The UK’s civil and defence nuclear programmes are competing for many of the same people and suppliers. Sharmila Jugessur, strategic growth director at AtkinsRéalis, says greater coordination, better use of transferable skills and a more strategic approach to procurement could unlock delivery at the scale the sector needs.
The UK’s nuclear ambitions are growing on two fronts. Civil programmes are expanding to support energy security and net zero, while defence programmes are renewing submarine and deterrent capabilities. Both rely on the same workforce and supply chain, yet they are still largely planned and delivered as separate systems.
Recent reviews, including the Fingleton Review, highlight the need to deliver major programmes faster and at greater scale. In construction and engineering, skills shortages remain a significant constraint, particularly in specialist nuclear disciplines.
Government and industry have already begun to respond. The Nuclear Skills Plan has helped bring nearly 3,500 early-career entrants into the sector during 2024/25 through initiatives including the Destination Nuclear campaign and regional skills hubs. Investment in doctoral training and advanced technical capability is also helping strengthen the long-term talent pipeline.
These are important steps, but increasing capacity alone will not solve the problem. How skills and supply chains are organised and deployed will be just as important.
We recently argued that civil and defence nuclear should be treated as a single national capability rather than two adjacent sectors. The consequences of failing to do so are already evident in the way workforce and supply chains are planned and accessed.
A constrained workforce – or a constrained system?
Some specialist skills are genuinely scarce. However, fragmentation across organisations and programmes often prevents existing expertise from being deployed where it is needed most.
Many of the capabilities required to deliver nuclear infrastructure are not uniquely nuclear. Civil engineering, logistics, project management and digital delivery all draw on skills found across the wider construction and engineering sectors. Yet these capabilities are often treated as nuclear-specific, limiting access to broader talent pools and encouraging competition between programmes for the same people.
Digital technology also has a role to play. Greater use of digital engineering, automation and data-led decision-making can reduce reliance on scarce specialist roles, accelerate delivery and allow highly qualified nuclear experts to focus on safety-critical activities.
The challenge, therefore, is not simply to create more nuclear specialists. It is to make better use of transferable skills while using technology to increase productivity. Until programmes distinguish between genuinely nuclear-specific expertise and more widely available capabilities, demand will continue to outstrip supply unnecessarily.
A supply chain under pressure
The same pattern is visible across the supply chain.
The UK has a strong industrial base, but suppliers often lack the confidence to invest because future demand is uncertain. Businesses compete for individual programmes in isolation, committing time and resources to bids where only one project will proceed.
The result is a system that mobilises capability for competition rather than delivery.
This creates particular challenges for specialist suppliers. Where demand fluctuates between projects, companies struggle to retain skilled staff and maintain capability, increasing the risk that expertise is lost just when it is needed most.
Recent analysis has highlighted the importance of stronger coordination between government and industry to provide clearer demand signals and give suppliers confidence to invest for the long term. Improved visibility of future programmes, coordinated procurement and longer-term partnerships would enable capacity to grow more sustainably.
Connecting policy with delivery
Government strategies rightly focus on attracting new talent into nuclear, while major projects continue to be delivered through established procurement routes. The next challenge is connecting these two ends of the system.
Better coordination would ensure that skills developed through education and training are deployed effectively across both civil and defence programmes. It would also provide suppliers with greater certainty, encouraging investment in people, technology and manufacturing capability.
This reflects a wider challenge identified across UK infrastructure delivery: improving coordination between policy, procurement and project delivery.
From scarcity to strategy
Workforces and supply chains should be viewed as national strategic capabilities rather than programme-specific resources.
The Nuclear Skills Plan provides a strong foundation by bringing together government, industry and academia to strengthen the pipeline of talent. The next step is to extend that collaboration to how skills are shared, deployed and sustained across programmes.
That starts with greater visibility of demand in both civil and defence projects, enabling workforce and supply chain planning on a national basis rather than reacting to individual programme timelines. It also requires procurement models that prioritise long-term capability alongside competition.
Ultimately, the workforce and supply chain are not simply inputs to projects; they are strategic assets that underpin the UK’s ability to deliver.
The implications extend beyond domestic programmes. Countries around the world are investing in nuclear and are seeking partners with expertise over the full project lifecycle.
The UK already possesses world-class engineering capability, an experienced workforce and a strong supply chain. But success will depend on how effectively those capabilities are coordinated and deployed.
For the UK, this is first and foremost a matter of energy security and national resilience. Aligning civil and defence programmes, making greater use of transferable skills and strengthening supply chains will help deliver both.
Achieving that requires moving beyond a narrow focus on “nuclear skills” towards a broader vision of “skills for nuclear” – drawing on expertise from across construction and engineering and deploying it through a system designed for delivery at scale.
