Russian nuclear industry facing growing workforce issues: Rosatom

Russian state nuclear company Rosatom is expanding its educational programs and investing heavily in nuclear cities across the country to tackle a looming labor shortage in the country's nuclear power industry, Tatiana Terentyeva, deputy director general for human resources at Rosatom, said in an email March 25.

Rosatom is bracing for an imminent and severe labor shortage in the coming years, the Russian Nuclear Society, a non-commercial organization of nuclear engineers and scientists, warned during an industry event in November. Rosatom needs to hire around 57,000 graduates of specialized universities and colleges by 2030, it added, but this level appears increasingly challenging.

In recent years, Rosatom hired an average of 3,000 graduates per year, but is now seeking to expand its recruitment program nearly threefold, to between 8,000 and 9,000 graduates per year, the Russian Nuclear Society said, adding that the target is not within reach. This is in part because the number of graduates suitable to work in the nuclear industry will only grow by 50% in the coming years, it added.

By 2030, Rosatom will need to hire 350,000 new employees to keep existing operations going and expand business in line with already approved projects, Terentyeva said. She did not say whether she agreed with the Russian Nuclear Society's calculations. Of these employees, around 100,000 new employees will be required in new business areas, such as renewable energy and nuclear medicine, and nearly 150,000 in traditional sectors such as nuclear energy and mechanical engineering, she added.

"A large share of these new hires will be young professionals, graduates of colleges and universities," Terentyeva said, providing an exact breakdown.

By 2030, up to 90% of workforce shortages will be of mid-level specialists with vocational education, she added.

Russian state companies have started paying closer attention to recruiting programs amid gloomy forecasts of domestic labor market dynamics.

The Russian labor shortage, currently estimated at 1.5 million, is projected to worsen significantly in the coming years, reaching 2 million by 2030, as forecasted by the Agency for Strategic Initiative, a government body, in December. The Russian Labor Ministry further predicts that the economy will face a shortfall of around 3.1 million workers by the end of the decade.

As a part of efforts to deal with the labor shortage, Terentyeva said that Rosatom is moving to expand its international educational programs.

"We are running more than 20 joint academic programs in nuclear and related technologies with educational institutions across 13 countries. More than 2,000 international students from 65 countries are studying at Rosatom's partner universities," she said.

Nuclear cities in spotlight

Rosatom is also enhancing work with its nuclear cities, a traditional backbone of the Soviet and then Russian nuclear industry.

Rosatom's operations are concentrated in 31 Russian cities — small often remote communities which were formerly closed to the public in Soviet times — which are home to a total of 2.5 million people.

According to Rosatom's 2030 Strategy, improving the quality of life in these cities is a prerequisite for achieving Rosatom's broader goals, Terentyeva emphasized.

Over the past decades, the Russian nuclear cities experienced a relatively rapid depopulation trend, posing a particular challenge to Rosatom. With the new initiative, the company hopes to turn this around.

According to Terentyeva, the steps already taken are starting to pay off, with recent opinion polls showing that around 80% of nuclear city residents are satisfied with their quality of life, indicating a substantial improvement compared with previous surveys.

"In 2023, we launched a comprehensive urban development program," Terentyeva said, adding that the plan involves heavy investments into infrastructure, healthcare, education, and several other fields.

"We have already seen tangible results. In just three years, satisfaction with healthcare in our cities rose from 36% to 71%," she said.

Within its nuclear cities and beyond, Rosatom is also establishing an educational system to give it an upper hand in the competitive struggle for future graduates.

"At Rosatom, we have built an innovative educational ecosystem to prepare future employees and support current ones — spanning from kindergarten and school to university and eventually to employment within the industry. The goal is to ensure a smooth, lifelong educational journey," Terentyeva said.

The emerging labor gap has triggered an ongoing salary race in the Russian economy.

Boosting employee engagement

During an industry event March 7, Rosatom CEO Alexey Likhachev set the target to ensure consistent salary growth in the corporation of 10% per year in the coming years. However, he emphasized that meeting that goal will require raising labor productivity by at least 12% per year.

In addition to raising wages, Rosatom is also working on enhancing employee engagement to attract workers, Terentyeva said.

"As current labor market trends show, it's no longer enough for companies to simply offer a competitive salary to attract top talent," she noted.