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Workforce Development Considerations

Over the past several decades, workforce development in the energy sector has evolved from a localized employer-driven effort to a broad, multi-stakeholder collaboration. New energy realities demand innovative approaches to nuclear employment. To examine cross-sector workforce development needs and strategies, Steven Arndt, University of Tennessee, moderated a panel discussion on recruiting the nuclear workforce and equipping workers with the skills they—and their employers—need to thrive. Panelists explored policy frameworks, partnership models, and scalable strategies that can accelerate workforce transitions that will be crucial to enabling future nuclear energy development for the benefit of energy companies, labor organizations, and the communities they serve.

The panelists were Olivia Blackmon, Oak Ridge Associated Universities; Trevor Falk, North America’s Building Trades Unions; Matthew Warren, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers; Nickolas Bumpaous, United Association Local Union 598 - Plumbers and Steamfitters; and Lisa Marshall, American Nuclear Society and North Carolina State University.

OPENING REMARKS

Advancing nuclear energy is a complex problem that will rely heavily on multi-sector, public–private collaborations in education and workforce training. Blackmon described how Oak Ridge Associated Universities is

advancing this goal through its Partnership for Nuclear Energy initiative.¹ This nationwide collaborative network is focused on coordinating efforts across all education levels to build the workforce pipeline needed to support a top-performing nuclear energy industry.

Falk described how North America’s Building Trades Unions, which operates as an umbrella organization of 14 unions, supports workforce development in trades such as plumbing and pipefitting, electrical work, ironworking, and operational engineering, which are essential to the nuclear power industry. In particular, he highlighted how the organization’s 3- to 5-year apprenticeship programs, operated in all 50 states, can be leveraged to meet nuclear workforce needs. Union apprenticeship graduates are diverse, productive, reliable, and well-trained, resulting in lower overall construction costs. Many union workers helped to build Vogtle 3 and 4, Falk noted, and will take the lessons from that experience to future nuclear sites. For the success of future nuclear sites, however, Falk emphasized that workforce needs must be communicated years in advance so that the workforce can be recruited and trained on the right timeframe to fill jobs when they become available. “There is no better time than yesterday to begin the conversations on potential sites you’re looking at, potential workforce needs, potential training needs,” he said.

The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), which encompasses a wide range of skills and backgrounds, represents nearly two-thirds of the existing nuclear workforce. Warren highlighted some of IBEW’s activities advancing workforce development, upskilling, and safety protocols. He said that the organization works closely with utility and industry partners to expedite mutually beneficial priorities, such as expanding nuclear energy, as part of its effort to create new career opportunities for its members. He noted that this is seen as especially important as jobs are lost in conventional energy generation such as coal-fired power plants. IBEW also advocates for energy tax credits such as those in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022 to continue to spur nuclear development, create jobs, and overcome construction obstacles.

Bumpaous emphasized that new projects get built when collaborators, goals, and visions are aligned. As others had mentioned, he stressed the importance of timing when planning workforce training programs, recognizing that it can take 4–5 years to become a licensed plumber or electrician. As a result, a cross-community, multi-stakeholder effort is required to produce the tradespeople needed to build large-scale projects like new nuclear reactors. It is also essential for training programs to hold students to the nuclear industry’s high standards and forge partnerships

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¹ Oak Ridge Associated Universities, “Partnership for Nuclear Energy,” https://www.orau.org/partnerships/stem-accelerator/nuclear/index.html, accessed April 14, 2025.

with community and industry leaders to teach these skills and ensure that trainees find employment when they complete their training.

Recognizing that nuclear energy competes with many other industries to attract the “best and brightest,” Marshall underscored the need for an all-of-the-above approach to workforce development, including starting early by engaging with future workers in elementary and middle school, providing pathways for high school graduates who may not plan to go to college, and offering reskilling and training for adults who are open to a career change. As president of the American Nuclear Society, she described how she has worked to frame nuclear energy as a growing, multi-disciplinary industry with wide appeal. She also highlighted the society’s efforts to cultivate future workers through multimodal collaborations that include virtual reality visits, facility tours, speakers, and experiential learning. Instead of a pipeline, she said she views education as an ecosystem, which can grow and evolve by communicating the role of nuclear power in the clean energy transition, clearly conveying the breadth and depth of opportunities, and helping students from all backgrounds find fulfilling employment.

