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Nuclear energy’s advantage in job creation continues to be its most attractive asset. The new generation of nuclear professionals that is now entering the revitalized nuclear industry is the direct beneficiary of this fact, and organizations like the North American Young Generation in Nuclear (NA-YGN) showcase its success.
According to the Department of Energy, nuclear power creates 500 jobs per 1,000 MW of electricity generating capacity versus 220 jobs for coal power, 90 for wind energy, and 60 for natural gas generation.
Nuclear Energy Institute’s Marvin Fertel discusses in this in-depth op-ed that nuclear energy is the clean energy job engine that our country desperately needs. In this op-ed, Fertel details the coming energy challenges that our country faces and offers nuclear energy’s proven benefits as part of the solution.
No clean energy industry has invested more in American workers than the nuclear energy industry. From AREVA Inc and Northrop Grumman’s $360 million heavy components manufacturing facility in Newport News, VA, to Westinghouse’s Chattanooga, TN training facilities, nuclear power continues to offer promising opportunities for Americans to get to work.
Fertel does a great job with this op-ed detailing nuclear energy’s advantage in job creation. Did I mention that it’s clean energy, too?
Nuclear Plants Boost Economy, Protect the Environment
A balanced portfolio is needed to meet 20 percent increase in electricity use by 2030
The energy industry is preparing to meet electricity needs in fast-growing population areas today and help spur economic expansion as America pulls out of the recession. Even with conservation and efficiency efforts, a balanced portfolio of electricity production options is needed to meet an expected 20 percent increase in electricity use by 2030, including vital contributions from nuclear energy.
New electricity production sources will vary by region, and there will be a premium on sources that do not emit greenhouse gases. Altogether, the electric utility industry must invest some $2 trillion in electricity infrastructure by 2030—the largest expansion ever of the U.S. power grid. This infrastructure development also is essential to meet the expected market penetration of plug-in hybrid vehicles, which will enhance our energy security by reducing our dependence on imported oil.
Energy could be one of the most significant economic drivers for the next two decades. The benefits of such an expansion are staggering when one considers the labor force and supply chain needed for construction and operation of power plants, transmission grids and environmental compliance technology on fossil-fueled power plants.
Most significant low-carbon electricity source
Broad independent studies looking at future energy and climate scenarios clearly point to nuclear energy as an important component of our energy portfolio. Nuclear energy is by far the most significant low-carbon electricity source in America today, with 104 reactors producing one-fifth of all electricity production and 70 percent of all carbon-free electricity. They’re also economic drivers in the communities in which they operate. A typical nuclear power plant produces $430 million of economic impact to the surrounding communities each year, and the construction of a series of new advanced reactor designs will extend the industry’s economic impact.
The industry is seeking federal permits for the construction of 22 reactors—a small part of the potential $400 billion global market in nuclear energy equipment and services over the next 15 years.
For the first three new reactor projects in the United States, more than $2 billion in equipment and services already has been procured from manufacturers in 17 states. Another $2.5 billion in export orders for equipment is creating jobs in 25 states as American companies begin to reinvest in the nuclear energy supply chain.
Though today’s economy is slowing the pace of expansion of the electricity sector, our long-term fundamentals have not changed. We are putting into service nuclear energy assets that will deliver low-carbon electricity safely for 60 to 80 years.
Nuclear industry employs more than 57,000 people
The industry employs more than 57,000 people at the 104 nuclear power plants operating in 31 states, but the nuclear energy work force is multiplied significantly by jobs in areas such as uranium fuel development, the industry supply chain, and skilled craft jobs at new reactors such as the Vogtle project in Georgia and the V.C. Summer project in South Carolina.
These new facilities in Georgia and South Carolina are among the four to eight advanced reactors that the industry expects will be producing electricity by 2016-18. Construction activities already have begun at those facilities and project-labor agreements are in place for three projects.
In preparation for this growth, the nuclear industry over the past three years has created more than 15,000 careers and invested more than $4 billion in new facility development. Plans call for the investment of another $8 billion to facilitate the supply of materials needed for large-scale construction beginning in 2011-2012.
New manufacturing jobs in nuclear energy sector
In the manufacturing sector, there is tangible evidence of expansion in the nuclear energy sector:
- Alstom recently opened a $300 million turbine manufacturing facility in Tennessee to supply turbines for use in North American power plants.
- Shaw Modular Solutions built a 410,000-square-foot nuclear modernization facility in Louisiana to assemble structural, piping, equipment and other modules for new nuclear plants that will employ 700 to 1,400 assembly line and skilled technical workers at full capacity.
- AREVA and Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding broke ground last summer on a $360 million manufacturing and engineering facility in Newport News, Va., that will manufacture heavy components such as reactor vessels, steam generators and pressurizers.
All told, these and other companies have already hired more than 9,000 employees.
