NEI CEO Marvin Fertel shares his perspectives on nuclear power and job creation
– Edited by Stephen Heiser –
In the Monday, May 4, 2009 edition of NationalJournal.com Margaret Kriz asked the followiing:
Anything Matter More Than Jobs?
The federal government is funneling billions of dollars into renewable energy projects. When evaluating those investments, should the main criterion be the number of jobs "created" by the project? What other standards should be used to evaluate those projects? Is the Obama Administration focusing too much of its attention on renewable energy projects, to the exclusion of traditional sources of energy?
The query was made on a public website and invited qualified professionals to respond.
Marvin Fertel, President and CEO, Nuclear Energy Institute responded with the following comments:
Growth in the electricity sector and the associated $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion in investment needed over the next two decades will create hundreds of thousands of jobs through a variety of energy projects. There is consensus that we need a portfolio approach to meet our country’s electricity demand growth and climate change goals, including a suite of electric generating assets. The administration should use this concept of energy diversity as an underlying principle in evaluating energy projects and provide support for all fuel sources.
The nuclear energy industry already is playing an important role in stimulating the creation of new jobs and economic expansion, providing both near-term and lasting employment and economic benefits. Nuclear power plants provide more jobs than any other source of electricity. Based on jobs per 1,000 megawatts of electric generating capacity, nuclear plants create 500 new jobs, compared to 220 for coal plants, 90 for wind plants and 60 for natural gas-fueled plants, according to Ventyx and the Energy Department.
Nuclear energy is one of the few bright spots in the U.S. economy – expanding rather than contracting. This reflects a consensus that any credible program to address climate change must include carbon-free technologies and the fact that our nation needs new baseload generating capacity as well as renewable energy sources.
The industry is developing the first new nuclear projects in the United States since the late 1970s. These new reactor projects are in the early stages of development, such as licensing and site preparation, and start of construction is three years away. Even so, the prospect of new nuclear plant construction already has stimulated significant investment and job creation among companies that supply equipment and services to the nuclear industry.
In the last three years, private investment in new nuclear power plants has created an estimated 14,000-15,000 jobs. The nuclear industry has invested more than $4 billion in new nuclear plant development, and plans to invest approximately $8 billion in the next several years to be in a position to start construction in 2011-2012.