Good evening. I’m delighted to have this opportunity to discuss the future of nuclear technologies with those who are educating the next generation of our industry’s workforce.

The Energy Department has funded university nuclear programs for many years. DOE has expanded its efforts through the Nuclear Energy Research Initiative, and more specifically the seven grant assistance programs administered by the Office of Nuclear Energy, Science and Technology.

One of the most significant developments during the past few years was the formation of the Nuclear Energy Research Advisory Committee, which underscores the importance of university education and research in nuclear technologies.

I commend NERAC for establishing a Blue Ribbon panel to identify the best ways to support these programs and for recommending workshops such as this one.

I’m here this evening to discuss the future of nuclear technologies. All over the United States, energy companies are lining up to renew the operating licenses for their nuclear power plants and mapping plans to site and build new nuclear plants.

The market is there. The question is, will we have the infrastructure and the trained professionals we need to support the industry’s growth?

I firmly believe we will—if we act now. We have to make sure your students recognize that nuclear technologies offer a wide range of career paths that will enable them to make a positive difference. Consider this:

• Nuclear technology produces 17 percent of the world’s electricity, while protecting its fragile atmosphere.
• Nuclear technology helps diagnose and treat disease.
• Nuclear technology makes food safer.
• It helps power space exploration.
• And in the future, nuclear technology will play major roles in assuring adequate supplies of freshwater for drinking and agriculture, and in producing clean fuels, such as hydrogen.

These are some of the messages I hope you’ll share with the young people on your university campuses. And there is much more. Let me tell you about the state of the nuclear energy industry, in particular.

The year 2000 was an extraordinary year, capping an extraordinary decade. Policymakers and the public increasingly recognize that nuclear energy is vital to our nation’s energy and environmental policy.
 
In recent months, we’ve seen extensive coverage of nuclear energy in newspapers from coast to coast and on major TV news programs.

Positive statements about nuclear energy have become commonplace—and we’re hearing them from many sources.

We’ve heard from giants of the digital economy—like Sun Microsystems CEO Scott McNealy and Intel CEO Craig Barrett—that nuclear energy is part of the solution to shortfalls in electricity supply.

And last month, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan spoke of the link between affordable electricity and the health of our economy. He said:

Given the steps that have been taken over the years to make nuclear energy safer, and the obvious environmental advantages it has in terms of reducing emissions, the time may have come to consider …tapping its potential more fully.

This increased attention to nuclear energy comes at a time when the performance of our nation’s 103 nuclear power plants is at record levels.

This is not a coincidence.

The industry has devoted years to improving the safety and economic performance of our nation’s 103 nuclear power plants, developing advanced-reactor designs for the next generation of plants, and refining a streamlined approach to licensing.

This evening, I’ll bring you up to date on the nuclear energy industry and energy policy developments that affect us. I’ll also share with you the industry’s strategic plan for the future—our vision for the next 20 years.

Before I begin, let me give you a little background on the organization I represent—the Nuclear Energy Institute—for those of you who might not be familiar with NEI.

NEI coordinates industry policy on issues affecting the nuclear energy industry, including federal regulations.

NEI represents 275 companies, including every U.S. utility licensed to operate a commercial nuclear reactor, their suppliers, universities, research laboratories, fuel fabrication facilities, radiopharmaceutical companies and others.

Critics of nuclear energy like to claim that the public doesn’t support nuclear energy. Some of these critics pronounced nuclear energy “dead” several years ago. These myths deserve closer examination.

Myth number one: Policymakers and the public don’t support nuclear energy.

In fact, the renaissance of nuclear energy is very much evident in the political arena and in research on public opinion.

Energy used to be a back-burner issue. When electricity was abundant, few people paid much attention to it—or where it came from.

Now, as our nation confronts tough decisions about energy and the environment, nuclear energy is a very prominent topic.

Currently, there are eight bills in Congress dealing with nuclear energy. Six of them are broad bills that include nuclear energy provisions. Two others are free-standing bills on nuclear energy.

Congress also is paying keen attention to strengthening the nuclear industry’s workforce. It is important to note that nuclear energy has bipartisan support in both houses of Congress.

In May, President Bush introduced a national energy policy that includes a strong role for nuclear energy. This is the first time in decades that an administration has embraced nuclear energy with enthusiasm of the Bush-Cheney administration.

The industry strongly supports the administration’s national energy plan. We expect that the White House energy policy will be subject to debate and a certain amount of controversy—but the increased use of nuclear energy is not one of the controversial areas!

The case for nuclear energy is clear. I urge you to support the energy policy by contacting your senators and representatives in Congress.

Among the American public, support for nuclear energy is stronger than ever.

A nationwide survey in March by Bisconti Research and Bruskin Research showed that 87 percent of American adults favor license renewal for existing plants that meet federal safety standards.

The survey also showed that support for building new plants was 66 percent in March—up from 42 percent in October 1999.

Not surprisingly, support in the electricity-strapped West increased the most—from 33 percent in October 1999 to 62 percent this past March.

Nuclear energy’s environmental attributes are a key reason that nuclear energy is gaining support among policymakers and the public.

One-third of our nation’s generation sources is emission-free, and nuclear energy represents two-thirds of that.

Increased nuclear plant efficiency accounts for 40 percent of carbon reductions in our nation’s voluntary carbon-reduction program—and only about half of the 103 reactors report to the program.

It’s clear that policymakers, the public and even the news media have acknowledged nuclear energy's essential role—not only in today's national and global energy portfolio, but in tomorrow's as well.

