across countries as a major challenge.” The problems are manifold. On the one hand, there is the general shortage of skilled workers on the labour market, as Oehler explains. The other: “Increasing competition among the employers themselves.” Axpo says that it currently has access to enough qualified personnel, according to spokesperson Noël Graber. However, the shortage of skilled labour is a “future” challenge.

   >The personnel situation is a concern not only for operators and regulators, but also for the federal government. Just over a year ago, the Federal Office of Energy (BfE) sent a questionnaire to nuclear power plant operators. They now expect to run their plants for 60 years rather than the 50 years originally planned. The BfE wanted to find out whether they are actually capable of keeping their plants on the grid for that long. The report has not yet been published, as talks are ongoing with the operators, according to BfE spokesperson Marianne Zünd. In particular, “on the subject of maintaining expertise” – in other words, on the question of how nuclear power plants can find enough staff in the long term.

   >__Problem for nuclear power plants worsens__

   >It is already clear that the personnel problem will become even more acute. The operators are considering letting their plants run for up to 80 years rather than 60. There is nothing technologically wrong with this, says Andreas Pautz, Professor of Nuclear Engineering at EPF Lausanne and Head of Nuclear Energy and Safety at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI). But here, too, one of the biggest challenges is “finding enough qualified personnel for such operating times”. Pautz is already feeling the consequences: “Axpo and Alpiq are more interested than ever in our students,” he says.

   >Fortunately for the electricity giants, training in nuclear technology is more popular than it has been for a long time. The only Swiss degree programme is offered by ETH and PSI. Last year, 21 students graduated, this year there will be as many as 27. The long-term average is 14. Axpo in particular is currently very active, says Pautz: “It has approached our students directly and has already recruited some of them.”

   >However, according to Andreas Pautz, the young talent trained in Switzerland in the core nuclear engineering disciplines is not sufficient to fully supply the nuclear power plants with personnel.

   >The requirements for nuclear power plants are also particularly high. If you want to become an on-call engineer, training takes an average of eight years. Because the plants run 24 hours a day, shift work is required. According to Pautz, the power plants in Switzerland are of different designs. Anyone who acquires qualifications for one plant cannot simply switch to another.

   >Many younger employees are deterred rather than attracted by such prospects.

2. Unsurprisingly. Who’d like to specialise in a job that legally forced to close down in the future?

   We need to change the law and we need new reactors.

3. can we stop using ‘fachkräftemangel’ as an excuse? there are only companies who want to pay the lowest saleries but expect 15 degrees.

4. Are there any examples of the salary in that field?