Nuclear’s Bright Future
These 3 companies are putting their energy into recruiting vets.
By Marty Levine

William Melendez felt right at home in 2007 when he stepped from a Navy submarine into his role as nuclear mechanic at Dominion’s Millstone Power Station in Waterford, Conn.

“A lot of the systems are the same,” Melendez said. “There wasn’t too much for me to get caught up with, even though it’s on a larger scale. The job here really hit close to home with what I did in the service, and what I love to do – work with my hands, and work with machinery. It makes you feel good that something is running at top performance and you had a hand in it.”

The former machinist mate second class, whose eight years in the service included stints in the Mediterranean and on drug patrols, is now focused on maintaining the equipment at one of four crucial nuclear power facilities owned by Dominion, which is one of the country’s biggest energy producers and transporters.

“I’ve had nothing but good experiences here,” he said. The company has many doors open to advancement, Melendez noted, and opportunities to improve job performance through training every year on new systems, procedures and equipment.

“The future looks pretty bright, as far as I’m concerned,” he said.

Outstanding Outlook
The nuclear industry has a bright future indeed, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which projects an additional 18,910 jobs for nuclear plant operators by 2018, and 9,180 new openings for nuclear technicians.

Recruiters on Matt Kellam’s staff at Dominion are looking for former military for these posts.

“Those are the men and women who have four years-plus of experience, and their electrical, mechanical and other aptitudes are really high,” said Kellam, a former Marine Corps corporal whose six-year service with the Amphibious Assault Battalion, Company A, ended in 2000. “These are folks who can hit the ground running.”

Today Kellam is acting supervisor of strategic staffing at Dominion’s Richmond, Va., headquarters.

“At an entry level, most of what we’re looking for is someone who has a good core understanding and/or a good electrical aptitude,” he said of the company’s efforts to recruit veterans. Those with military experience are top prospects for certain industry jobs, he said, such as nuclear welding positions.

Beyond entry-level jobs, applicants need experience in their specific field – four to 10 years of experience for mid-level to supervisory jobs.

“That’s where the Navy nuclear program is a very fruitful program for us,” Kellam said.

The company typically hires nuclear operators – licensed and non-licensed – as well as chemistry technicians, chemists, nuclear security officers, instructors, and some supervisors, for which the more senior-level enlisted or commissioned officers would be eligible. Starting salaries vary by location.

Kellam calls Dominion an exceedingly stable environment where the right worker can spend decades. And he can vouch for that personally, since he’s the fourth generation of his family to work here. Kellam’s father is still employed by Dominion after 37 years.

He recommends that his fellow veterans take advantage of the special features of the Dominion career website that translate military careers into Dominion careers, and military benefits into Dominion benefits. One of the company’s military-specific benefits is payment of 100-percent salary differential for deployed employees, and maintenance of company benefits during deployment.

Retirements = Opportunity
That’s a benefit Randal Thorpe can certainly appreciate. Thorpe is currently an ensign in the Navy Reserve, as well as chemistry supervisor at Dominion’s nuclear Kewaunee Power Station in Kewaunee, Wis. He expects there to be increasing numbers of job openings there in the future. “The commercial nuclear power industry hasn’t changed much over the last 30 years,” he notes. “A lot of the work force is looking at retirement in the near future, making it a very good industry to be in right now.”

Thorpe credits his Navy job as a chemistry and radiological controls technician, as well as his degree in nuclear engineering for his job at Dominion.  Today as a nuclear chemistry supervisor, he coordinates maintenance and training schedules, refueling activities, and supervises 10 chemistry technologists.

The pace of his commercial work continues to impress him. He recalls being a crew member on USS Michigan when it pulled into the shipyard for refueling, which lasted more than two years. At Dominion, a recent refueling outage lasted less than a month. “To go from a two-year evolution on a submarine to a 26-day evolution here was breathtaking to see and it was amazing to be a part of,” Thorpe said.

He is also impressed with what Dominion did to relocate him: flying his family back and forth for house hunting, and shuttling him home twice before they could all move. And he is pleased with the salary, which he checked using the G.I. Jobs’ military-to-civilian pay calculator. “The only difference here is I get paid overtime,” he said, laughing.