Myth number two: Nuclear energy is dead in the United States.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has renewed the operating licenses for six power reactors in the past two years. Renewal extends their licenses for another 20 years beyond their initial 40-year term.

Renewal applications for 14 reactors are under review currently, and the owners of 24 more reactors have announced schedules for submitting renewal applications within the next three years.

Nuclear power plants are being bought and sold—and the asking prices are going up.

Whether nuclear energy’s critics like it or not, this is a very dynamic, successful industry!

Last year, U.S. nuclear power plants generated a record 754 billion kilowatt-hours last year—3.5 percent more than the year before.

In a March report, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said “the increase in nuclear generation over the past two years would have been enough to meet the power needs of all residential consumers in California in 1999.”

During the past decade, the increased efficiency and plant uprates at nuclear power plants amounted to the equivalent of 22 new 1,000-megawatt plants.

That extra power met about one-fifth of the new electricity demand in that time period.

Our plants also are achieving record levels of economic performance and they provide reliable, stable fuel prices going forward—a significant benefit in times of widely fluctuating natural gas prices.

Clearly, the myths I’ve referenced represent thinking of a by-gone era. Now, let’s talk about a new era. Get ready to experience a new reality.

Future growth in our nation’s demand for electricity will present extraordinary opportunities for our industry—and significant challenges. Let’s look at some of those challenges and how we’re going to meet them.

The Energy Department projects a need for 400,000 megawatts of new electric generating capacity by 2020, assuming a modest 1.8 percent growth rate.

In the 1990s, annual growth in demand was about 2.2 percent. Perhaps a more realistic annual growth rate is 2.5 percent, which would mean that the United States will need 564,000 megawatts of new capacity by 2020.

Whether it’s 400,000 megawatts or 564,000 megawatts—new power plants will be needed. So the question is, what types of plants will be built?

The answer is, just about every type of power plant you can think of—including a sizable number of new nuclear power plants.

NEI announced a strategic plan in May to guide the further development of nuclear energy over the next 20 years. Not surprisingly, it is called Vision 2020, and it includes both near-term and long-term actions.

Imagine, for a moment, that it is the year 2020.

Fifty thousand megawatts of new nuclear generating capacity have been added to our nation’s grid—all those new plants that your students are going to help us design, build and operate.

 The present nuclear fleet has increased its generating capacity by 10 percent, adding an additional 10,000 megawatts.

Nuclear energy supplies 23 percent of our nation’s electricity, and it plays a central role in the nation’s clean-air strategy.

By 2020, nuclear technologies are widely used in medicine, food safety, water management and to produce complementary clean fuels such as hydrogen.

Both policymakers and the public are demanding further increases in the share of sustainable nuclear energy to satisfy economic growth and environmental objectives.

That is our vision for 2020. Fifty thousand megawatts sounds ambitious. Pessimists doubt we’ll get there. But it was pessimists who declared nuclear energy dead years ago. You can see how wrong they were!

And keep this in mind: It will take 50,000 megawatts of new nuclear capacity to simply maintain the proportion of emission-free electricity generating capacity the same as it is today—one-third of the total.

The future success of nuclear energy depends in large part on a strong educational infrastructure in nuclear and other engineering fields.

At least 25 percent of the industry’s workers will be eligible to retire in the next five years. If that trend continues, one half of the workforce will be ready to retire in 10 to 15 years, according to a manpower study by DOE.

NEI actively encourages government support for education in engineering and nuclear sciences.

The industry also is working in partnership with the university community and labor to ensure that staffing needs will continue to be met—now and in the future.

NEI held an industry-university recruiting workshop in March. Our Recruiting and Staffing Task Force is surveying staffing needs for next decade. Incidentally, the task force includes representatives not only from commercial entities, but also from DOE, the Nuclear Engineering Department Heads Organization, the NRC, the American Nuclear Society and labor.

Last week, we mailed the survey to all major employers in the nuclear industry, including government, government contractors and universities. Responses are due in early August.

I encourage you to make sure your university or company is participating. The analysis will be completed early this fall.

We’re also looking at what individual companies are doing to recruit young professionals, including internships and other efforts.

By the end of the year, we’ll begin Phase 2, which involves sharing information across the industry, identifying areas of concern and developing a plan to address these areas.

When industry executives commit resources to workforce issues, you can be sure they’re serious about the future of nuclear energy.

This, then, is the state of the nuclear energy industry today. It is marked by marked by outstanding achievement, a supportive political environment, increasing public awareness of nuclear energy’s benefits, increasing public confidence in nuclear energy’s role as a sound energy source and balanced treatment in the news media.

I applaud your efforts in holding this workshop, and I ask you to go further.

Tell the young people entering your academic institutions about the wonderful opportunities that await them in nuclear technologies!

Share with them the industry’s vision of the future!

Tell them that we expect most of our nation’s 103 nuclear power plants to renew their licenses for up to 20 more years—taking many of these reactors close to the mid-century mark!

And tell these bright, energetic young people that the industry plans to build 50,000 megawatts of new nuclear generating capacity! Within two years, we expect to see the first applications for early site permits.

When NEI sponsored focus groups among engineering students last year, we heard that students are looking for “cool” careers. Imagine this:

A thriving economy powered to a significant percentage by nuclear-generated electricity …

fresh air …

fresh water …

safer food …

and stunning advances in medicine.

That’s a cool career. That’s nuclear technology.

Thank you.