Maintaining a highly-qualified nuclear industry workforce.

Since 2001, the nuclear industry has conducted a series of staffing assessments to better understand workforce demographics and predict future workforce demands. The industry's 2007 workforce survey indicated that in the next 5 y, up to 35% of the current nuclear workforce could retire and would need to be replaced. Thousands of individuals will need to be hired to replace the retirees, especially in engineering, maintenance and operations. Because of the challenges at hand, NEI convened the Workforce Working Group to make recommendations to address recruitment, retention and education needs. Their recommendations are now being implemented.