Lighting the Way to Advancement
Navy Reservist Mark Pan spent 1995 to 2001 as a Navy nuclear electrician on a submarine, then 2001 to 2005 as a nuclear prototype instructor. That prepared him well for more than four years as equipment operator at FirstEnergy’s Davis-Besse nuclear power plant in Oak Harbor, Ohio.

Today he is one of the company’s reactor operators in training – a year-and-a-half-long paid course to get his operator’s license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

“After 10 years in the Navy, this is a different type of experience,” Pan said – albeit one with a great deal of on-the-job assistance from colleagues. “Most people in the industry are willing to help and willing to pass on knowledge,” he said. “The organization is always looking for people to pick out and give training to. It seems like they have a vision to go forward with.”

FirstEnergy, headquartered in Akron, Ohio, is the country’s fifth largest investor-owned electric system, running three nuclear power plants and serving Ohio, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

“A lot of people work in the nuclear industry because it’s a high-paying industry, relative to other industries,” Pan said. “It’s an industry with a lot of growth potential.”

That is certainly true, said Angie Gresh, FirstEnergy’s nuclear recruiter.

“We offer excellent opportunities in challenging positions,” she said, and the company actively seeks out veterans. “Military applicants bring the knowledge of the work environment and leadership skills, strong work ethic, integrity, drive and the ability to meet deadlines. It makes military candidates very desirable.”

“They bring that technical know-how and the real-world experience,” said Mark Durbin, company spokesman. “Combine that with the military bearing, the military experience, and it makes for a great employee. They’re outstanding people, and we’re looking for all sorts of outstanding people.”

Key positions for which the company often hires include engineers, analysts, line workers, security, supply chain employees and plant operators. “We have opportunities on the wire side and on the plant side. Some other companies offer the power, and some just deliver it,” Gresh said. “We offer very competitive salaries and benefits and are always looking for exceptional candidates.”

From Submarine to Supercritical
Of course, not all Navy nuclear veterans may want to parlay their experience into a post directly in the nuclear industry.

Brian Garcia spent half of his Navy stint on the Trident submarine USS Alabama and the other half as an instructor of nuclear and electrical theory for the nuclear fleet. Even though he also earned a degree in nuclear engineering, Garcia is now assistant unit manager at MidAmerican’s Walter Scott Energy Center in Council Bluffs, Iowa – a coal-fired power plant that uses the supercritical pressure power generation technology – one of the most efficient methods today.

“It’s still a power plant,” Garcia said. “Essentially, it’s the same function to what I did in the Navy.”

He is not alone, he points out. His supervisor is also prior Navy nuke, as are many of his colleagues and underlings. “It’s not a requirement to be a prior Navy nuke to work here, by any means,” he said. “We don’t give preferential treatment to them, but we certainly look out for them. We know the kind of person we’ll be getting.”

That notion is seconded by Sue Cheek, director of talent management for MidAmerican Energy, an energy industry leader that generates 7 percent of its output from nuclear energy. The company’s most immediate needs encompass engineers, project managers, control-room specialists and control operators, who start at around $60,000 a year, at minimum.

“A lot of the training individuals have aligns with our technical requirements and our corporate values,” she said of veterans. “Other people are not so comfortable working the different shifts we require them to. And we find that they are willing to relocate. We think it’s challenging and interesting work, and it’s a very stable place to work as well."

Nuclear Energy in the United States

Just the Facts

• Electricity is essential to the everyday lives of Americans and to the nation’s economy.
• Nuclear energy generates 20 percent of U.S. electricity.
• Nuclear power plants produce clean, reliable and affordable electricity.
  

Electricity is vital to everyday life—powering everything from computers to air conditioners, lighting homes, running factories and powering server farms. Electricity generation and distribution are among the greatest achievements of the past century. With affordable power available to all, electricity fuels America’s economy and has transformed the way we live and work.

Nuclear energy produces electricity for one in five homes and businesses across the United States, with 104 reactors in 31 states. The country’s largest source of carbon-free electricity is nuclear energy, accounting for 70 percent of all emission-free electricity generated. America’s reactors operate around the clock, thereby stabilizing the entire country’s electricity distribution system and electricity marketplace.