It should accommodate around fifty students from the start of the school year in September 2023, then around 80 students per year. The prefect of Ardèche visited this Wednesday the future premises of the training center for nuclear jobs in Voulte-sur-Rhône.
2400 m² of a former foundry
It was a former industrial site, in the Voulte industrial zone, that was chosen. On 2400 m², the training center will be divided into classrooms for theoretical courses but especially in workshops. They will allow students to train in various trades needed by the nuclear industry such as boilermaking, welding, machining or electricity.
The large fairing of Cruas
The large fairing is the name of the work that will be necessary for the Cruas power plant to pass the 40-year milestone, as in all nuclear power plants in France. This work requires a large and specialized workforce which tends to be in short supply. The training center will therefore reinforce existing centers such as the training center for industrial apprentices (CFAI).
It will provide initial training but also professional retraining.
The employees trained in this way should mainly work for the Cruas power plant but they can also, if they wish, work on other nuclear power plants either to pass the 40th anniversary or to install new reactors. The President of the Republic has announced the installation of at least six pairs of EPRs, one pair of which could be installed in Tricastin.
But this training can lead to other non-nuclear companies which also find it difficult to recruit in certain sectors in very great tension.
A consortium
The premises have been purchased by the municipality of La Voulte-sur-Rhône, which will rent them to the agglomeration community of Privas Center Ardèche (CAPCA). It is the Chamber of Commerce and Industry that will manage this training center in relation to the nuclear industry.