nuclear energy’s not hip with the kids anymore?

September 17th, 2008 at 01:03am Jennie Pollock

if you’re good at science and looking for the new “hot job,” maybe it’s in nuclear energy.

i first heard about this issue last month here, keying off a u.s. news & world report article, which i excerpted below. i was reminded of it this week because businessrockford.com talked to the comed byron nuclear plant about it.

Due in part to the accident at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania and the disaster at Chernobyl in Ukraine, the nuclear energy sector has been in decline for 30 years. Enrollment at undergraduate and graduate programs has dwindled, and some nuclear engineering programs have merged with other disciplines or shut down altogether. The ones that did survive shifted their focus to more lucrative fields within nuclear research, such as radiation detection or medical physics. According to the American Nuclear Society, 65 nuclear engineering programs existed in the country in 1980; now there is less than half that.

But in recent months, nuclear has re-emerged as a much ballyhooed energy source, and the entire community is scrambling to stave off what could be a massive shortage of qualified workers if the demand for nuclear power does take off. With an aging workforce, including many workers who are near retirement, the ANS estimates that 700 nuclear engineers need to graduate per year to support the potential demand. The organization currently expects only 249 new engineers to be available each year.

Entry Filed under: Energy, In the news