U.S. needs more nuclear engineers
The Wall Street Journal recently published an article highlighting a growing shortfall in nuclear engineers. Energy workforce development is too often entirely overlooked or taken to mean training wind and solar installers exclusively.
The Wall Street Journal reports:
Between 2012 and 2022, the number of students graduating with bachelor’s degrees in nuclear engineering in the U.S. fell by 25%, according to the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education, with the class of 2022 seeing only 454 students graduate with a degree in the field.
At the same time, the nuclear industry is facing a maturing workforce, with 17% of workers in the industry over the age of 55 and 60% aged between 30 and 54, according to the 2024 U.S. Energy and Employment report. The report also highlighted that 23% of workers were aged under 30, compared with 29% for other energy workers…
In the U.S., that figure currently stands at about 68,000 people, but would need to grow to more than 200,000, based on an Energy Department forecast that sees nuclear power tripling by 2050…
Energy workforce shortages are not limited to nuclear workers, however. Oil and gas, coal, and mining see declining graduation rates, high salaries, and an aging workforce as well. The number of undergraduates pursuing petroleum engineering has declined 75% since 2014, so there are fewer young workers to take up the mantle. A McKinsey study found that over a quarter of oil and gas employees are at or near retirement age.
Nuclear and petroleum engineering are high-paying careers for young people to consider:
Pay also is another attractive factor for those entering the [nuclear] industry. Data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that compared with other engineering degrees, pay in the nuclear industry is only second to petroleum engineering, with the median salary at $125,460.
An August DOE report touts growth in the wind and solar energy workforce at more than twice the rate of the broader economy in 2023 thanks to the subsidies. (The report makes no mention of salary outcomes, but it’s likely that growth is coming predominantly from lower-paid installer occupations rather than engineers).
Pumping up occupations in solar and wind while ignoring the workforce needed to deploy reliable and affordable baseload power like nuclear, oil and gas, and coal is shortsighted. Yet another instance of government picking of winners and losers and toying with peoples’ livelihoods.