The Texas Senate unanimously passed a bipartisan bill on April 1 to address “urgent skilled labor demands” in the nuclear energy industry.
Co-sponsored by Texas senators Judith Zaffirini and Tan Parker, Senate Bill 1535 would establish an advanced nuclear energy workforce development program for higher education through the Texas Workforce Commission.
In collaboration with the commission, Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and Texas Public Utility Commission, the program would provide a “strategic plan” to address the growing need for labor in the nuclear energy industry. This plan would include assisting universities and junior colleges in developing curricula for jobs in nuclear-grade welding, radiological monitoring, reactor operations and engineering — areas that show the most need for labor as the nuclear energy industry experiences massive growth.
Zaffirini said in an email that the bill was informed in part by a November 2024 report that showed the need for “investment in workforce development” from the Texas Advanced Nuclear Reactor Working Group.
“There’s a few ways that we would need to adjust our existing program,” said Derek Haas, an associate professor specializing in nuclear and radiation engineering who represented the University in the working group. “Really, what we’d be doing there is trying to respond to a demand.”
According to a plan proposed by the Nuclear Energy Institute, the Department of Energy projects the country will need a total of 236,000 workers to operate nuclear reactors by 2035.
The bill would add to existing nuclear programs at universities, such as UT’s Nuclear Engineering Teaching Laboratory.
Laboratory director William Charlton said training more nuclear engineers is a small part of meeting the labor demand because most of the jobs at nuclear reactors are not nuclear engineering jobs.
“We need more nuclear engineers,” Charlton said. “We also need more mechanical engineers who understand nuclear power, electrical engineers that understand nuclear power (and) civil engineers that understand nuclear power.”
In some cases, nuclear reactors can draw on existing industries for labor involving trade crafts, but some jobs, such as those named in the bill, are specific to the nuclear industry, Charlton said.
Graduate student Daniel Cooksey is a mechanical engineer at Paragon Energy Solutions, a supplier to the nuclear industry. The company recently took over a new product that monitors reactor safety.
“I’m tailoring my studies to make me a subject matter expert in that field,” Cooksey said. “It will allow me to become the radiological safety officer at Paragon.”
UT alumnus Haas is working on developing an undergraduate degree to keep up with the growing nuclear industry in Texas.
However, the growth in this industry is not unique to Texas, and the state is experiencing “talent retention issues,” according to SB 1535, where Texans will take jobs out of state.
After earning her master’s at UT in August 2024, Jacqueline Cottingham moved to Pennsylvania for a job as a nuclear plant layout engineer at Westinghouse Electric Company.
When she applied, Cottingham said there weren’t many jobs in Texas. She said this is changing with more companies developing, like Aalo Atomics, which opened in Austin soon after she graduated in August.
“Whenever I come and I talk to someone at Westinghouse, they’re like, ‘Where are you from?” Cottingham said. “I’m like, ‘I’m from Texas.’ They’re like, ‘What? What are you doing here?’”
Haas said the program can work, but only if the nuclear energy industry continues to respond to its efforts.
“This program aims to create a talent pipeline for critical nuclear-related careers so that as the nuclear industry grows, Texans are ready to fill those jobs,” Zaffirini said.
