How ORAU is shaping the conversation about the nuclear energy workforce

ORAU planted its stake in the ground as a leader in nuclear energy workforce capacity building when it launched the ORAU STEM Accelerator (OSA) in 2023. Workforce capacity building isn’t new to ORAU. We’ve been working with our federal agency partners for nearly eight decades to provide opportunities (like nuclear energy jobs) for young and up-and-coming scientists across the federal research enterprise.

Nuclear energy is seeing a resurgence in the United States with the development of more efficient and cost-effective small modular nuclear reactors. OSA was created to meet the workforce needs of this growing industry. The U.S. Department of Energy estimates the nuclear energy industry will need more than 375,000 trained and qualified workers by 2050, which is a 275% increase from the roughly 100,000 workers employed in the industry today.

“Not just health physicists and nuclear engineers, although those roles are certainly important,” said Michelle Goodson, director of OSA. “Nuclear energy is going to need workers at every level, from knowledge workers to trades people and everything in between.”

Over the past few months, Goodson and Ashley Stowe, Ph.D., ORAU chief research and university partnerships officer, have been crisscrossing East Tennessee and the country discussing the importance of prepping the population for nuclear energy jobs. Here’s a rundown of what they’ve been up to.

OSA leads local workforce strategy challenge

The Oak Ridge Corridor Development Corporation asked Stowe and Goodson to lead a 45-day workforce development challenge, as part of a broader 45-day challenge to develop a cohesive and unified nuclear workforce strategy and continue building on the infrastructure needed to foster the growing nuclear energy renaissance. There is a lot of excitement around small modular nuclear reactors.

Stowe is proud that the OSA team met the 45-deadline, which required a lot of effort. During the 45 days, the OSA team convened three workshops with 53 stakeholders across 26 educational, government, community and industry partners.

He added that the 45-day challenge worked into OSA’s effort to strategize nationally, deploy regionally and act locally. The stakeholders convened for the workshops developed six key outcomes:

• Reform academic policy to increase flexibility and competency-based pathways driven by job needs.
• Increase teacher/instructor capacity and engagement.
• Launch multi-level, targeted awareness and outreach campaigns with a centralized approach.
• Enhance and standardize apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship programs through a central intermediary, streamlining security clearance processes.
• Develop and deploy scalable hybrid learning models and delivery systems leveraging existing assets.
• Strengthen and optimize connections across existing resources and infrastructure through a central intermediary.

Conferences focused on nuclear energy jobs

Major conferences on the topic of nuclear energy focus at least parts of their agendas on the topic of workforce capacity building for nuclear energy jobs, training and education. U.S. Women in Nuclear, a conference presented by the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) held in New Orleans, La., in late July is one such event.

Goodson was part of a panel conversation on the topic, “Building Bridges to Careers in Nuclear Energy,” which informed attendees of the conference on the strategy that will require a widespread collaboration effort from K-12 education through undergraduate, post-graduate, trade, vendor and utility organizations to provide a successful pipeline to power a nuclear future and nuclear energy jobs (like at small modular nuclear reactors).

“We have to invest in inspiring, attracting and training the future workforce in advance of and while we’re in the process of developing and deploying the next generation of nuclear reactions to meet the growing needs of this industry,” Goodson said.

Her portion of the conversation included a presentation about OSA and the Partnership for Nuclear Energy (PNE), an ORAU-led consortium of stakeholders in academia, industry and government working diligently to create high-impact nuclear education and training programs. Goodson shared the five goals of PNE, which include:

• Strengthen America’s Global Leadership in Nuclear to address critical challenges in education, training and workforce development.
• Address Workforce Challenges in the Nuclear Energy Industry by developing comprehensive solution sets and implementation plans.
• Promote Clean and Reliable Energy by addressing workforce challenges in the nuclear energy sector.
• Foster Public-Private Partnerships in the Nuclear Sector by bridging the gaps between organizations and encouraging knowledge sharing and collective action.
• Demonstrate Impactful Solutions that engages all stakeholders.

