Nuclear powerAs Baby Boomers retire, nuclear industry faces manpower shortages
Many nuclear power plants in the United States are facing an employment and training crisis as their largely Baby Boomer-generation (1946-64) workforce begins to retire. The nuclear industry is making an effort to usher in new and better-trained workers — many from university programs and former military service — to fill in the gaps created by retirement-aged engineers.
Many nuclear power plants in the United States are facing an employment and training crisis as their largely Baby Boomer-generation (1946-64) workforce begins to retire.
As theStar-Ledger reports, the nuclear industry is making an effort to usher in new and better-trained workers — many from university programs and former military service — to fill in the gaps created by retirement-aged engineers.
Richard Coe, the assistant dean of the School of Applied Sciences and Technology at Thomas Edison State College, told the paper, “Current nuclear plants — all 104 of them — have a Baby Boomer crisis coming in which they are going to have a huge exodus of the workforce.”
Thomas Edison State College, located in New Jersey, is just one of many institutions that now offer courses, included distance learning curriculums that prepare students the field. Additionally, there are federal scholarships as large as $5,000 for qualified students that aim to move more prospective employees into the realm of nuclear science.
Thomas Edison alone has roughly 1,000 undergraduates that are engaged in course work such as energy systems technology, nuclear energy engineering technology and nuclear engineering technology and radiation protection programs.
The military also is a major training ground for prospective hires due to intensive training on nuclear submarines and other similarly powered equipment. At times, it is even incentivized, as was the case for John Richardson, a manager at Hope Creek Nuclear Generating Station. He told the paper, “They offered me a bonus for going into the nuclear power program.”
In the United States, most nuclear power workers can expect to earn an average salary of at least $50,000 a year. Upper level positions often earn closer to $100,000 a year. Electrical Technicians earn a medium annual salary of $58,000, while licensed operators and plant engineers range from $75,000-$90,000 on average. Those figures are likely to go higher as the demand for fresh workers increases.
