On March 13, a group of 23 participants representing 17 education and workforce development organizations, toured the Savannah River Site (SRS). Organized by Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) Education Outreach, the group ranged from high school teachers to regional workforce advisors across 12 counties from the Upper Savannah Region, Lower Savannah Region and Lowcountry of South Carolina.

After receiving an overview of Site missions, including current and future employment opportunities, participants toured the Machining Training Center (MTC), a cutting-edge facility at SRS that will be used for training operators to support a variety of Site missions, including National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) missions.

“Today was a great opportunity to showcase our workforce needs and highlight the large number of technical positions that will be required to support missions across the Site, including NNSA national security missions,” said Rick Nash, MTC Operations. “Working with local and regional educators is critical for relaying the skills and knowledge needed at the middle and high school level, in order to establish this employment pipeline.”

Jacqueline Rapp, Director of Career and Technical Education and Instructional Technology at McCormick County School District, said, “As an educator, I am always interested in exploring opportunities that could be beneficial for me to share with students and other educators. It was very interesting to find out the endless possibilities for employment in all different types of areas.”

Kim Mitchell, SRNS Education Outreach Programs Lead, presented information about the SRS Apprenticeship School, including the 24 current registered apprenticeship programs at the Site. Mitchell also highlighted the 91% rate of participants who have successfully transitioned to full-time roles at SRS upon program completion.

“Key technical positions are in such high demand,” said Mitchell, “especially at other sites within the Nuclear Security Enterprise. As we look to the future, and as the Site prepares to expand national security missions, as well as complete the current environmental management missions, it is more important than ever to form partnerships with education and workforce development organizations to fill these gaps with qualified applicants.” 

For more information on apprenticeship opportunities at SRS, click here.