Operations & Maintenance

Interview by Katherine Steiner-Dicks

Nuclear Energy Insider: In a nutshell, please describe your role at SCANA and how your focus has changed in any way over the past year due to nuclear industry developments?

SM: As Manager of Workforce Planning for SCANA Corporation, I am responsible for all recruiting for the company. My primary focus in the last year has been on our nuclear operations at V.C. Summer Nuclear Station.

We are in the process of staffing up for two additional reactor units that are scheduled to start commercial operation in 2016 and 2019.  Those dates may sound like they are a long way off to some people, but due to the long lead times necessary to properly train employees, they are right around the corner in nuclear time. We have dedicated an additional full time senior recruiter to support our nuclear staffing efforts.

Nuclear Energy Insider: As chairman of the Workforce Development Taskforce for the Carolinas’ Nuclear Cluster, what are your core objectives for the next 12 months? And how are these progressing?

SM: Our core objectives for the Workforce Taskforce include a number of initiatives. First, we will continue to support the expansion of our Leadership Energy Carolinas program. This takes high-potential employees from our member companies and provides them with a broad strategic perspective on our industry. They tour nuclear-related facilities, meet with the senior management of companies and are exposed to the workings of the political process.

Second, we are involved with developing a “Virtual Job Shadowing” program that will be made available to 7th – 12th grade students. This will be an online interactive program that will show students what it is like to work in many aspects of the nuclear industry. Our remaining objectives revolve around coordinating with the two-and four-year schools in our region to assure that we have the workforce to support the rapid growth of our industry in the Carolinas.

Nuclear Energy Insider: With the imminent COL for the AP1000 and your new build projects, what has been done in terms of preparing the workforces involved?

SM: We have opened up what we call “talent pipelines” to fill the major job groups critical to staffing the new plants. Working with Midlands Technical College in Columbia, we have developed a program for training candidates to become future nuclear power plant operators. This is an associate degree program and includes a summer “boot camp” at V.C. Summer where students have the opportunity to see plant operations up close, spend time in our control room simulator and go through some intensive classroom work.

We have worked with Aiken Technical College to develop a similar degree program for radiation protection/ health physics technicians. As we speak, company representatives are working with schools to develop programs for quality assurance technicians and instrument and control technicians.

All of these programs are being developed using the Nuclear Uniform Curriculum developed by INPO and NEI. These schools are training students not only to work at SCANA, but for the industry as a whole. In addition to the associates degrees we also have a very successful college intern program that is working well to fill positions that require four-year degrees.

Nuclear Energy Insider: Do you see areas where the supply/value chain could be streamlined to cut costs when it comes to nuclear projects?

SM: My focus is on recruiting and training. Many of the programs we have developed save on internal training costs by bringing in new hires with a solid foundation in the basics of our industry. For example, students who have had a generic fundamentals of nuclear systems course can move very quickly into more specific advanced training within the company, saving time and associated costs.

Nuclear Energy Insider: If there was one thing that you could change to have a positive impact on SCANA’s nuclear sector objectives and/or the work that you do, what would it be?

SM: There is always the opportunity to spread the word even more to let people know that nuclear is an exciting, vibrant and growing industry that should attract the top talent in our country. It always amazes me when I talk to community and school groups how little knowledge there is in the general population of our industry and the opportunities that are available. Our Chief Nuclear Officer started as an intern with our company. I would like to think that some of the fine students we see coming from our talent pipelines will be in a similar position in the future.