NEI Senior Vice President Scott Peterson Talks Nuclear with the American Security Project
The American Security Project (ASP) held a candid discussion with Nuclear Energy Institute Senior Vice President Scott Peterson this week on the future of nuclear energy in the United States Post-Fukushima. The conversation, which covered everything from jobs in nuclear to the industry’s actions in light of Japan, is now available as a podcast on ASP’s website.
ASP is “a non-profit, bipartisan public policy and research organization dedicated to fostering knowledge and understanding of a range of national security issues, promoting debate about the appropriate use of American power, and cultivating strategic responses to 21st century challenges.”
In the nearly 30-minute podcast, Peterson informs ASP and listeners that the nuclear industry currently provides 125,000 U.S. jobs; the entire electricity sector provides about 400,000 jobs. With about half of the jobs in the nuclear sector facing retirement, the industry represents a great opportunity for new graduates to become a part of the nuclear workforce. Disciplines needed run the gamut from engineers to highly skilled craft workers to help build new reactors in Georgia and South Carolina.
Peterson also highlighted the U.S. nuclear energy industry’s demonstrated record of safety especially over the last few months when American nuclear facilities withstood record floods in Nebraska, F5 tornadoes in the northeast and Hurricane Irene, among other natural disasters. Nevertheless, the industry is working closely with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), the industry’s independent watchdog, to make safe U.S. facilities even safer in the wake of the March accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear facility in Japan.
The ASP panel also featured Andrew Holland, an ASP Senior Fellow specializing in Energy and Climate; Veronique Lee, an ASP intern working on climate and energy issues, and Paul Hamill, ASP Director of External Relations, served as the moderator.
To listen to the podcast and to hear more of Peterson’s thoughts on the U.S. nuclear renaissance, non-proliferation, Yucca Mountain and small modular reactors, click here.
