In a bid to meet growing demand for electricity, Connecticut officials are in the early stages of exploring new nuclear energy options. That’s most likely to come in the form of small modular reactors, a type of advanced nuclear energy smaller than the Millstone power plant in Waterford.
But in order to build and operate future modular reactors, they’ll need an array of highly trained workers to make it a reality. With an aging workforce and lack of local construction spanning decades, that could be tricky.
“If you look at the last three decades, the overall sort of sentiment is towards shrinking a nuclear-specific workforce,” said Sukesh Aghara, professor of nuclear engineering at University of Massachusetts Lowell.
“We shut down the reactor in Maine, in Vermont, the one in Connecticut, we shut the one down in Massachusetts,” he said.
New England isn’t alone. Germany closed several of its aging nuclear power plants as part of a long-planned transition to renewable energy – a move celebrated by those concerned with the aftermath of nuclear disasters like Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and most recently, Fukushima.
But in order to meet the Trump administration’s goal of quadrupling U.S. nuclear capacity by 2050, the country’s nuclear workforce will need to grow considerably.
“We have a long history of supporting the development of this workforce, but we have not had a growth in the demand curve for local jobs,” Aghara said.
Emma Cimino, acting commissioner for the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP), said the biggest challenge isn’t engineering these nuclear reactors of the future.
“Advanced nuclear technologies are evolving quickly and have the potential to unlock economic growth, but will only move as fast as the workforce trained to build, operate, and innovate in this space,” Cimino said, speaking at a nuclear info session held by DEEP on Wednesday.
Jobs in nuclear energy have a lot going for them – stable work environments, long careers and competitive salaries, according to James Sherrard, chair of the nuclear program at Connecticut State Community College at Three Rivers in Norwich. The campus trains students who often go on to work at the nearby Millstone nuclear facility.
“The salaries are quite good. In fact, very good,” he said, noting a job in operations typically starts at $109,000 plus overtime.
“I don't think the parents at times realize the salaries that these kids are getting,” he said. “The rewards are quite substantial.”
Still, experts say they’ll need to ramp up recruitment methods.
Nationwide, nuclear workers tend to be older. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, 60% of workers in nuclear energy are between the ages of 30 to 54, higher than the national average. It’s a fact that’s sparked concerns about a “retirement cliff”. At the same time, nuclear energy has 23% fewer workers under the age of 30 than the overall energy workforce.
“We need to start younger, expanding K through 12 pipelines,” said Philip Jordan, CEO of BW Research Partnership, a consulting firm specializing in workforce research.
“Really starting to incorporate nuclear into the everyday curriculum to build those skills and to build exposure to the industry,” he said.
Michael Conner, executive director of the Connecticut Port Authority, said the weakest link in the school-to-nuclear pipeline is at the high school level.
“[The] nuclear industry needs to do a better job at telling people exactly if you go work in a nuclear power plant, what that looks like,” Conner said. “It’ll look different for a mechanic, it’ll look different for a plant operator.”
Jonah Stiger, the business agent for Local Lodge 237, a union representing boilermakers in Connecticut, said the biggest challenge for his workers comes later on.
“The issue is that we go to a job and we build it and then we're done. If there isn't that next project on the horizon that's already in motion, that's where we tend to lose people because there's nothing to keep them here,” Stiger said.
“It's good for somebody who's 18, right out of high school, who wants to travel but once they settle down and have a family, they no longer want to travel. They don't want to go to West Virginia for eight weeks or three months. They want to stay in Connecticut,” he said.
How many nuclear-ready workers Connecticut will need is hard to say. The state is still getting the word out to local communities about the possibility of hosting advanced nuclear technology.
Back in March, governors from across New England, including Gov. Ned Lamont, signed onto a joint agreement to explore new nuclear energy in the region.
In the meantime, educators at CT State Community College Three Rivers are trying to get ready.
“I'm hoping they can really try to identify the types of numbers that they need because I’m sort of the pipeline,” Sherrard said.
“On a good year, we're graduating 14 to 18 students. That's it,” he said.
“If they need us to generate 35 a year, could we do that? Absolutely. It might be a little difficult,” he said, “but we can do it.”
Áine Pennello is a Report for America corps member, covering the environment and climate change for Connecticut Public
