Ken Silverstein | Nov 30, 2010

When the Tennessee Valley Authority approached the region's educational institutions and explained that the nuclear sector would soon go on a hiring binge and that it would need qualified workers, Chattanooga State Technical Community College burrowed down. After a year of preparation, the first class got underway in the fall of 2008.

It's mostly in anticipation of a nuclear resurgence - one in which federal policy will favor low-to-no-carbon sources of power that have the ability to generate electricity around the clock. With an abundance of uranium on hand, the nuclear industry is not waiting around.

The sector, generally, is moving now to educate the next generation of workers, which is everyone from the folks who monitor the control rooms to those who engineer the projects. And even if the revitalization does not occur, the industry says that its workforce is getting on in years and that qualified people will be needed to replace them.

"We've proved there's an economic need," says Tim McGhee, dean of engineering technology at the college. "The utility drives what its partners do."

The U.S. Department of Labor released a report saying that a third of the workers in the nuclear industry are eligible to retire in the coming years. That equates to more than 19,000 people on all levels. To build a plant, however, requires at least 1,500 hands. With 30 facilities now under consideration - 27 of which are in the southeast -- the potential shortfall is evident. To accommodate that growth, about 3,500 miles of transmission would also have to be constructed, necessitating even more capable workers.

Lots of utility-based schools are popping up around the country. As for Chattanooga State, it explained to a group of reporters touring its campus that it is easily filling each nuclear class with about 20 students. The students, who are generally in their late 20s and early 30s, all hope to work for TVA at salaries of around $50,000 when they graduate.

The school quickly adds that if students choose to live elsewhere, they will be trained to work at any nuclear facility. And if the nuclear industry does not expand or if students change their mind about working at a nuclear unit, they will have the skill sets to contribute to any fossil-fired generation facility.

Already TVA has spent $1.8 billion to restart Browns Ferry Unit 1, which added 1,100 megawatts to its system. By 2013, it expects to expand generating capacity by 1,100 megawatts with Watts Bar Nuclear Unit 2. Those plants, which were originally licensed in the 1970s, had halted the construction process in the 1980s. After that, they have two reactors set for the Bellefonte Nuclear Site in Alabama.

"We are educating workers who are dedicated to their task and who are trustworthy at all times," says Todd Vander Warf, training manager for nuclear operations at TVA. "We are teaching them to operate the plants we currently have - not the future ones."

Market Demand

Over the next 15 years, the power generation industry alone will invest an estimated $400 billion in dozens of construction and infrastructure projects in the southern states, says the Department of Labor. The nuclear sector is planning to do its part. The good news is that the number of nuclear engineering majors nationally is up from 500 in 1998 to 1,800 in 2006. But that's still not enough.

The industry is not just hoping for the best. It is actively pursuing solutions. Utilities realize that invading the labor pools of other companies is not the ultimate answer. They are therefore collaborating with colleges and universities to establish innovative programs. They are also setting up internships. And they are providing scholarships and grants. Utilities are furthermore offering internal training programs.

Beyond the technical colleges, TVA is also working with the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, which has maintained its nuclear engineering program. Over the last several years, it has had to hire at least 2,500 contract workers to repair its Browns Ferry Nuclear Power Plant in Alabama.

"Currently, the (south) lacks enough skilled craft workers to build the infrastructure, install equipment, operate the facilities and make repairs," says the Labor Department.

Market economies can and do respond to demands. Under any scenario, utilities will have to dig deep by either paying more to their existing workers to entice them to stay longer or they will have to help underwrite scholastic programs to attract fresh minds. That's the reason the Chattanooga nuclear program exists.

Consider  Tripp Howell, who is 42 and currently working as a financial advisor and a student at the technical school: He says that he's making a career change not out of financial necessity but because he believes in the revitalization of nuclear power - and wants to be part of it.

"Our students can work at any utility," says Lisa Miller, a trained chemist who now teaches at the engineering program in Chattanooga. "If the country does not expand its nuclear program, they could possibly work in a fossil plant. Right now, TVA will have a large number who will be retiring from its nuclear operations."

TVA and the nuclear sector are anticipating a substantial need - a belief centered on future energy projections and the role nuclear power would play in that. As such, they are educating tomorrow's workers to fulfill a nuclear resurgence as well as to replace those who will be leaving the industry. It's a calculated endeavor that both utilities and their partners are willing to take.

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