US Needs More Nuclear Power Plant Workers

FSTargetDrone · Post by **FSTargetDrone** » 2008-03-12 11:16pm

Quite a few more, according to a story from my local paper:

Posted on Sun, Mar. 9, 2008

A jobs boom is shaking nuclear industry

By Jane M. Von Bergen

Inquirer Staff Writer

Forgive the pun, but engineer Jennifer Lee, 25, radiates enthusiasm when she talks about her job at the Limerick nuclear plant near Pottstown.

Her blond hair swings, her blue eyes flash, and she launches into a riff: "Nuclear plants are so much bigger in every way. The pipes are bigger, the pumps are bigger. Everything is bigger and very cool," she said.

Now, if only the industry could find 90,000 more like her, in all jobs - from maintenance technician to senior reactor operator, from union electrician to experienced engineer, from pipe fitter to regulator.

That's because, at a time when oil prices are rising, the nuclear industry is experiencing a startling, largely unheralded rejuvenation.

But there is a tremendous shortage of future workers. The current average age is just north of 48, and one in three nuclear workers will be eligible to retire in 2012, according to the Nuclear Energy Institute, a trade group.

"We will not have enough people in two years or three years," said Charles Goodnight, founder of Goodnight Consulting Inc., a Vienna, Va., nuclear-consulting firm specializing in staffing.

This is not just the standard demographic bye-bye baby boomer blues. The nuclear industry's situation is unique, based primarily on the fact that after the Three Mile Island nuclear disaster in 1979, the industry seemed doomed, and hiring ground to a halt.

Now, the industry is scrambling to catch up - and it must work fast. So far, 84 reactors have received or are applying for 20-year operating-license extensions. Even more astounding, given the once-virulent antinuclear sentiment, are plans to build 22 reactors, including one in Salem County.

That not only means more work at the plants, but also at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and at companies that supply nuclear-power facilities. The NRC has hired 350 in the last two years, Goodnight said.

"The vendors who are going to be needed to build the plants, like Westinghouse, are all hiring," he said. "Other countries are starting construction. So you can work for Westinghouse or GE and get international experience."

Sounds like a talent war going nuclear.

"We're in an aggressive hiring mode," said Anndria Gaerity, director of nuclear development at Public Service Enterprise Group Inc., which operates three reactors at Salem and Hope Creek in Salem County and is investigating adding a fourth.

How aggressive?

Two years ago, her staffing team consisted of two in-house recruiters. Now, she has four in-house recruiters, two full-time temporary recruiters on contract and 10 outside recruiting companies on retainer.

Hiring managers are getting sensitivity training in how to sell the plants to potential applicants. "We want to make them feel they will be getting very valuable experience here," she said.

That does not count the sporting events, hockey games "and making sure the recruits get time and exposure to team leaders and management," Gaerity said. By 2013, 29 percent of the plants' current workforce will be eligible for retirement.

Exelon Nuclear figures it will need to hire 2,500 people in the next five years, over-hiring by 15 percent each year. It estimates that 15 percent of its current workforce will be eligible for retirement.

To bring in people like Jennifer Lee, who is now pursuing a master's degree in business administration on Exelon's dime, the company treated her and her fellow engineering candidates to a night-behind-the-scenes at the Franklin Institute.

And they pay her a lot of money.

An inexperienced engineer can start at $60,000, but pay rises steeply with any type of relevant internship, said Neal Coy, Exelon's senior recruiter.

Craft people - electricians and mechanics - can figure on earning more than $43,000, with excellent benefits to start. And unlicensed operators, the entry-level position for key reactor operations, will earn close to $50,000 a year while being trained.

"We've started a pipeline program," Coy said. "We're over-hiring now, based on anticipated retirements."

To find these people, nuclear-reactor companies are partnering with colleges and trade schools. In 2006, PPL Corp. established a nuclear-technical program at Luzerne County Community College to funnel workers to its reactors at Berwick.

How did the industry get so short-staffed?

