Clean energy, the green jobs it creates, and improved health drove panelists’ discussions and sparked numerous questions at LCLAA’s Education Conference this week. The Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA) annual event drew more than 400 participants from across the U.S. to San Juan, Puerto Rico.

The “Green Jobs and Public Health: How Environmental Protection Can Save Lives and Create Jobs” panel hosted speakers from The Center for American Progress, National Latino Coalition on Climate Change (NLCCC), The Transport Workers Union of America, AREVA, and The National Puerto Rican Coalition. Mark Magana, from the Hispanic Strategy Group, moderated the Q&A.

To set the stage for discussion, each panelist spoke on a topic for 10 minutes, including: legislative issues and the Clean Air Act; the impact of fossil fuels on air pollution and health; transitioning away from fossil fuels; using Clean Energy technologies (nuclear, solar, wind, biomass, hydrogen energy storage) as economic and employment catalysts; and opposition to a proposed 92-mile natural gas line across Puerto Rico.

Once the panel opened up for questions, audience members quickly delved deeper into how to engage policymakers; which renewable resources are available on Puerto Rico; and how to prepare and encourage children and youth in clean energy careers.

The conference theme came through in the final call to action for session attendees to do three things:

1. Educate themselves on clean energy options, 2. Spread that knowledge by educating their families, friends and organizations about clean energy benefits, and 3. Speak up as clean energy advocates and inform their policymaker representatives on the economic opportunities, health benefits, and workforce growth potential with clean energy projects.

Check the conference website for soon-to-be-posted videos, photos and presentations.

The renewable energy industry is not just about generating clean energy, it is also about generating clean energy jobs and economic development in our communities.

AREVA has a stated commitment to building domestic supply chains in support of our renewable energy projects. Today’s announcement of a Community Workforce Agreement (CWA) is tangible evidence of that ongoing commitment.

The agreement with the Olympia Vicinity Building and Construction Trades Council ensures that the hundreds of jobs created during construction of ADAGE’s 55-megawatt biopower facility in Shelton, Washington, will be filled with local labor from the area’s 15 construction trade unions.

ADAGE is a joint venture between AREVA and Duke Energy to build biomass power plants in the United States.

Under the CWA, labor activities include site preparation, construction of the biomass boiler, steam turbine, and balance-of-plant mechanical equipment, and electrical installation for the power block. The project is expected to create more than 400 direct jobs during construction and more than 100 direct jobs during permanent operation. In total, the facility represents a $250 million initial investment in Mason County.

Renewable energy powering local clean energy jobs—read the full article here.

by Jarret Adams

Vice President Joe Biden

According to a report by Vice President Joe Biden, the administration’s clean energy programs are expected to help create some 700,000 jobs. He said that the $787 billion Recovery Act is helping spur investment in new clean energy technologies, including wind, solar, energy efficiency and perhaps even nuclear energy. According to the ABC News blog:

“I’m pleased to report that the administration is laying the foundation for a clean energy economy that will create a new generation of jobs, reduce dependence on oil and enhance national security,” Biden begins his memo to Obama.

Biden notes in the memo that “Recovery Act investments in renewable generation and advanced energy manufacturing of $23 billion will likely create 253,000 jobs and leverage over $43 billion in additional investment that could support up to 469,000 more jobs, putting us on track to meet the goal of doubling our renewable energy generation, including solar, wind and geothermal, in just 3 years.”

Smart grid investments through the plan are expected to create some 43,000 jobs. AREVA T&D is participating in one of these initiatives to develop the smart grid systems.

Regarding nuclear energy, the Vice President also reports that “by the end of our first two years in office, we will have provided conditional commitments for loan guarantees for two nuclear power operators to add three to four new nuclear reactors.”

That’s great, but weren’t there four companies listed as finalists for the loan guarantees? And DOE officials have said that the first loan guarantee for a nuclear project could be issued by the end of this year.

by Jarret Adams

Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland speaks at AREVA's Ohio Supplier Day

AREVA’s second U.S. Supplier Day in Columbus, Ohio, saw another capacity turnout with representatives from more than 100 companies from the state and region. AREVA held the event to find new partner companies to help supply and build U.S. EPR™ nuclear plants in the United States, including possibly one in southern Ohio, and other export opportunities around the world.

Several leading energy companies, including AREVA, formed an alliance in June to develop America’s first clean energy park project at a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) site in Piketon, Ohio. The Southern Ohio Clean Energy Park Alliance will evaluate the DOE Portsmouth site as a potential location for a new nuclear power plant. The initial focus of the project is on AREVA’s U.S. EPR™ technology.

Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland kicked off the event last night with a strong endorsement of nuclear energy: “I have been pro-nuclear since before it was cool.” He added, “Frankly, if climate change is our next big challenge—and I believe it is—it is irresponsible to ignore the only source of baseload electricity that produces no carbon emissions.”

A new U.S. EPR™ project would create thousands of jobs and spur significant local investment, but such a project also would require hundreds of qualified suppliers and subcontractors. That’s the reason AREVA is holding its Supplier Days now.

