Targeting nuclear job growth opportunities 

Targeting nuclear job growth opportunities

And how to avoid a few potholes in the road to employment

The nuclear energy industry has two major growth sectors which should be commanding the attention of job seekers with backgrounds in mechanical, electrical, chemical, and nuclear engineering. The sectors that are ramping up are design and construction of new plants and license renewals for current operating plants.

New college graduates should pay particular attention to plants with Early Site Permits (ESP). The reason is that they grant the utility building the reactor limited authority to begin some work at the plant site while the full license is still in review.

A good example is the Vogtle site being expanded by the Southern Company (NYSE:SO). The NRC is expected to issues an ESP by the end of August. It clears a number of safety and environmental issues and with it the NRC gives the utility a green light to start site preparation work. Also, it is a boost in confidence for investors and ratepayers and it bolsters public support for the entire project.

It is a clear signal to the utility and the engineering procurement contractors (EPC) building the plant to start hiring engineers and skilled crafts. Assuming the plant gets a license in 2011, it could generate 3,000 construction jobs and several hundred permanent plant jobs for the twin Westinghouse AP1000 reactors. They are scheduled to enter revenue service in 2016-2017 and have operational lifetimes of at least 60-years.

Currently, the nuclear industry has 17 applications pending with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for new reactor combined construction and operating licenses. Of these more than half, including, reactors in Maryland, North & South Carolina, Florida, and Texas, are most likely to be under construction by 2012. A new reactor project will involve 3,000-5,000 construction workers and a permanent workforce of 400-700 people once in operation.

The reactors in the southeastern U.S., all Westinghouse AP1000s, will be built by the The Shaw Group which has a 20% equity stake in Westinghouse. To support this massive scale of construction, the two firms are building a $300 million nuclear reactor manufacturing facility in Louisiana.

The two firms announced in 2008 that the companies will build the first module fabrication and assembly facility focused on constructing components for new and modified nuclear reactors in the United States. The facility will be located at the Port of Lake Charles, LA.

In addition to constructing components for new and modified nuclear reactors, the new Lake Charles facility will have the capability to manufacture modules for chemical sites and petrochemical plants round the world. It will create at least 1,400 jobs in Lake Charles over the next five years. Starting salaries for undergraduates with engineering degrees range are about $50-60,000/year.  If you have a taste for working overseas, Westinghouse is building four new reactors in China. 

Last month Areva and Northrup Grumman announced plans and broke ground in July to build a similar facility in Newport News, VA, at a similar scope and scale and with similar job opportunities.  Similarly, Areva is building new reactors in Finland, France, India, and China.   Areva will also build reactors in the U.S. in Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, and Ohio. The firm says it will hire 15,000 new workers in the next few years.

Additionally, the engineering procurement contractors such as Bechtel, URS, and similar firms found in the top 20th percentile of the Engineering News Record 500 are also hiring to work in the nuclear industry.

Work on reactor relicensing is just as intense

As of summer 2009 more about half of the nation's 104 nuclear reactors have gone through relicensing by the NRC for another 20 years. Currently, 12 more are pending and are likely to make it all the way through the NRC process. The relicensing process is just as demanding as a new license. The NRC holds the utility's feet to the fire since it will be issuing a permit good for 20 years.

A related work area is the "uprate" path for some reactors which boosts its power output by changes to the reactor, turbines, and balance of plant. All of these functions require highly skilled engineering talent.

Most of the relicensing activities have been trouble free, but two bear watching to see how things develop at these sites. They are Indian Point in New York and Vermont Yankee both of which are beset by anti-nuclear elected officials and citizens groups who support them.

While both plants have good odds to be relicensed, the hostile political environments in both states toward nuclear power makes these plants unattractive for recent graduates entering the industry. These two sites are the exception as the majority of renewals go according to plan.

Common areas for job opportunities

All three areas share common areas where new jobs can be found. Here are a few of them.

• New plant design & construction
• Operating plant services
• Safety analyses
• Nuclear procurement and construction quality assurance
• Pipe & pump fabrication and systems
• Electrical, instrumentation, and plant control systems

In summary a candidate with a recent engineering degree has many opportunities for long and beneficial employment in the nuclear industry.

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