According to a survey with engineers, operators and maintenance teams working in the nuclear industry across the United States and Canada, more than two-thirds reported a shortage of qualified contractors as one of the two issues most likely to extend a planned outage or delay a return to service.
Despite the heightened push for hiring in the renewable sector, alongside new training regimes and programmes (particularly in Europe), it seems that the US and Canada haven’t caught up as they struggle to hire the qualified teams they need.
The report from IGS, international provider of on-site surface protection solutions, also highlights the ageing critical assets needing life extension measures or active ageing management – surveyed to be 33%.
This is particularly prevalent due to the U.S. Department of Energy is supporting efforts to restart previously closed nuclear reactors, which naturally require more maintenance due to their age.
Keith Reeser, Senior Director at IGS, says: “Extending the life of nuclear facilities means getting more from equipment that has already been operating for decades. The challenge is that specialist maintenance resources are not unlimited and every repair has to be planned around strict safety requirements and outage schedules. Operators need to look beyond the immediate repair and consider long-term maintenance strategies. The more work that returns during subsequent outages, the greater the demand on an already stretched workforce.”
The US Government Accountability Office reported in September 2026 that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission had lost approximately 500 staff on a net basis between July 2024 and June 2026, largely through voluntary retirements, which points to an ageing workforce as one of the sources of the issue surrounding a stretched workforce.
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