William Borchardt, executive director for operations at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said last week that human capital, and not material issues like the shortage of ultra-large forging manufacturers, could be the "limiting factor" in construction of new nuclear plants. At an American Nuclear Society conference in Amelia Island, Florida, Borchardt and others spoke of the personnel challenges facing the industry. William Burchill, adjunct professor of nuclear engineering at Texas A&M University and ANS president, agreed that there will be a strain on staffing needs. He said there are 31 nuclear engineering programs at universities, down from 60 when the existing fleet of reactors was built, and that many of the programs are "embedded" in other disciplines. Burchill said the Department of Energy reported that last year there were 413 nuclear engineering students who received undergraduate degrees, 227 who received master's degrees, and 89 who earned doctoral degrees.
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