The government is reacting to warnings that the UK lacks the skilled workers needed to deliver on the country’s target of building 24GW of new nuclear power-generating capacity by 2050.

The new Nuclear Skills Taskforce will focus on developing a skills strategy to support the expansion expected in various roles within the nuclear industry. It will be chaired by Sir Simon Bollom, former CEO of Defence Equipment and Support.

The jobs required to drive the nuclear sector range from technical scientific and engineering roles through to logistics, project management, commercial and finance – with a variety of apprentice and graduate opportunities, the government said. 

“By developing nuclear skills, we are not just investing in the UK economy but our national security,” said James Cartlidge, minister for defence procurement. “The creation of this new taskforce will challenge the whole of the UK’s nuclear sector to be ambitious in addressing the nuclear skills...