{"id":55023,"date":"2026-05-21T18:56:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T18:56:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/55023\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T18:56:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T18:56:15","slug":"canada-is-running-out-of-nuclear-engineers-and-the-timing-couldnt-be-worse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/55023\/","title":{"rendered":"Canada Is Running Out of Nuclear Engineers \u2014 and the Timing Couldn\u2019t Be Worse"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/47cec05d4f7a99783e7ef9c8ca50922b.jpeg\" alt=\"Society of Professional Engineers and Associates\" loading=\"eager\" height=\"67\" width=\"300\" class=\"yf-lglytj  loaded\"\/> Society of Professional Engineers and Associates      <\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">SPEA says Canada risks losing its CANDU advantage without urgent investment in workforce development<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">MISSISSAUGA, Ontario, May 21, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) &#8212; As artificial intelligence data centres drive unprecedented global demand for reliable, emissions-free electricity, Canada\u2019s nuclear sector is experiencing a surge in contracts and refurbishment projects \u2014 but the country risks squandering its advantage if it fails to train and retain the engineers behind it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">That\u2019s the warning from the Society of Professional Engineers and Associates (SPEA \u2013 UNIFOR Local 7474), which represents the majority of Canada\u2019s nuclear reactor design expertise.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">AtkinsR\u00e9alis recently reported significant revenue growth in its nuclear division, fuelled by refurbishment projects, new large-scale reactor contracts and small modular reactor development across Ontario, Romania and North America.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">\u201cSPEA members are at the heart of Canada\u2019s nuclear industry \u2014 designing, maintaining and advancing CANDU technology that is attracting renewed global attention,\u201d said SPEA President Mark Chudak. \u201cThis is Canadian intellectual property supporting a 90,000-person supply chain and generating economic growth across the country.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">\u201cCanada\u2019s position in nuclear is genuinely unique \u2014 alongside the United States, France and Japan, very few countries in the world have developed and actively license their own reactor technology at this scale,\u201d said Reza Ziaei, SPEA\u2019s Scientists &amp; Engineers Vice President. \u201cThat\u2019s a strategic asset \u2014 and it belongs to Canadian workers and Canadian communities.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">But SPEA warns that without a deliberate strategy to recruit and develop the next generation of nuclear professionals, Canada\u2019s engineering capacity could fall behind the pace of global demand.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">\u201cThe Canadian nuclear renaissance cannot happen without the people who power it,\u201d Chudak said. \u201cAs governments and companies invest billions into nuclear infrastructure, we need a parallel investment in the workforce \u2014 or we\u2019ll be outsourcing the expertise that should belong to Canadians.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">About SPEA<br \/>The Society of Professional Engineers and Associates (SPEA \u2013 UNIFOR Local 7474) is a union representing engineers, scientists, technologists, skilled tradespersons, designers and other specialists who work for Candu Energy Inc. In November 2023, SPEA entered a trial affiliation with Unifor as Local 7474.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">CONTACT: Media Contact: Michelle Duncan, Staff Representative Society of Professional Engineers and Associates (SPEA) 416-427-3525 michelle.duncan@spea.ca<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Society of Professional Engineers and Associates SPEA says Canada risks losing its CANDU advantage without urgent investment in&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":55024,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[17,91,24365,24366,24364,94,24362,24361,24363],"class_list":["post-55023","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-canada","tag-mississauga","tag-nuclear-division","tag-nuclear-reactor","tag-nuclear-sector","tag-ontario","tag-refurbishment-projects","tag-spea","tag-the-society-of-professional-engineers-and-associates"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55023"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55023\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}