PANEL DISCUSSION

Aligning Workforce Development with Workforce Needs

Arndt invited panelists to expand on considerations for aligning workforce training with job availability. Falk and Bumpaous stressed that to be successful, apprenticeship programs must be able to guarantee jobs once trainees complete the program. Since many trades are in high demand across multiple sectors, if nuclear energy jobs are not ready when trainees are coming out of the programs, workers will find opportunities elsewhere. “Apprenticeship starts with a job,” Bumpaous said. “Nobody is getting into an apprenticeship and going to sit up on the shelf for 6 years waiting for somebody to build something.” Given this context, Falk and Warren reiterated that the key to staffing new nuclear projects is to initiate conversations between unions, suppliers, contractors, and developers as early as possible—years ahead—to determine when to recruit, what jobs will be available, and what skills are needed, as well as to anticipate any risks.

Blackmon also agreed with these points and shared that Tennessee and 11 other states recently launched the Nuclear Energy Workforce Center project to recruit and train workers at all skill and education levels to fill current and future workforce gaps. The centers will coordinate local capacity-building, nuclear-specific competency and skill-set frameworks, economic and needs assessments, public–private partnerships,

relationships with local organizations and institutions, and collaborations with K–12 schools and higher education to identify industry needs, gain community trust, and build and maintain a holistic recruitment pipeline. Marshall agreed that national networks are important and added that educational partnerships will be most successful if they are active in communities, engage local schools and organizations, learn a community’s culture and history, and tailor programs to each community to attract—and retain—workers.

Noting that nuclear energy can bring both benefits and challenges to communities, a participant asked how panelists strike the right balance in terms of messaging. Marshall replied that, when speaking about future growth, she is careful to be honest in conveying the uncertainties, while at the same time highlighting concrete examples of current job openings or career paths that can resonate with students.

Casting a Wide Net Through Collaboration

In light of some of the unique facets of nuclear energy and public perceptions of it, Marshall said that it is important to convey how nuclear plants approach safety and security concerns and address broader questions about nuclear careers. To cast the widest net possible, she highlighted the value of employing translation services, partnering with professional affinity groups and minority-serving institutions, and facilitating in-person reactor visits to familiarize the new generation with nuclear energy. “It is national, it is a network, but then it’s also very local, and how we approach these local areas based on the power of the network will then pull in individuals that we want to stay and thrive, and that is where the human capacity-building component comes in,” Marshall said.

Asked to expand on strategies to bring in employees from various backgrounds and fields, Blackmon stated that better coordination is needed to overcome industry siloes. She said that Oak Ridge Associated Universities collaborates with schools, unions, workers, social scientists, and other subgroups to share best strategies and capture each group’s expertise. Marshall agreed, noting that cross-pollination between educators, unions, professional organizations, and industry can build pathways to solid employment. This collaborative approach also can help to dismantle siloes, use resources wisely, and avoid duplication to achieve greater impact.

Engaging the Future Workforce at the K–12 Level

Panelists discussed considerations for strengthening engagement at the K–12 level to spark students’ interest and build awareness of the

career opportunities they can have in the nuclear industry. To prepare younger students for the post-high school apprenticeship pipeline, Falk described how unions convey the value of union training as an alternative to college by proactively engaging with high school counselors; attending job fairs at local high schools; and partnering with community and technical colleges. These well-established strategies can also be complemented by newer ones, such as holding free concerts, forging connections with local business owners, or conducting social media campaigns that draw in students.

Bumpaous stated that a key barrier to recruitment is that many educators are not aware of the full scope of the opportunities the trades offer in terms of employment and career pathways. “We can go to all the career fairs and career days that we want, but if the educators in the room with our kids every day are not speaking to them about the opportunities of the trades and the pathways of the trades … we are never going to get there,” he said. Marshall agreed, noting that this problem also exists in non-school settings and has a generational impact on the workforce. She said conveying the opportunities in the nuclear field requires active, continuous, in-person and online outreach across multiple settings. She suggested targeting this outreach at educators and students at all grade levels to explain what nuclear energy is, answer questions, allay concerns, and outline career entry points. Including student engineers, who are typically younger, in these outreach efforts can also help to engage students, she added.

