In 2002 8 of its workforce had less than 34 years

Such "yellow dog" on the runway for take-off of an aircraft carrier, Jean-Louis Ferreira is equipped with noise-cancelling headphones, a fluorescent jacket and he big gestures with their arms. The men he directs are not burst pilots, but colleagues blacksmiths, Commander remote press of 7,500 tonnes. The Areva du Creusot factory team is building a container of spent nuclear fuel. Jean-Louis Ferreira is in first line, a few metres from the giant hammer which strikes the ingot shiny, heated to 1,300 degrees. "Everything is made to the eye, said this apprentice blacksmith of twenty-nine years." We learn the trade on the heap. "Four to five years are required before control expertise, said William Montcharmont, his tutor for two years.

Where the big effort of hiring of the French champion of nuclear power, since it bought, in 2006, this former subsidiary of Usinor the Bolloré group to secure its supply of large forgings. "On our workforce of 464 employees, more than 100 have less than three years seniority," said Dominique Mayor, Deputy Director of the le Creusot plant. Most of these recruits are young people. As on the nearby site of Saint-Marcel, which assembles the components forged at le Creusot. In 2002, 8 of its workforce had less than 34 years. In 2007, they were 33!

The evolution of the numbers on the two Burgundian sites shows the group chaired by Anne Lauvergeon policy. Convinced of the early renaissance of the atom and bet on an avalanche of orders for reactors, Areva has expanded its teams great V. speed Know-how may indeed disappear with the massive departures retirement of those who built the French Park. Between 2006 and 2009, the Group hired between 12,000 and 15,000 people a year, including half for its nuclear activities and the other for transmission and distribution, just be transferred to Alstom and Schneider Electric. This year, about 4,000 hirings are planned, what just replacing the retirements. Has AREVA seen too much Has the financial crisis not delayed some projects "This is not the case, meets its human resources Director, Philippe Vivien." We have recruited early enough to give us the time to integrate and train. It takes at least 24 months to become operational on a nuclear trade. If it recruits his team on the eve of the World Cup, we are not going very far!

Find the right balance

Experience shows that it is difficult to find the right balance. But it also shows that the delays did not forgive nuclear. EDF knows something. "There, in the mid-2000s, a willingness to downsize for the sake of economies, considers Jean Tandonnet, the Inspector General for security at EDF." This policy of downsizing, gone since 2006, has consequences which are today in the problem of the transmission of skills. "On the 34,000 people who work in production and nuclear engineering, half of employees in maintenance and operating will retire by 2015. To prepare, the Group recruited since 2007 more than 1,000 engineers and technicians per year for the operation and engineering. The new boss Henri Proglio wants to accelerate the pace and bring this figure to 1.400 per year.

It should not have difficulty. Young people are again willing to marry the die after him have left for the benefit of the car. "For three or four years, nuclear power became a fashion story", demonstrates Stéphane Aubarbier, Executive Vice President of the society of engineering Assystem.