ENERGY giant EDF will take on 10,000 employees as it prepares for the nuclear power station building revolution, it recently revealed.

Over the next five years the French company plans to embark on a major recruitment drive, taking on thousands of scientists, engineers and technicians as it builds two new reactors at Hinkley Point in West Somerset and two more at Sizewell, Suffolk.

EDF, formerly Electricite de France, hopes Hinkley Point will be producing power by 2017-18, followed by Sizewell two years later.

Chief executive Vincent de Rivaz said the company had already recruited 100 designers and engineers to its London head office.

In a speech to union leaders in London last month he said: “We will recruit more than 10,000 new people over the next five years to drive our investment plans and renew our workforce.

“When all four of our reactors are operational we shall employ 700 people at Hinkley Point and a further 700 at Sizewell. And at the peak of the construction phase we will employ about 4,000 workers at both sites.”

Meanwhile EDF is continuing its investigation into the suitability of the grounds where the new reactors could be built. The company this week applied for full planning permission to dig and excavate two trenches at Stogursey to investigate the depth and nature of the subsoil above the rock.