Goodson also looked ahead to the forthcoming release of the Nuclear Energy Academic Roadmap (NEAR), which aims to meet the nuclear energy industry’s workforce capacity needs by offering a first-of-its-kind blueprint to strengthen pathways into nuclear careers, enhance educational and training infrastructure, and inspire a new generation of leaders in the field. The NEAR is scheduled to be released in early September.

A week before Women in Nuclear, Goodson moderated a panel discussion on “Nuclear Workforce Training and Education,” at the East Tennessee Economic Council (ETEC) Nuclear Opportunities Workshop (NOW) conference held in Knoxville, Tenn.

“I’m grateful to the expert panel members who shared excellent information on how the nuclear industry, and Tennessee specifically, is addressing nuclear awareness, education and training.” Goodson said.

 

ETEC NOW is a nuclear industry conference focused on all things nuclear: fission, fusion, isotopes, environmental management, AI in nuclear, workforce and more. Attendees learn about industry developments, opportunities, and advancements in research and development. The ORAU STEM Accelerator leads the Partnership for Nuclear energy, which is dedicated to building nuclear energy workforce capacity in Tennessee and beyond.

Gathering of academic stakeholders at ORAU

In July, ORAU brought together 14 nuclear engineering academic institutions from its University Consortium to begin the process of taking an inventory of currently available professional development programming in nuclear engineering and related fields, and they discussed education and training opportunities and barriers

Those gathered represented a sample of the more than 140 academic institutions that comprise the PNE.

“We want to understand what our consortium members are already doing, as well as explore opportunities to partner and collaborate to meet the current and future workforce needs in the nuclear industry across the United States,” Stowe said. “We have a great opportunity to transform the way we teach and train students as well as adults to work in the nuclear industry.”

Among those participating in the meeting were vice presidents of research, department heads and professors engaged in nuclear engineering and related fields from University Consortium member institutions.

“Having a good understanding of what each institution is doing is important to ensure we do not have gaps in the education and training landscape,” Goodson said. “More importantly, the workshop was about making connections with potential collaborators for future educational initiatives and partnerships.”

Data from the programmatic inventory will be shared with PNE members as needed in future discussions and workshop gathering.

“ORAU will continue to act as a convener and integrator to ensure the best programmatic methods and structures are used,” Stowe said. “We will also seek to collaborate with our university partners to fill gaps identified to strengthen the programs and grow capacity across them.”

Coming soon: Nuclear Energy Academic Roadmap, T-NEWC and National Nuclear Science Week

There are even more exciting developments on the horizon for OSA and PNE, including:

• Nuclear Energy Academic Roadmap. Release of the NEAR is timed to coincide with the 2025 Nuclear Energy Conference and Expo, to be held Sept. 8-11 in Atlanta, Ga. Goodson will lead a panel discussion on the NEAR at the conference.
• T-NEWC. ORAU will open the doors to the Tennessee Nuclear Energy Workforce Center (T-NEWC) in FY26. Funded by the State of Tennessee, T-NEWC will include offices and classroom space in MC-212 on ORAU’s main campus in Oak Ridge, Tenn. The center will focus on developing a centralized nuclear energy ecosystem with public and private partners across the state; strengthening the skills, knowledge, tools and resources that Tennessee nuclear energy organizations need; establishing a coordinated nuclear education alliance to mobilize education training and resources; conducting targeted outreach and education campaigns; and promoting career exploration through a Tennessee Department of Labor pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship program in nuclear energy.
• National Nuclear Science Week. The American Museum of Science and Energy (AMSE) is leading the planning of activities in Oak Ridge and East Tennessee for National Nuclear Science Week, which is Oct. 20-24, 2025. ORAU is one of many partners in the region planning activities throughout the week, including job fairs, educational sessions and much more.

ORAU has and will continue to play a key role in shaping the conversation about the needs of the future nuclear energy workforce in Oak Ridge, East Tennessee, as well as across the state and nationally by leveraging our thought leadership, subject matter expertise, as well as our relationships with academic, industry and government agency partners.