By Saudi Nuclear Energy · 7/23/2026
The UAE's Barakah program is the most directly relevant case study for Saudi nuclear workforce mobilization. ENEC and its EPC contractor KEPCO/BNFL mobilized thousands of international nuclear professionals to the UAE over a decade of construction and commissioning. The lessons from Barakah apply directly to Saudi Arabia.
## Where the talent came from
The UAE recruited heavily from South Korea, France, the US, and the UK — in roughly that order of volume. Korean professionals brought the deepest APR1400 technical expertise. French and US professionals brought operational and safety culture depth. The UK contributed strong project management and commissioning capability.
## Knowledge transfer was designed in, not added later
Knowledge transfer to Emirati nationals was built into program governance from the beginning — not added later as a political requirement. Programs that treat localization as a compliance exercise rather than a design principle consistently underperform on this dimension.
## Retention requires active management
Retention on long programs requires active management. Barakah saw significant attrition among senior international professionals at the 5 to 7 year mark — the point when professionals who had joined as the program was beginning faced the psychological weight of an assignment with no clear end. EPC firms and program owners that invest in active retention management — career development, leadership exposure, financial incentives tied to program milestones — produce materially better outcomes.
## What this means for EPC firms positioning for Saudi nuclear
The firms that will win and execute Saudi nuclear contracts are not necessarily the largest. They are the ones that have built genuine nuclear workforce capability — talent networks, compensation frameworks, mobility infrastructure, and cultural orientation programs — before the contracts are awarded.
Workforce planning for a nuclear program of this scale should begin now. Not at contract award. Not at financial close. Now.
The talent market for experienced nuclear professionals is global, competitive, and moving. The Hinkley Point C program is approaching major milestones. The Polish new-build program is building its international workforce. Saudi Arabia's program will be competing for the same population of professionals.
The EPC firms that begin building relationships with that talent today — quietly, professionally, without overpromising timelines — will be in a fundamentally different position than those who begin hiring when the mandate is live and every other firm is doing the same thing.
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*Saudi Nuclear Energy is an independent executive search and workforce intelligence firm supporting the organizations building nuclear power in Saudi Arabia. We are not affiliated with the Saudi government, KACARE, or any nuclear regulator.*