China to open university in Tianjin to train workers for nuclear power industry
State-owned CNNC plans to address severe skills shortage as the country tries to reduce its reliance on coal-powered plants
Beijing plans to set up another university dedicated to nuclear power technology to address a chronic skills shortage as the country tries to develop its nuclear energy industry and reduce its reliance on coal.
China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC), a state-owned nuclear power developer and operator, signed a strategic cooperation agreement on Friday with northern Chinese megacity Tianjin that included establishing a nuclear industry university with master’s and doctorate programmes.
The deal aims to make Tianjin a high-end technological base for the developer, while promoting the transformation and development of the city’s innovation industries, news outlet Thepaper.cn reported.
CNNC in 2012 said it wanted to set up a “corporate university” to train more specialised talent and fill the yawning personnel gap in the nuclear industry.
Only 20 per cent of the 2,300 graduates hired by the company have nuclear-related majors, according to Wan Gang, director of the China Institute of Atomic Energy, CNNC’s main research body.
China’s state-backed nuclear industry has struggled with a lack of graduates to work in the critical sector, and Wan said the existing nuclear-related majors “cannot satisfy the demand for talent” in fields such as nuclear fusion, uranium enrichment and post-processing.