Economic Benefits
Nuclear energy boosts economic growth and supports high-paying jobs. The average nuclear energy plant produces enough electricity to power 750,000 to one million households and businesses in the United States. With the help of nuclear energy, the United States has reduced the share of electricity generated from oil by more than 80 percent since the 1970s. Moreover, nuclear energy has helped improve the standard of living for Americans living near a plant through high-paying jobs and services. Click here to learn about top schools with nuclear engineering programs.
More Jobs
- For each construction, manufacturing, or operations job created at a nuclear power plant, four new jobs are created in the job market to provide goods and services.
- Each nuclear plant employs an average of approximately 500 employees from the local community and generates an additional 500 jobs in the local area.
- Each new American nuclear plant will create 1,400-1,800 construction jobs and add 400 to 700 permanent positions to support continued operations.
- Every dollar spent by a nuclear plant generates approximately $1.13 in the local economy of that plant.
- The economic activity of a nuclear plant generates on average around $20 million in state and local tax revenues.
- Economic activity from the average nuclear plant generates approximately $430 million in total output (production of goods and services) and about $60 million in total labor income in the local economy.
- Employees at U.S. nuclear plants earn salaries approximately 36 percent higher than the average earnings in the communities surrounding the plants.
- According to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics for 2006, the average annual salary for nuclear engineers was $82,900.
More Demand
Most recently, the Bush Administration launched the Nuclear Power 2010 Initiative aimed at ensuring affordable, reliable, and clean sources of nuclear energy for America. This $1.1 billion partnership between the government and industry will facilitate the construction of new nuclear energy plants.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is taking steps to streamline the licensing process for new plant construction. The NRC is analyzing barriers to construction and trying to eliminate them so we can begin the process of solidifying and diversifying our energy base.
- In 2005, only two companies were seeking to build nuclear power plants; now 9 consortia have expressed a new interest in construction of as many as 19 new plants.
- More states are vying for the opportunity to have a nuclear power plant built in their state. Among the potential sites under consideration by the nuclear power consortium NuStart Energy are: Scottsboro, AL; Port Gibson, MS; St. Francisville, LA. Other companies are looking at sites in North and South Carolina, Georgia and Virginia for nuclear power plants.
- A first-of-its-kind, national survey of nuclear power plant neighbors conducted in August 2005 by Bisconti Research, Inc. with Quest Global Research Group found that 76 percent of Americans living in close proximity to nuclear power plants are willing to see a new reactor built near them.