Y-12 starts new apprenticeship program
B&W Y-12 starts new apprenticeship program
Mon, 21 July 2008
With what looks to be a resurgence of the nuclear power industry, particularly in the Tennessee Valley and across the Southeast, skilled craft workers are in short supply. There is strong competition for these workers.
That’s why the Y‑12 National Security Complex is reviving an apprenticeship program to recruit and train workers in nine skilled crafts.
Bill Klemm, B&W Y‑12’s vice president for Facilities, Infrastructure and Services, and Garry Whitley, president of the Atomic Trades and Labor Council, (the organization that represents the union work force at Y-12) are working together to move the program forward.
“It’s fairly common knowledge that the Y-12 workforce is aging,” Whitley said. “More than half of the craft workers at Y‑12 could retire in the next few years and it will be difficult to replace them with trained workers from the general labor pool.
“There are plans for 23 to 25 new commercial nuclear plants in the Southeast alone over the next few years. It is predicted there will be a need for up to 185,000 craft workers over the next 5 to 10 years. Y‑12 has decided it makes good economic sense to grow our own supply of skilled labor.”
That idea is well on its way. When B&W Y‑12 advertised for applicants for its apprenticeship program, 2,610 people applied and paid an $18 fee to take the two and one-half hour mathematics and reading comprehension test for one of 50 apprenticeship spots.
The apprenticeships will be for the following crafts: boilermakers, carpenters, electricians, insulators, ironworker/riggers, outside machinists/millwrights, painters, pipefitters, air conditioning and refrigeration mechanics and welders. The starting rate of pay is $19.30 per hour. Current plans call for the hiring of 50 apprentices per year.
Apprentices will be full-time employees of B&W Y‑12, where they will receive their on-the-job training in critical skill areas at Y‑12. They also must attend classroom training sessions conducted by the respective union locals. Apprenticeship length varies by craft.
Completion of the apprenticeship will result in the trainees earning their journeyman’s card. Programs standards are based on recommendations from the United States Department of Labor and the Bureau of Apprenticeship and Training.
“We had people from all over East Tennessee and from as far away as Lexington, Ky., apply. We had some recently discharged members of the armed forces apply. We had college graduates and people who already have their journeyman’s card but who are willing to go back through the apprenticeship process. There has been tremendous interest in this program,” said Eva Irwin of Y‑12 Facilities, Infrastructure and Services who was coordinating the registration and aptitude testing phase of the program.
Y-12 is a key facility in the U.S. Nuclear Weapons Complex and is responsible for ensuring the safety, reliability, and security of the nuclear weapons stockpile and serves as the nation’s primary repository of highly enriched uranium. B&W Technical Services Y‑12 operates the Y‑12 National Security Complex for the National Nuclear Security Administration.