College nuclear-engineering programs grew to match the demand for work at nuclear plants, which were under construction in the 1960s, explained Jack S. Brenizer Jr., chairman of Pennsylvania State University's nuclear-engineering program, one of the most well-known in the nation.

Activity peaked by 1979, with almost all the reactors active and fully staffed.

"At that point, Three Mile Island occurred," he said. "Many people thought we weren't going to have any nuclear-power plants. They are too risky, too expensive, and then they'd go down the laundry list of concerns."

The incident - a core meltdown at the plant on the Susquehanna River in south-central Pennsylvania - exacerbated other market conditions.

"The competition was very strong from coal and natural gas," and nuclear plants are very expensive to build, Brenizer said.

Given the bad publicity from Three Mile Island and the economic factors, it looked as if no new plants would be built and those already operating would just finish out their licenses. Universities shut their nuclear-engineering programs.

"If you were in nuclear engineering 20 years ago, you were constantly defending yourself," Brenizer said. "We used to call it the 'n' word."

In 2000, Penn State, one of the largest programs, graduated just six nuclear engineers.

Meanwhile, nuclear plants did not need to recruit heavily even to fill openings created by normal attrition. That's because overall staffing levels declined as operators of nuclear reactors learned to generate more power with fewer people, Goodnight said.

What changed?

In 2000, the first license renewals were granted to two reactors on the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. And with those first renewals, an industry that had been about to die suddenly showed signs of life.

Last year, Penn State graduated 44 nuclear engineers. "All of our students who want a job in nuclear engineering have one," Brenizer said. "We have 100 percent placement."

Public sentiment also has shifted.

"I think the stigma has faded away, in spite of Homer Simpson," Goodnight said. "TMI is a distant memory. From an industry perspective, it was a generation ago."

Michael Vincenzini, 27, of Royersford, was not even born when TMI's near meltdown occurred. To him, nuclear energy is not an environmental scourge evoked by images of Three Mile Island or the 1986 breakdown of the Chernobyl plant in Ukraine.

"It's a green source of energy," he said, taking a break from his classes at Limerick, where he is studying to be an unlicensed operator.

"Look at the oil prices now. Look at the pollution from nonrenewable fuels," he said. "These plants are so much better regulated. There are backup systems to the backup systems."

To recruit folks such as Lee and Vincenzini, it helps to point out that nuclear power cannot be outsourced overseas. "Electricity has to be manufactured here," said Coy, the Exelon recruiter.

But the biggest sell, besides the money, is a chance for a quick climb up the ladder.

Nick Carroll, 23, graduated from college in 2006 with a bachelor's degree in physics and no job. "I was working for $10 an hour at Best Buy." He sent out 2,000 resumes - one to every company listed on a physics professional organization's Web site.

"I only got two back - and both were for operators in a nuclear-power plant," he said. Exelon flew him out from Idaho for an interview.

"There is so much tribal knowledge here that is going to leave," he said. "We have people who have been here 20 years and people who have been here two years.

"It's a challenge, but that's also where the growth is," he said. "It's the growth that interested me."

* * * * *

Nuclear Utilities Power Up

Exelon Corp.: Has obtained or will seek license extensions for five reactors at Peach Bottom in York County, Three Mile Island in Dauphin County, and Limerick in Montgomery County; may seek to add reactors in Illinois and Texas.

PPL Corp.: Applied in 2006 for license extensions for two reactors at Susquehanna in Luzerne County and may seek to build a third.

PSEG Nuclear L.L.C.: Expected to seek license renewal in 2009 for three reactors in Salem County and may seek to add a fourth.

AmerGen/Exelon: Applied in 2005 for a license extension for Oyster Creek reactor in Ocean County.

FirstEnergy Corp. Pa. Power Co.: Applied in 2007 for license extensions for two reactors in Beaver County.

Source: Nuclear Energy Institute and companies

Interesting story, I thought. The plant mentioned in the article (Limerick) is nearby to where I live.

The Duchess of Zeon · Post by **The Duchess of Zeon** » 2008-03-13 01:42am

*rubs hands together eagerly*

The ME programme I'm going into during this return to college of mine has an emphasis in nuclear engineering.

