LONDON, England - The nuclear industry is entering a “transformative reset” on the urgent need to reskill its workforce for an artificial intelligence-driven (AI) future and to enhance its capacity for the emerging ‘distant’ technologies.

During last week’s World Nuclear Symposium, Jooho Whang, president and CEO of Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co. Ltd. (KHNP) noted that as the nuclear industry pushes to triple its capacity by mid-century, their focus must widen beyond financing and supply chains—because without a massive, coordinated reskilling of the industry’s workforce, the sector won’t just fall short of its goals; it risks stalling the inflow of much-needed additional investments in the sector.

The ambition of the nuclear industry is to triple global capacity by 2050, and that will entail an additional 800 gigawatts of capacity installations and $10 trillion worth of fresh investments.

“To continue this success, we must overcome several challenges – the basic issue is supply chain and workforce bottlenecks as nuclear projects expand worldwide,” he stressed.

Whang emphasized that as the nuclear industry ramps up workforce capacity-building, the next major focus must be on integrating AI and ‘distant’ technologies into operations and maintenance, stressing that every operator will need to get there or be left behind.

“We have been using ‘distant’ technology and AI to optimize operation and maintenance – this will help us with our limited workforce and focus resources on new projects …it is very important sooner or later for every operator to have that,” he said.

Presently, the “distant” technologies being experimented on by nuclear power operators include remote detection of nuclear activity – including new methods like those on reactor monitoring and laser-based standoff detectors for radiation identification; as well as the next-generation technology that can be deployed for power generation in space applications.

On the use of AI through the chain of nuclear plant operations, it was qualified that this will be beneficial not just in improving the operation and electricity generation of the nuclear reactors; but it will also be essential for enhancing safety and risk management in the facilities.

Primarily, AI applications could predict anomalies or potential failures in nuclear reactors before they could even happen; while machine learning models can analyze vast sensor data in real-time to detect abnormal patterns; and they also serve as viable support to predictive maintenance, hence, reducing the risk of accidents and unplanned shutdowns.

Whang cited that in South Korea, in particular, “for our workforce, we are training the next generation through domestic industry academia cooperation – and joint programs with international partners.”

KHNP is operator of mammoth 28.6GW of nuclear power fleets in its home-country; and is also among the sponsor firm in the 5.6GW Barakah nuclear power project in the United Arab Emirates.

Beyond these operating assets, KHNP is similarly targeting to expand its investment footprints in European markets, primarily with the Czech Republic; and it also has a standing memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Philippine Department of Energy (DOE) for the targeted repowering of the country’s long-idled Bataan Nuclear Power Plant.

French firm EDF Chairman and CEO Bernard Fontana echoed that the future of nuclear hinges on re-equipping the current workforce and drawing in fresh talents, as without that, new projects may not stand a chance in the decades ahead.

“We need to have the workforce, we need to find people and encourage them that they can build their whole career within this industry,” he stated.

Both industry players from key markets concurred that nuclear power is a backbone for national economic growth, but the real breakthrough will come when the crushing weight of project financing eases; and a slight shift is already being seen with Google and its partners’ rollout of small modular reactors (SMRs) that will power its data centers.

“For Google units 1 and 2, they’re expensive; but on the third one, there’s already reduction in cost and time – so we can keep that going…each one that gets on would just keep on getting better; so we better get going, we’re good at it,” Fontana said.

Whang similarly highlighted that their nuclear plants in South Korea, “supplied us stable electricity for 53 years. It has supported our economic growth and nuclear power has helped Korea to overcome energy crisis in the 1970s and to overcome financial crisis in 2000 by providing us stable low-cost energy.”