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As Nuclear Power Returns, Universities Scramble to Train Workers

Associated Press - October 5, 2008 1:55 PM ET

TROY, N.Y. (AP) - Nuclear engineering programs at universities nationwide are brimming with students eager to break into what they see as a growth industry.

This rebirth of learning comes after a decades-long slump that prompted many schools to scale back nuclear engineering programs and some to close altogether. Some experts worry whether enough new workers can be trained in time to support the potential growth.

There are now 65 nuclear power plants operating in the country, most built during a flurry of construction in the 1960s and '70s. There have been no new plants built since 1996.

Jackie Young, a junior at the University of Tennessee, says professors there briefed her and other undeclared freshman about what they call a "nuclear renaissance" in the country. Young says she's counting on many career opportunities in the field.

A work force study this summer by the American Physical Society found that the number of students enrolled in undergraduate nuclear engineering degree programs in the U.S. rose to more than 1,900 in 2007 from a low of about 500 in 1999.

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