Hawkwings · Post by **Hawkwings** » 2008-03-13 01:45am

I'm currently planning on majoring in either aerospace or nuclear. Depending on how stuff turns out, both are equally likely.

Mayabird · Post by **Mayabird** » 2008-03-13 01:46am

Go nuclear! Nuclear!

Aerospace SUCKS! Sucks, I tell you! The professors are evil and the classes are only there to sodomize you with large pointy objects and you don't even get to learn how planes fly until grad school!

There's also a future in nuclear engineering.

Shinova · Post by **Shinova** » 2008-03-13 01:59am

Mayabird wrote:There's also a future in nuclear engineering.

Until the US economy imploded and sent everyone to the soup kitchens.

Spin Echo · Post by **Spin Echo** » 2008-03-13 03:47am

When I was a nuclear engineer major in college, they told us we'd be making a killing in the job market in a few years. There was a big boom of nuclear engineering graduates around the 70's. After that, they weren't building new plants so only about a hundred people majored in nuclear engineering per year across the US, and most of those ended up in the Navy. It was about this time they said the people trainined in the 70's would start retiring, leaving lots of jobs and few qualified applicants.

The Duchess of Zeon · Post by **The Duchess of Zeon** » 2008-03-13 04:02am

Spin Echo wrote:When I was a nuclear engineer major in college, they told us we'd be making a killing in the job market in a few years. There was a big boom of nuclear engineering graduates around the 70's. After that, they weren't building new plants so only about a hundred people majored in nuclear engineering per year across the US, and most of those ended up in the Navy. It was about this time they said the people trainined in the 70's would start retiring, leaving lots of jobs and few qualified applicants.

Anyway, it's fun.

CmdrWilkens · Post by **CmdrWilkens** » 2008-03-13 08:37am

Almost makes me want to try and find a way to go back the Maryland full-time since not only do they have a Nuke program but a full up fucking Nuke plant on campus. Only problem is I'd have to finish up my BS first since UM is Graduate only.

The Grim Squeaker · Post by **The Grim Squeaker** » 2008-03-13 12:17pm

I really want to work in Nuclear power, but I can't think of any non technical (Engineering) jobs in it at a high level. (I'm the Economics or political sciences type, electronic engineering failed to interest me in high school).
Can any of you fine nuklears recommend to me something lucrative to study that'll match up well?

The Duchess of Zeon · Post by **The Duchess of Zeon** » 2008-03-13 12:19pm

CmdrWilkens wrote:Almost makes me want to try and find a way to go back the Maryland full-time since not only do they have a Nuke program but a full up fucking Nuke plant on campus. Only problem is I'd have to finish up my BS first since UM is Graduate only.

It would be worth it. They have a straightforward Masters of Engineering in Nuclear Engineering as soon as you get your BS, and if you haven't done your upper-division coursework yet you could finish your degree on a track fairly easily prepared for it. IIRC they like people to be Materials Science Engineering, but if you have the right prep courses any of the engineering tracks can get you in. I actually looked at it, but finances were against it for me. Probably not for you.

Lonestar · Post by **Lonestar** » 2008-03-13 12:26pm

Man, Ender is going to be set when he gets out.

Tsyroc · Post by **Tsyroc** » 2008-03-13 01:36pm

Lonestar wrote:Man, Ender is going to be set when he gets out.

That was one of the reasons I originally went in as a Nuke, a good job after I got out of the Navy.

Too bad I got the boot.

Not much call for EWs in the real world.

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2008-03-13 02:29pm

But first, how about we get the infrastructure to build them in appreciable numbers, hmm?

If we don't match the French record for building these facilities, then there's something wrong.

Thag · Post by **Thag** » 2008-03-13 10:27pm

It's not just nuclear, but power engineering in general that has personnel shortages. I co-oped with a utility company a couple years ago, and something like a third of the engineering and technical staff was scheduled to retire over the following 5-6 years.