A member of the audience asked about the field’s efforts to correct inaccurate or misleading information about nuclear energy that may be included in K–12 curricula. Marshall agreed that this can be a challenge and said that hosting workshops for educators to provide more updated and accurate information is often easier than changing curricula, which can be a slow process. To reach the widest audience, including teaching students, she said that workshops should be convenient and affordable and added that including after-program support can help to cement the information and encourage knowledge-sharing among peers. She noted that American Nuclear Society ambassadors can help arrange such workshops and send experienced and passionate presenters.

Strengthening Local Communities

Arndt noted that in some cases, the local workforce is not large enough to fill the need, and outside workers may be needed. Noting that this is especially true during the construction phase, Warren suggested that construction workers who are not local should be given support if they want to transition to operations staff and settle in the community

permanently. Falk said that moving across the country for construction work is fairly common, but posited that a transient workforce will not meet the industry’s long-term needs. As a result, he said that aggressive and large-scale local recruitment leveraging the types of partnerships and strategies panelists described is essential to meeting permanent staffing goals, especially given that the nuclear industry is competing with other industries for workers.

Bumpaous agreed that cultivating a local workforce is an important goal and said that union members support that by investing in local apprenticeship programs. Workers who will travel are often needed, but a strong and competent local workforce brings economic benefits, ancillary industries, and overall stability to a community. Falk agreed, stating that union support buoys communities, prepares the next generation of workers, and can also help to revitalize communities by upskilling employees from industries that are facing declines, such as coal.

Community resources also influence workers’ decisions about whether to move to a new site or settle there permanently. Bumpaous said that to retain talent, communities need to offer adequate transportation options, entertainment, comfort, and family amenities. Because nuclear sites are largely in rural, remote areas, a lack of such resources can contribute to challenges with worker retention. Falk agreed and suggested that developers could help to address this by engaging first with the existing community and then identifying ways to provide additional amenities that can facilitate community engagement and make the area an attractive environment for workers.

Embedding Nuclear Culture

The notion of “nuclear culture” was raised several times throughout the workshop, and Arndt asked panelists to expand on what this means and its relevance to workforce development. Bumpaous replied that the phrase refers to the strict, non-negotiable requirements and regulations that are essential to ensuring safety in the nuclear industry. He added that union training and apprenticeship programs have successfully adhered to these standards for decades and place a high priority on upholding them.

Falk added that nuclear culture already exists and can be transplanted to new projects—as it was during Vogtle construction—through multifaceted and collaborative training programs in partnership with local organizations. He said that the nuclear industry’s relatively stable and high-paying jobs are well suited for skilled, responsible workers for whom nuclear culture comes naturally. He added that it is important to empower workers to use their judgment if something seems unsafe, to provide mental health and suicide awareness programs to ensure that employees

feel safe and valued, and to advance broader community-wide efforts that help to support the entire region.

Blackmon agreed, stating that nuclear culture extends beyond the immediate workforce to encompass the overarching nuclear narrative in the United States. She said that a coordinated, collaborative communication and recruitment strategy targeting future workers and the general public through social media, social scientists, and outreach to teachers, students, and parents can better illuminate the safety, security, and opportunities within the nuclear industry. Warren added that while critical job actions and standard operating procedures are important to embedding nuclear culture, it is also crucial to dispel myths about nuclear energy and elevate the national conversation through site tours, classroom visits, and other public engagement mechanisms that can positively influence perceptions of nuclear energy.

Asked about resources needed for security at nuclear plants, Arndt and Blackmon also agreed that security is a key component of any critical infrastructure resource.

Opportunities to Enhance Workforce Development

Arndt asked panelists to identify one action item to address workforce development needs in the nuclear industry. Blackmon pointed to a need for more state and federal government funding to support education and workforce training and facilitate collaborations across federal agencies. In addition, she suggested that states could pass legislation in support of nuclear education and workforce training. Warren seconded the need for more workforce development funding, and Bumpaous added that union apprenticeship programs also need more support and could be included in planning for nuclear construction projects.

Reiterating that the workforce is not needed until industry is ready to build, Falk said that getting to that point will require maintaining IRA tax credits and relevant labor standards, as well as potentially creating more federal financial incentives, such as cost overrun insurance. Marshall stated that engaging with policymakers at every level is as important as engaging with the next generation of workers and educators.