Emerging Employment Trends in the Nuclear Power Industry

By Richard Works

Nuclear power is the second largest source of clean energy. In the U.S., nuclear electric power generation accounts for approximately 20 percent of the nation’s electrical production. As of March 2019, the U.S. had 60 commercial nuclear power plants. These power plants housed 98 operating reactors. Despite being clean energy and having many commercial plants, between 2009 and 2019, employment in the nuclear electric power generation declined 23 percent from 53,080 employees to 40,786 employees.

Employment in this industry was projected to decline 36.8 percent between 2019 and 2029. This would be a loss of 15,599 jobs over the next decade. The decline over the years has been primarily due to the decommissioning of nuclear power plants. The decommissioning has been expected to continue as technology is now available to demolish nuclear reactors at a faster pace than what was possible in decades past. But, is there anything that can be done to save this seemingly dying industry?

Background

According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s North American Industry Classification System, the U.S. industry of Nuclear Electric Power Generation comprises establishments primarily engaged in operating nuclear electric power generation facilities. These facilities use nuclear power to produce electric energy. The electric energy produced in these establishments is provided to electric power transmission systems or to electric power distribution systems. The largest nuclear power plant in the United States is the Palo Verde Generating Station near Tonopah, Arizona.

Nuclear power generation has been very expensive when compared to more competitive energy, such as wind and solar power. As of June 2019, some 20 reactors at 15 power plants across the country had plans for decommissioning. According to the Energy Information Administration, six reactors have been shut down since 2013 and eight more announced to retire by 2025. A report from Deloitte stated that the United States, France, Japan, and Russia will face a dramatic decline in the nuclear industry by 2040 when a total of 253 nuclear facilities from these countries will enter the decommissioning phase.

According to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, nuclear construction costs are increasing as aging nuclear reactors cannot cover their costs due to maintenance, repair, and replacement. Additionally, incidents such as the 2011 meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan, is a reminder of the dangers associated with nuclear energy. However, research into small modular nuclear reactors is underway, and if proven beneficial, we may see a change in over the next decade. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission reports that licenses have been for new reactors, and there are license applicants that have researched and are seeking to design new smaller modular reactors.

Reversing the Downtrend

Scientists from the Massachusetts Institution of Technology are planning the construction of a new type of reactor starting in spring 2021. Upon completion of the construction, they will begin testing in hopes of building a power plant that uses this fusion energy to generate electricity. If this works out, implementing this new technology into power plants could become a reality in the next decade. Similarly, work is happening in France to construct a fusion-powered reactor and is expected to produce fusion by 2035. Both of these efforts look to use fusion instead of fission to produce the nuclear energy. Fission is the splitting of nucleus into two nuclei, whereas fusion combines two nuclei together to release energy.

The fuel for these new fusion power plants would be isotopes of hydrogen instead of burning fossil fuels, thus these new plants would not produce greenhouse-gas emissions. The isotopes of hydrogen are more plentiful when compared to the uranium that today’s nuclear power plants use. Therefore, the fusion would be less radioactive and less dangerous than traditional plants. Evidence provided in the Journal of Plasma Physics suggest that the fusion nuclear reactor would produce 10 times as much energy as it consumes by taking advantage of new electromagnet technology to produce a much higher magnetic field.

Another effort under consideration would be to replace one large nuclear reactor with 12 smaller reactors. This would drastically reduce the construction time in replacing the reactors. Additionally, these smaller plants would be simplified and thus safer. And, these plants would not depend on cooling generators or pumps. Instead, the reactors would be contained in a pool of water underground so the heat would be absorbed without the need of AC or DC power. The first of this initiative is to be built at the Idaho National Laboratory.

An effort being funded by the U.S. Department of Energy is the development of a Natrium reactor. This reactor uses sodium metal as a coolant, and is expected to be operational by the late 2020s. The sodium reactor coolant would remove the need of pressurization and would save on costs typically incurred from large containment structures. Additionally, this effort would burn fuel more efficiently when compared to current nuclear power plants. Research is also underway in which a reactor would use fuel in pebble form, and thus cannot melt down. The design of this reactor would be modular for increased efficiency.

Employment

Considering the total electric power generation, transmission, and distribution sector, fossil fuel electric power generation industry made up 21.74 percent of the sector in 2019. Nuclear made up 10.99 percent, Wind made up 1.6 percent, and Solar made up 0.84 percent. Fossil Fuel employed over 100,000 people in 2011, but that has since declined to around 84,000 in 2019. Similarly, Nuclear lost nearly half of their workforce within that same time period. In 2011, Nuclear employed, nearly 53,000 people, but in 2019, that number declined to nearly 27,000. On the other hand, Wind increased from around 3,000 people in 2011 to slightly over 6,100 in 2019. Likewise, employed in Solar increased from 553 in 2011 to 3,200 in 2019.

Fossil Fuel and Nuclear both have a declining trend. In this trend continues, then we can expect to lose nearly 40,000 jobs by 2029. On the other hand, Wind and Solar are showing enormous potential growth in terms of percentage, but these two industries are so small that their growth would be less than 2,000 for each of the two industries. We know from a scientific perspective that fossil fuel electric generation will continue to decline; therefore, it is clear in terms of employment purposes that research into advancements of Nuclear is a necessity.

If these new research and development efforts succeed, then we may have new life spring into the nuclear industry. It is interesting to know that at least three major oil companies are invested in the future of nuclear fusion. Their investment is based on the need of low-carbon alternatives to fossil fuels. This investment connection may give us an insight into the potential industry synergies. According to the CEO of Commonwealth Fusion Systems, building a fusion system uses the same skills as needed when building an oil refinery. Therefore, this may give us hope that displaced employees from that industry can find a home in the fusion nuclear industry. However, he says that the problem is handling the nonlinear plasma physics, which is very difficult. But the industry would like to see fusion reactors on the grid by the early 2030s.