Nuclear Science & Technology
Our nation’s future is clean energy
We know that America is moving toward a clean energy future. We need that energy to be not only clean, but reliable and cost-effective. Nuclear facilities can cleanly power small towns, big cities, and everywhere in between. Nuclear means we can create a clean energy future faster and more affordably than with renewables alone. Nuclear provides clean, reliable, and secure energy we can count on for our future.
Cost effective
Our nation needs to be able to independently produce its own energy. Next generation nuclear facilities are smaller, simper to construct and more affordable than ever. Nuclear increases our energy independence by providing a steady, secure supply here at home.
Constant and reliable
Nuclear is powering a clean energy future—24/7, 365 days a year. It does so no matter what’s happening outside—regardless of rain, snow, or extreme weather like storms and blizzards.
Workforce needs
Nuclear power is not only a source of new investments and cost-effective clean energy, but also a vital contributor to maintaining affordable electricity rates and creating high-quality jobs. Yet, the U.S. nuclear energy industry faces significant challenges in attracting and retaining a qualified workforce due to retirements, retention issues, inflation, shifting demographics, and other factors. Projections suggest worsening labor market conditions over the next decade, highlighting the urgent need to address these workforce challenges.
How are we focusing on strengthening nuclear science and technology?
We are building a nuclear science and technology academic alliance with K-12, tech schools, community colleges, and four-year institutions. Our efforts in career awareness center around attracting and recruiting top talent for the industry. We are committed to creating robust pipelines to develop a highly skilled workforce.
Additionally, we are working diligently to modernize training and streamline qualification processes within the industry. Understanding the reasons for attrition is key to our engagement and retention strategy, where we strive to develop best practices. Lastly, we are dedicated to promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion through the development of cross-cutting best practices.
We will achieve these goals by:
We are building a holistic committee that examines the ecosystem of education, training, and workforce challenges in nuclear. This committee will involve:
- Local, state, and national government agencies
- Non-profits
- Industry
- Labor unions
- Education and training organizations
We are building an alliance that targets career awareness programs, pipeline issues, curriculum development, pathways to careers (e.g., apprenticeship, mentorship, etc), training and certification, and other areas of education. Partnerships will be focused on:
- Apprenticeship and mentorship programs
- K-12
- Vocational/trade schools
- Community colleges
- Universities
- Military academies
- Conduct local and regional cluster analyses
- Analyze and forecast workforce assets and needs
- Create strategies to attract, recruit, develop, and retain employees
- Implement DEIA best practices in the nuclear field
- Conduct webinars and meetings with nuclear educators and labor groups to gain insights on the most effective career awareness tactics and resources.
- Align with industry stakeholders on how best to collaborate on career/workforce webpages to share career opportunities and nuclear education programs across the industry and promote effective and consistent web content.
- Share best practices around training modernization and innovation to meet the teaching and learning needs of a changing workforce.
- Advocate for and reward training modernization and innovation.
- Develop white paper(s) on “how to guides” for training modernization, transforming classrooms styles to new modalities and different approaches, and new ways for training delivery systems (e.g., leveraging AI).
- Identify opportunities and best practices for improving and expanding partnerships with universities and colleges to attract workers to the nuclear industry, particularly focusing on underrepresented populations.
- Create webinars/listening sessions to increase awareness and learn how to leverage knowledge to improve critical pipelines.
