UK Nuclear Workforce Experiences Significant Growth Latest Data Shows

The nuclear sector is increasingly becoming the career destination of choice for young talent. The 2024 Nuclear Workforce Assessment revealed a near doubling of under-20s in the workforce compared to 2023, with over 1,100 apprentices and graduates joining the sector last year.

Carried out by Cogent Skills, on behalf of the Nuclear Workforce Assessment Working Group members, the NWA is the single largest workforce analysis in the nuclear sector.

Andrew Jones, Head of Research at Cogent Skills,

‘The 2024 Nuclear Workforce Assessment represents a significant collaborative achievement spanning nuclear sectors in the UK.

‘What sets the NWA apart is its foundation in actual employer data rather than estimates. Through this direct data collection, we’ve established a clearer picture of our 96,000-strong workforce than ever before, with more organisations providing their workforce data for the assessment. The report reveals important changes in occupational structures, where our people are located across the UK, and the overall makeup of our workforce. These valuable findings help us address key challenges in building a diverse and sustainable nuclear sector for the future.’

The NWA is completed annually and supports workforce planning in the nuclear industry through forecasting skills supply and demand across key activities including new builds, operations, decommissioning, and research. The assessment underpins skills development efforts within the industry as part of the National Nuclear Strategic Plan for Skills (Nuclear Skills Plan).

Mark Rouse, Skills Director of the Nuclear Sector Skills Team delivering the Nuclear Skills Plan,

“The NWA is a great piece of work that shows clearly that the sector’s combined efforts have indeed set us off to a good start towards addressing the skills gap in the nuclear sector and growing the workforce to meet an increasing demand. It also shows clearly the scale of the challenge ahead in terms of attraction, retention, diversity and the scale of the infrastructure needed to maintain this trajectory.”

While the current workforce has grown to 96,000, the long-term demand figures remain challenging, with 120,000 people needed in nuclear by 2030. This represents a requirement for approximately 24,000 additional skilled personnel over the next six years. To enable the sector to meet this demand, cross-sector collaboration to attract and retain skills is key, alongside making the diversity of the future workforce a priority.

According to the latest data, 22% of the current nuclear workforce are women, a 1% rise from the 2023 results. Equality, diversity and inclusion data has seen a significant rise in reporting from employees in the sector, providing the industry with a solid reflection of successful change including a 2.9% increase in employees declaring themselves as disabled. The rise in declared data from employees is important for the sector to identify areas of focus to create a more diverse and inclusive workforce.

Read the full report here: 2024 Nuclear Workforce Assessment – Cogent Skills