Grouping over 3,000 companies in France, the French nuclear sector is the third largest industrial sector in the country. It is also an industry that has been facing a shortage of qualified staff over the past decade. The French nuclear industry will notably hire nearly 10,000 technicians each year: here is a list of nuclear companies in France that are recruiting in 2022.
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Spie
SPIE France, specialised in the energy and communications sector, announced in early April 2022 its intention to recruit 3,600 men and women throughout France, including 600 work-study students. The group will be offering full-time permanent contracts, as well as around 50 work-study positions. All qualification levels are welcome (vocational diploma, Bachelor’s degree, technical diploma, engineering degree, etc.).
SPIE is a fast-growing European supplier, supporting its customers in digital transformation and energy transition. The group has 400 subsidiaries located throughout France. The following is a list of positions sought by the company in the nuclear sector:
- Assemblers
- Welders
- Industrial electricians
- Maintenance technicians
- Energy efficiency engineers
- Low and high current electricians
- Telecom engineers
- Fibre optic connectors
- Works managers
- Network engineers
- Smart city engineers and technicians
- Cybersecurity experts
- Energy network activity managers.
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EDF (Electricité de France)
EDF is the world’s largest nuclear operator. The company owns and operates a fleet of 78 nuclear reactors worldwide, including 58 in France, making it a leader among the world’s nuclear companies.
As part of the plan to revive atomic energy and the civil nuclear industry initiated by Emmanuel Macron in early 2022, including the construction of a nuclear fleet with six new EPR reactors, EDF in charge of the project, has announced the recruitment of 3,000 technicians and engineers in 2022. Mr. Macron plans for construction to start in 2023, and commissioning in 2035.
The recruitment campaign concerns five regions of France: Île-de-France, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Centre-Val de Loire, Normandy and the Grand Est region. On a larger scale, this French nuclear company, which currently employs 165,000 people, plans to recruit 15,500 employees in 2022 throughout France, including 7,000 employees on permanent contracts, 1,000 employees on fixed-term contracts, 4,000 work-study students and 3,500 interns.
The professions concerned include rotating equipment mechanics, professionals in power plant maintenance and project management, boilermakers, automation engineers, planners, civil engineering experts, instrument technicians, pipefitters, industrial electricians, information system professionals (cybersecurity, IS architects, product owners, project managers), etc. Women are particularly encouraged to apply, in order to diversify the nuclear energy sector in France.
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Bouygues Construction
Bouygues Construction, a subsidiary of the Bouygues group, has also launched a recruitment campaign in 2022, with the hiring of 1,000 students on work-study programmes, in order to meet the group’s strong skills needs. The company also aims to place 10% of its workforce on work-study programmes by 2025. Young graduates already represent 60% of the company’s recruitment.
A number of positions are available at Bouygues Construction Services Nucléaires, a nuclear firm with 425 employees that works in six different fields: nuclear civil engineering, nuclear plant dismantling, maintenance, nuclear waste management, robotics and special machine design, nuclear power plant ventilation, and radioactivity elimination to guarantee nuclear safety, etc.
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Engie (formerly GDF Suez)
A major player in the transition to carbon neutrality, ENGIE (formerly GDF Suez) has expertise across the nuclear chain. The group has 9,000 employees in the nuclear sector and hires new employees every year in many areas of activity: engineering, development, purchasing, construction and installation, operation and maintenance, radioactive waste management and reprocessing, nuclear plant dismantling operations, etc.
Engie Electrabel operates seven nuclear reactors in Belgium, four in Doel and three in Tihange.
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Orano (formerly Areva)
Orano, formerly the Areva group, is a French multinational company specialised in nuclear fuel. The group, which currently has 16,500 employees worldwide, recruits almost 800 new employees each year.
This nuclear company is looking for talent in a wide range of areas of expertise: mining, uranium chemistry (nuclear fuel), enrichment, engineering, spent fuel recycling, plant decommissioning; logistics, nuclear medicine, etc.
