Engineer shortage concerns nuclear power industry

[jpak]

http://www.shns.com/shns/g_index2.cfm?action=detail&pk=ENGINEERS-04-04-06

s the nuclear industry stirs with the first plans in 30 years to build new power plants in the United States, there's an unexpected hurdle to be overcome: there may not be enough nuclear engineers around anymore to build and run them.

But what's worse, the generation that built and ran America's nuclear plants is aging and headed towards retirement, taking away decades of know-how that have kept the reactors operating safely.

"This is a huge problem for the nuclear industry, because it goes without saying it can't afford to make a single mistake," said David DeLong, a research fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's AgeLab.

DeLong said 28 percent of the 58,000 workers in the U.S. nuclear-power industry will be eligible to retire within five years, representing a huge loss of institutional memory. He said New Mexico's Sandia Laboratories and the Tennessee Valley Authority are both looking at urging potential retirees to stay on their jobs longer.

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[xultar]

1. They can just outsource that. No Problem.

[One_Life_To_Give]

2. Does any university offer a Nuc Eng BS anymore?

Or still have the training reactors?

My Alma Matter disassembled theirs in the mid eighties.

And what about faculty qualified to teach these programs?

[NNadir]

3. MIT, and Georgia Institute of Technology, UC Berkeley, UT, Texas A&M.

There are others.

William Stacy at the Georgia Institutte of Technology has written a comprehensive text on Nuclear Reactor Physics recently. My copy is getting quite worn out.

The course work is very challenging. One must understand nuclear physics, chemistry, metallurgy, statistical mechanics, hydraulics, among other things.

It's not easy.

I am concerned that we do not have enough qualified people in these programs in this country. We certainly need more if we are to survive.

It's an outstanding job in my view, intellectually challenging, high paying, prestigious and works to serve humanity and keep humanity safe.

I am hoping that I can interest either or both of my boys in the field as they grow up.

As a practical matter, most of the world's new nuclear reactors will probably be foreign designed and built. The big players in the future will most likely be Japan, Europe, China and India. I would love to see the Canadian technology more widely adopted, but right now AECL could, in theory, be driven out of business by India in the short term.

[brokensymmetry]

6. Don't let your sons become engineers.

Engineering and the hard sciences do, as you point out, require a great deal of work. Remaining current in the field demands still more effort.

The various employers begrudge every dime, and will outsource their jobs in an instant. Ask yourself who will hire them in, say, 30 years - they'll have highly specialized degrees and experience, and NO ONE will want them.

I was foolish enough to get two degrees - A BSc in Engineering, and an MSc in Computer Science. Given the chance to do it over, I would never get a technical degree.

Yes, that's bad for the country. Let the country end outsourcing - not reduce, not control, not twiddle - end it - and I'll think about revising my views.

[NNadir]

8. I hear your pain.

I take a longer view.

My sons are probably fucked for the long term since they live in the United States, a bankrupt and increasingly theocratic country.

Be that as it may, ultimately the world will need local people with technical ability. You cannot move a nuclear plant to India.

I have known a great many people with technical degrees who have thrived. But I do know that people with technical degrees have been unjustly devalued. If our country is to survive in any way, this must change. If it doesn't change, we're all fucked in any case.

[phantom power]

4. Reminds me of this news item

Hot job in Germany: nuclear engineer

OSNABRUCK, GERMANY - Undeterred by the fact that Germany has decided to phase out its nuclear energy capacity by 2021, Phillip Schumann is pursuing his career goal of becoming a manager at one of his country's 17 nuclear plants.

"I believe that within the next 20 years, Germans will realize that nuclear energy will be necessary for our energy security," said the electrical engineering student at a nuclear industry fair here in February. "Although I am in the minority now, I am optimistic about the future for nuclear energy in Germany."

Mr. Schumann added that he was encouraged by recent statements such as German Economics Minister Michael Glos's call for a rethink of Germany's planned nuclear phase-out after the Russia-Ukraine gas dispute in January exposed the vulnerability of Europe's energy supply.

Across Europe, such reassessments of nuclear power are beginning to creep back onto the political scene. Even in antinuclear Germany, leaders raised the issue at a summit Monday on long-term energy policy.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20060404/wl_csm/oengineers_1

[NNadir]

5. Smart guy.

I hope that I can get my boys to follow this career path.

Of course, I am worried that they may not survive to adulthood because humanity as a whole may not last long enough.

[Dead_Parrot]

7. I suspect there's lots of really good nuke engineers around...

...But Chirac won't let them learn English. :D