"Energy Options: Nuclear" - Nuclear Power and Jobs (Part 4)
Thursday, November 01, 2007SUSIE GHARIB: The nuclear energy industry will lose thousands of workers to retirement over the next few years. Experts say that could short-circuit a nuclear energy revival. As we wrap up our series "Energy Options: Nuclear," Diane Eastabrook looks at how companies and universities are aggressively trying to recruit new workers and dangling big bucks to do it.
DIANE EASTABROOK, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: At Purdue University recently, student members of the American Nuclear Society served up hot dogs and career advice on the campus mall. This cookout was part of Purdue's nuke week. Senior Dan Jabaay says the event was aimed at drafting students into nuclear engineering at a time when the industry desperately needs workers.
DAN JABAAY, NUCLEAR ENG. STUDENT, PURDUE UNIV.: They are seeing a lot of an aging workforce basically, so there is going to be a really big surge in the job market at some point and we're just trying to compensate for that and let people know that it's happening.
EASTABROOK: Experts say a worker shortage could be one of the biggest roadblocks for a nuclear energy revival in the U.S. According to the Nuclear Energy Institute, nearly 30 percent of the people who currently work in the industry will be eligible to retire in five years. The NEI estimates another 13 percent could leave their jobs through attrition. Those statistics have many energy companies taking action. Along interstate highways in the Midwest, Exelon Corporation and Linn State College have erected billboards touting lucrative careers at nuclear power plants where starting salaries are as high as $55,000 a year. General Electric recently moved its nuclear division to Wilmington, North Carolina, from California, hoping the south might be more appealing to prospective workers. President and CEO Andrew White thinks the strategy is working.
ANDREW WHITE, PRESIDENT & CEO, GE NUCLEAR: We've been able to recruit from schools. We've recruited people experienced in the industry to a place that is much more cost effective for the people. It's a much more friendly place to work for business.
EASTABROOK: The industry not only needs nuclear engineers to run power plants. It also needs civil, mechanical and electrical engineers to build them. Those are highly skilled workers that other industries are seeking as well. Dave Barry is nuclear division president for Shaw Group, an engineering and construction firm. He says competition will heat up for top talent.
DAVE BARRY, PRES. OF NUCLEAR DIVISION, SHAW GROUP: All of us are going to have to work together: the owner, the community, the contractors, the labor themselves. We've all got to work together starting right now.
EASTABROOK: At many universities, interest in nuclear engineering is beginning to take off again. After a drop-off in enrollment in the 1990s, the number of students in Purdue's nuclear engineering program has more than doubled since the beginning of the decade. Associate dean of engineering Audeen Fentiman thinks better salaries and the industry's efforts to sell itself as a clean energy source are paying off.
AUDEEN FENTIMAN, ASSOC. DEAN OF ENGINEERING, PURDUE UNIV.: The students that we have now in classes were born after the cold war ended and so they are more concerned about environmental issues. They are concerned about greenhouse gases and global warming.
EASTABROOK: The NEI says some universities are even restarting nuclear programs that were shut down a decade ago when nuclear energy fell out of favor. But now that it's coming back into favor, experts say increased energy demand for energy, new technologies, a possible resolution to the nuclear waste issue and a new generation of professionals could help the industry thrive for decades to come. Diane Eastabrook, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT, Chicago.