Fingolfin_Noldor · Post by **Fingolfin_Noldor** » 2008-03-13 10:47pm

They keep sending me cards inviting me to join the navy to be a nuclear engineer despite the fact that I was a foreigner. Maybe I should skip Physics grad school and head for nuclear engineering.

The Duchess of Zeon · Post by **The Duchess of Zeon** » 2008-03-14 03:33am

Admiral Valdemar wrote:But first, how about we get the infrastructure to build them in appreciable numbers, hmm?

If we don't match the French record for building these facilities, then there's something wrong.

I have no compunction with moving to France if they need nuclear engineers and the USA has dicked itself over to the point where it "doesn't". It's a lesbian thing, but we don't mind our girlfriends being unshaven nearly so much.

Shroom Man 777 · Post by **Shroom Man 777** » 2008-03-14 05:49am

Awesome (nuclear thing and French lesbian thing).

How safe is it, anyway? I mean, do low-key nuclear plant workers end up having shorter lifespans (or dying horribly as they sprout pulsating appendages), or do their kids have more health problems than usual? I'm no nuclear alarmist, and I'm sure it's probably a hundred times safer than working in a steel mill inhaling vaporized metal and all, but still.

Either way, I guess after I finish up with nursing, I'll try to take some vocational courses to learn stuff like wielding and simple technician stuff. Seeing as that stuff is gonna be in demand. I'd love to fix overpriced lightbulbs in a nuclear power plant.

Scared that a lazy whackjob like me taking care of people in the hostipal? Well, how about me becoming a nuclear technician? It'll be like Homer Simpson! But... *checks Asian heritage* ...yellower

Spin Echo · Post by **Spin Echo** » 2008-03-14 07:56am

Shroom Man 777 wrote:How safe is it, anyway? I mean, do low-key nuclear plant workers end up having shorter lifespans (or dying horribly as they sprout pulsating appendages), or do their kids have more health problems than usual? I'm no nuclear alarmist, and I'm sure it's probably a hundred times safer than working in a steel mill inhaling vaporized metal and all, but still.

Let's put it this way. A friend of mine from college visited Kazakhstan to work at a nuclear reactor there. He was working for three days within the contamination areas and his dosimeter read he was exposed to 12 microsievert dose equivalent from gammas and <1 from neutrons in that time. On his 11.5 hour flight back from Frankfurt to Atlanta, he accumulated 259 microsieverts from neutrons and 18 microsieverts from gammas.

So, safer than being a pilot.

PeZook · Post by **PeZook** » 2008-03-14 08:10am

DEATH wrote:I really want to work in Nuclear power, but I can't think of any non technical (Engineering) jobs in it at a high level. (I'm the Economics or political sciences type, electronic engineering failed to interest me in high school).
Can any of you fine nuklears recommend to me something lucrative to study that'll match up well?

Janitor?

Any nuke plant will probably need administrative staff of some sort. Of course, if you are a nuke tech, you're pretty much guaranteed to get a lucrative position, while admin jobs are going to be seeing incredible competition.

I'd recommend doing a short course from a related field, just to get an edge over the competition, and getting into admininistration, or maybe marketing for a power company.

aerius · Post by **aerius** » 2008-03-14 08:50am

Shroom Man 777 wrote:How safe is it, anyway? I mean, do low-key nuclear plant workers end up having shorter lifespans (or dying horribly as they sprout pulsating appendages), or do their kids have more health problems than usual? I'm no nuclear alarmist, and I'm sure it's probably a hundred times safer than working in a steel mill inhaling vaporized metal and all, but still.

You likely pick up more radiation from eating bananas than you would from working at a nuke plant. It's one of the safest workplaces around, if you die or get hurt it'll be from taking a dive off the railings or falling down the stairs.

Adrian Laguna · Post by **Adrian Laguna** » 2008-03-15 01:20am

aerius wrote:It's one of the safest workplaces around, if you die or get hurt it'll be from taking a dive off the railings or falling down the stairs.

A valve or pipe could burst. It's a risk when working around high pressure fluids, but it is a low one and hardly unique to nuclear power plants.