More Jobs in Nuclear Planned

November 22, 2008

The Charlotte Observer

The French Company Areva Services Reactors, and By 2012 Aims to Nearly Double Its Charlotte Force, Now at 545

The French nuclear services company Areva could nearly double its Charlotte employment
by 2012 as an expected nuclear renaissance continues to expand the region's
energy hub.

Areva now has 545 employees in Charlotte, most of them servicing existing nuclear
plants and supporting the company's new Evolutionary Power Reactor design.

It plans to hire 200 to 250 new workers a year throughout its U.S. locations through
2012, said spokeswoman Denise Woernle. The company now has about 5,300 U.S. workers.

At least half of the new hires will be assigned to Areva's Lynchburg, Va., site
and a little less than half in Charlotte, she said.

The company's engineering jobs start at $60,000 a year.

In the past year, engineering firms Fluor Co., The Shaw Group and URS Corp. have
located or expanded their power-plant divisions in Charlotte.

Growing demand for electricity and government incentives for carbon-free power has
revived long-dormant interest in building new nuclear plants.

Duke Energy plans to build a two-unit nuclear plant near Gaffney, S.C., that the
utility now says will cost $11 billion and open in 2018. Progress Energy plans
to add two reactors to its Harris plant near Raleigh. South Carolina Electric &
Gas wants to add a pair of reactors to its Summer plant northwest of Columbia.

Duke Energy already has nuclear plants north and south of Charlotte on lakes Norman
and Wylie, and a third plant in Upstate South Carolina.

In addition, Woernle said, "Charlotte offers a lot of extracurricular activities
that are attractive to employees." She cited its central location on the East
Coast, the presence of UNC Charlotte's engineering programs and a budding "pipeline"
for engineers.

Areva and Duke Energy are also partners in a joint venture to produce electricity
from wood wastes.