Economic activity associated with nuclear power plants is considerable. In fact, new nuclear power projects create twice the number of jobs of a comparably sized coal power plant, five times more jobs than wind power projects, and nearly nine times the number of jobs of a natural gas-fueled power plant. Nuclear power plants also act as an economic multiplier, as each plant employs an average of approximately 500 employees from the local community and generates an additional 500 jobs in the local area.
For example, the expansion of the Vogtle nuclear plant near Augusta, Ga., is a $14 billion investment that will create up to 3,500 jobs during construction and 800 permanent jobs. In addition, more than 1,000 Georgia companies provided $908 million in materials, goods and services to the nuclear energy industry in 2008, the last year for which figures were available.
Strong support from organized labor
Organized labor has been a strong supporter of new nuclear plants, recognizing the significant economic potential for its skilled work force and the environmental benefits of keeping existing reactors operating and building new nuclear plants.
Mark Ayers, president of the AFL-CIO Building & Construction Trades Department, has proposed establishing multi-craft training centers near or at nuclear plant sites as well as developing specialized training partnerships with industry vendors and suppliers to certify all workers and developing programs to train local workers for careers in the nuclear industry.
Edwin Hill, president of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), recently called nuclear power “essential” to our electricity production portfolio, adding that there is no way to meet the nation’s energy needs without it. The IBEW has developed a code of excellence for its members and has developed training programs to prepare workers for a new generation of reactors.
Our country faces an extraordinary challenge to expand our electricity system over the next two decades. Some have argued that building new nuclear plants at the pace required is impossible. However, our industry built more than 100 reactors in the 1970s and ‘80s; France built 38 reactors in a decade.
Advanced reactor designs are higher capital cost projects, but the actual cost of electricity from these facilities will be competitive in the marketplace. Today’s reactors have among the lowest electricity production costs in the sector. Based on estimates for new reactor development, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) projects that electricity production costs will be competitive, and in fact, cheaper than most alternatives in 2016.
Affordable electricity for 60 years or more
With low uranium fuel costs and capacity factors (a measure of reliability) that average 90 percent across our industry, nuclear plants compensate for the up-front construction costs by affordably producing electricity for 60 years or more.
Financing new nuclear plants is one of the industry’s biggest challenges, but it is being met with support from state and federal energy policy. Federal loan guarantees can help project sponsors access lower-cost financing for nuclear and other clean-energy power projects, which ultimately lowers the cost of a new nuclear power plant and delivers lower-cost electricity to the consumer.
Loan guarantees are a mechanism that extends the federal government’s credit rating to companies that allows them to finance projects that are in the national interest. The loan guarantee program is a disciplined process that operates under strict controls and sets a high bar for companies seeking credit support. The industry will pay fees associated with these loan guarantees, so there is no liability on taxpayers when the projects come on line.
State governments also offer incentives to encourage construction of nuclear power plants. For example, Georgia enacted a law that enables Georgia Power, now building new reactors at Vogtle, to recover construction costs as it builds the plants. By doing so, the company expects to save $1.5 billion on the final cost of the reactors—savings that will be reflected in consumer rates for electricity from the facility.
Meeting America’s greenhouse gas reduction targets
Analyses of climate change policy by independent organizations conclude that reducing carbon dioxide emissions will require a portfolio of technologies, that nuclear energy must be part of the portfolio, and that a major expansion of nuclear energy over the next 50 years is essential.
A 2009 National Academy of Sciences study showed that 77 nuclear power plants must be built by 2035 and operating with the high efficiency of current reactors to effectively meet America’s greenhouse gas reduction targets.
Wind and solar energy will play an important role in our low-carbon energy portfolio, but they account for less than 2 percent of total U.S. electricity supply today. The prospect for renewable energy development differs widely by region, and until there is storage capacity for the electricity produced at these facilities, they operate only 30 percent of the time. Therefore, fossil fuel sources, primarily natural gas, are required as a back-up source of power to the grid where renewables are used.
The coming decades will witness the most significant challenges the nation has ever faced in meeting the twin imperatives of meeting rising electricity demand and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. No single technology can accomplish these tasks alone and they certainly cannot be accomplished overnight. Low-carbon sources like nuclear energy, hydro, solar and wind all must contribute.
Supporting the development of new efficient and environmentally friendly technology such as nuclear energy will create hundreds of thousands of U.S. jobs while improving our environment for generations to come.
Marvin S. Fertel is President and Chief Executive Officer of the Nuclear Energy Institute. He has 35 years of experience consulting for electric utilities on issues related to designing, siting, licensing and managing both fossil and nuclear plants.
French nuclear giant AREVA and Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding to break ground this evening on the first full-scale manufacturing facility dedicated to supply heavy components to the nuclear industry. 
We posted an article a week ago on Duke Energy and AREVA’s plans to negotiate the construction of a 1,650 MW EPR in Piketon, Ohio. Since then, Ohio Senator George Voinovich wrote 
