Workforce

With the support of a $500,000 grant from BWX Technologies (BWXT), the U.S. Navy, and BlueForge Alliance, the John D. Haynes School of Welding Technology has opened at Mount Vernon High School in Indiana. The welding school offers direct employment opportunities for students from the high school to BWXT’s Nuclear Operations Group, also located in Mount Vernon, Ind. Students can complete their high school degrees and their professional welding testing on a dual track, allowing them to enter the workforce immediately upon graduation.

A new program called Practical Arrangement, which has been created through a collaboration of the International Atomic Energy Agency and LinkedIn, aims to bring networking and training opportunities to women in the nuclear field. The partnership will provide essential resources, including training, research, and access to LinkedIn’s global network.

Federal and contractor officials, community leaders, and educators gathered in Knoxville, Tenn., on October 29 for a roundtable event focused on ensuring the Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (OREM) and its partners have the resources and infrastructure needed to support a robust, talented workforce in the years ahead.

Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS), the managing and operating contractor at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina, and the DOE’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico are partnering with multiple universities to develop next-generation technology and personnel pipelines to advance the DOE National Nuclear Security Administration’s two-site pit production mission.

A new article in the Wall Street Journal focuses on the problematic confluence of three developments: a declining number of young people pursuing nuclear engineering, an aging nuclear workforce with many workers on the verge of retirement, and a growing demand for nuclear energy. Reporter Yusuf Khan, who specializes in sustainability-related issues, examines the nuclear industry’s “image problem” and also the roles of climate change concerns, advanced nuclear technologies, artificial intelligence, and workforce diversification in bringing hope for a reinvigorated industry.

The Volunteer State’s governor and representatives have made clear their intention to position Tennessee at the forefront of a nuclear energy growth surge over the next several years. They’re making the financial investment to back up this commitment, pledging $50 million to recruit the innovative and invest in the existing nuclear companies in the state.

In an interview with advocacy group Nuclear Matters, Gov. Bill Lee expressed his excitement and optimism for Tennessee’s nuclear future.

“Tennessee is one of the fastest growing states in the country,” he said. “Because of that, we have people and companies moving here and we need to have a dependable, reliable energy source.”

The Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina recently began onboarding 24 graduates from Denmark Technical College in Denmark, S.C., as part of SRS’s Production Operator Apprentice School.

Despite efforts to increase hiring, the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management continues to be understaffed, according to a recent Government Accountability Office report. The GAO found that, at the end of fiscal year 2023, DOE-EM had 263 vacant positions across its headquarters, cleanup sites, and EM Consolidated Business Center—a vacancy rate of 17 percent. The office is responsible for the cleanup of the environmental legacy waste resulting from decades of nuclear weapons production and government-sponsored nuclear energy research.

Industry leaders from around the globe met this month to discuss the talent development that will be necessary for the long-term success of the nuclear industry.

The International Conference on Nuclear Knowledge Management and Human Resources Development, hosted by the International Atomic Energy Agency, was held in Vienna earlier this month. Discussed there was the agency’s forecast for nuclear capacity to more than double—or hopefully triple—by 2050 and the requirement of more than four million professionals to support the industry.

A new radio series on National Public Radio’s “Marketplace Morning Report” recently highlighted career opportunities and job training at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site.

To listen to the radio segment, click here.

The U.K.-based Financial Times recently featured an article focusing on the return of retirees and the extending of professional careers in the nuclear industry in Western countries. According to the article, “the nuclear power industry is seeking to lure back thousands of retired engineers and older professionals as Western companies try to fill a skills gap to deliver the biggest wave of new projects in decades.”

Faculty and staff from Winthrop University recently toured the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site as part of a workforce development partnership.

Rishi Sunak, U.K. prime minister, announced plans this week to boost Britain’s nuclear workforce by 40,000 to support submarine building and developing other aspects of the nuclear energy industry.

“In a more dangerous and contested world, the United Kingdom’s continuous at-sea nuclear deterrent is more vital than ever,” Sunak said in a statement. “Today we usher in the next generation of our nuclear enterprise, which will keep us safe, keep our energy secure, and keep our bills down for good.”

More information about the government’s plans are laid out in the Defence Nuclear Enterprise Command policy paper.

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management announced the signing of a project labor agreement (PLA) between Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (OREM) contractor UCOR and North America’s Building Trades Unions (NABTU). The agreement, which allows for flexibility in wage increases and other incentives, is expected to help recruit and retain skilled construction trade workers at the DOE site in Tennessee.

Newhauser

Wayne Newhauser is a professor and the Charles M. Smith Chair of Medical Physics at Louisiana State University. Newhauser and Georgia Tech’s Shaheen Dewji—both longtime American Nuclear Society members—worked on a multiyear study that looked at workforce issues for six of the most important radiation professions.

An article authored by Newhauser and Dewji that looks in-depth at the study will be published at a later date in Nuclear News.

Newhauser sat down with NN editor-in-chief Rick Michal to talk about the study and its findings, published last year in the Journal of Applied Clinical Medical Physics.

The largest group of apprentices have started a journey to become production operators for the Savannah River Site’s liquid waste contractor.

The Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management’s liquid waste contractor at the Savannah River Site is giving nine college students the opportunity to jump-start their careers this year through a hybrid work program that allows them to finish their engineering or computer science studies while also interning at SRS.

A significant percentage of the workforce at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Reservation in Tennessee is eligible to retire in the next decade, according to the agency. In an effort to address the potential for a staffing shortage, UCOR, the DOE’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management contractor for cleanup activities at the site, is building a consortium with colleges and universities in the region. The collaboration aims to guide more students toward nuclear-applicable careers to build the next generation of workers for Oak Ridge and the nuclear industry at large.

Contractors at the Department of Energy’s Paducah Site teamed up recently to highlight career opportunities available at the site during the Paducah Area Chamber of Commerce WKY (West Kentucky) Launch Experience.

About 150 students attended the first ever Nuclear Connection Science Fair last week, held in Oxford, U.K., and hosted by Nuclear Waste Services (NWS) and Women in Nuclear (WiN UK).