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Power Engineering Technology: A New Program Targeted at the Nuclear Power Industry

Abstract

Recent studies indicate that over the next five years, there will be significant increases in the demand for utility workers. These studies also show that the present supply of these workers will not keep pace with this anticipated growth. This is especially true in the nuclear power industry, where the aging workforce and expected increase in the number of operational nuclear power plants are early indicators of a severe shortage of skilled utility workers. In Texas alone, NRG (South Texas Power Nuclear Operating Company), Luminant, and Exelon have all announced their intentions to license and build six new nuclear power plants. These plants will require approximately two thousand qualified personnel to operate and maintain them. Traditionally, the nuclear power industry has relied on a strong nuclear navy and nuclear construction work force to supply their human resource needs. However, these resources have dwindled leaving the nuclear power industry looking for new sources to fill their staffing requirements. It is in this context that engineers from the South Texas Project Nuclear Power Plant approached the Engineering Technology and Nuclear Engineering Departments at Texas A&M University in April 2007 with a proposal to create a four-year Power Engineering Technology degree. After four months of effort, a proposal was submitted to the Texas Workforce Commission for the resources necessary to fund this and other related initiatives. This proposal has been funded and work on the new Power Engineering Technology program has begun. As a starting point, a faculty member spent the Summer of 2007 onsite at the South Texas Project Nuclear Plant to learn about their workforce needs. Using this knowledge, a new curriculum is being designed that includes a strong emphasis in three technical areas: • Electronic Engineering Technology, with a focus in the areas of power, instrumentation, and control. • Mechanical Engineering Technology, with a focus in the areas of materials, thermal systems, and mechanics. • Nuclear Engineering, with focus in nuclear reactor physics/operation and radiological safety. This paper will present the new Power Engineering Technology curriculum, progress to date, ongoing academia/industry interactions, and success stories that have resulted from this new program.

Introduction

It has been recognized that the United States’ power requirements are rapidly approaching its generation capacity1 and the need for new generation capacity and power infrastructure has come to the forefront of issues to be addressed by the power industry. One sector of this industry that has the potential for rapid growth is nuclear power generation ad public awareness of global warming and the potential impact of greenhouse gases have limited the choices of generation methods1. Not only does nuclear power have no carbon costs, but its monetary costs are well aligned with current generation alternatives2. The results of a Department of Energy sponsored study by the University of Chicago in 2004 as shown in Table 1 estimated that the cost of nuclear

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Porter, J., & Alvarado, J., & Morgan, J., & Poston, J., & Peddicord, K., & Crenshaw, J. (2008, June), Power Engineering Technology: A New Program Targeted At The Nuclear Power Industry Paper presented at 2008 Annual Conference & Exposition, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 10.18260/1-2--3325