A $195,000 grant from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission will allow Aiken Technical College to design and implement a Nuclear Welding Systems program on campus to meet the critical demand for qualified nuclear welders in the CSRA. 

The Nuclear Welding program will be a one-year, intensive pipe welding technology program that will serve as a stand-alone program for experienced welders or an add-on certificate for students who plan to continue their education in nuclear welding. 

“Aiken Technical College is appreciative of the NRC grant that will allow the College to address a critical need for highly qualified, well-trained nuclear welders in our region,” said ATC Dean of Technical Education Dr. Joy Watson.  “ATC sits at the center of significant nuclear construction, and the nuclear welding program will provide the needed workforce training to support these projects, offering highly skilled employment opportunities to area citizens.”

In 2009, the Nuclear Energy Institute’s Workforce Report cited both a short-term and long-term need for craft workers due to nuclear construction projects underway at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site, as well as commercial sites in both South Carolina and Georgia. 

The NEI study projected that 1,146 craft workers trained in nuclear welding systems would be needed by 2020 in the CSRA. 

The demand for nuclear welders is especially significant to meet the workforce needs of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MOX) and the Salt Waste Professing Facility (SWPF) at the Savannah River Site, as well as the construction of new nuclear reactors operated by Southern Company at Plant Vogtle in Waynesboro, Ga. and by SCANA Corporation at V.C. Summer Nuclear Power Station near Columbia. 

The Nuclear Welding Systems program will be designed to meet the welding standards of the industry, and will be supported with equipment, a mock up industrial welding setting, and online modules that cover nuclear welding specific topics. 

Once developed, ATC’s Nuclear Welding program will join other advanced manufacturing and nuclear related programs to be taught in ATC’s state-of-the-art Center for Energy & Advanced Manufacturing currently under construction on campus. 

The $8.5 million, 36,000-square-foot facility will house the College’s welding, mechatronics, radiation protection technology and nuclear quality systems programs. 

The new facility is expected to open for classes in Fall 2015.