“AREVA came to Ohio to look for partners to manufacture and supply the thousands of components and to build U.S. EPR™ nuclear plants that are truly ‘Made in America,’ and further realize our vision of revitalizing America’s energy infrastructure,” said Mike Rencheck, President and CEO of AREVA NP Inc. “We have been overwhelmed by the strong response to our call for partners.”

The Ohio Supplier Day is the second of our planned events; the first was held in Baltimore in November.

We’d like to bring your attention to this article from KIDK.com (the local Idaho Falls television station), which talks about how Idaho Falls is weathering the current economic storm. The article, which is mostly about businesses in the Idaho Falls region, points out at the very end that AREVA’s planned Eagle Rock Enrichment Facility is bringing new hope to the region:

The biggest change our area will see will be the arrival of Areva and their multi-billion dollar uranium enrichment facility.

Not only will the company hire locals or bring in new jobs that will stimulate our local economy, a very hurting construction industry will be major benefactors of the company. [. . .]

Areva is likely to bring between 800 and 1,000 construction jobs alone. And once the facility is running, more than 300 jobs will be created.

That’s the kind of thing that can really help a local economy… because the money paid to the people who work those 800-1,000 construction jobs, and the 300+ permanent jobs, will keep circulating around the Idaho Falls region as the employees patronize local businesses and services. Idaho Falls is just one community that’s finding new vitality in the green jobs of the nuclear renaissance.

Mark Flanagan of NEI is highlighting a CFR interview with Duke Energy’s CEO, James E. Rogers, in which he talks about the future of the energy industry – and the importance of nuclear energy not only for our CO2-free energy future, but also for our economy:

But the difference in the jobs is quite different, because if you’re wiping off a solar panel, it’s sort of a minimum wage type of job, [with] much higher compensation for nuclear engineers and nuclear operators. If our goal is to rebuild the middle class, nuclear plays a key role there, particularly if coal is out of the equation.

He also talks about the U.S. regaining its role as the leader in nuclear energy:

People forget that [the United States was] the innovator of nuclear energy. We developed the technologies. And what people have also forgotten is that 20 percent of our electricity comes from nuclear, and that we produce twice the amount of electricity from nuclear than any country in the world. We sit here today, not turning dirt on a single nuclear plant. [. . .] We have a competitive advantage on building nuclear, on building recycling to address the spent fuel, and that would be a great loss of opportunity if we don’t find a way to seize it and rebuild the supply.

Like Mark Flanagan said, we could spend all day highlighting great lines from this interview, but it would probably be better if you just read the interview for yourself.  You should also know that Duke Energy is teaming up with AREVA on the ADAGE joint venture focusing on the biopower sector. ADAGE was recently in the news because JEA, the energy company for Jacksonville, Florida, announced that it plans to power 40,000 homes with power generated from ADAGE’s biomass plants.  We’re proud to be working with Duke Energy and Jim Rogers, who clearly “gets it” when it comes to the future of energy generation in the U.S.

• More posts about ADAGE Biopower
• Official Website for ADAGE Biopower

As we are trying to spotlight our various social networks each week, tonight we’d thank our AREVA Inc LinkedIn group members:

We have over 90+ North American jobs open and to get more information join our Linkedin Group here.

And of course, If you are a LinkedIn users please consider joining this group even if you are not currently job seeking…

Beginning this week, as part of our mission to expand CO2-free energy in the United States, AREVA has launched a six-week campaign that highlights our American job creation and contribution to clean-air energy generation in the U.S.

The ad points out that we have 6,000 employees currently working throughout the country building a new American generation for energy generation. We are excited to convey AREVA’s critical impact on the American economy, including our strong relationships with our 5,000 American suppliers.

AREVA's American Jobs Ad - click to enlarge

This impact includes the thousand of jobs and billions in investment that we are creating right now with two of our latest projects. The AREVA Newport News facility is a partnership with Northrop Grumman to build a $363 million manufacturing plant. This facility now under construction in Virginia will bring back to American soil the capability to build critical reactor components. Another important project is our Eagle Rock Enrichment Facility in Idaho. In addition to creating over 5,000 jobs and billions of dollars in investment, this state-of-the-art facility will provide indispensable domestically enriched uranium to fuel our American reactor fleet, strengthening our nation’s energy security.

You will be able to see AREVA’s ad on these sites and publications during September and October:

• The Hill
• National Journal
• Politico
• Salon

Or pick up a copy of today’s Washington Post.

AREVA was well represented at the NSBE's diversity career fair by Marcus Jones (Charlotte), Carl Thurston (Lynchburg), Althea Jones (Charlotte), Hank Samerson (Charlotte), and George Ifebuzo (Marlborough).

Over the past several years AREVA has steadily increased its diversity in the workforce, and minority hires are playing a role in recruitment efforts. The increase is due to more aggressive recruitment efforts on college campuses and AREVA’s sponsorship of conferences geared towards minority college graduates.

One successful example is AREVA’s sponsorship of an annual conference hosted by the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE). This conference is the largest diversity career fair in the country and attracts more than 10,000 people. At this year’s event, held recently in Las Vegas, AREVA sponsored a company booth at the two-day Conference Career Fair. A five member AREVA team met with hundreds of African-American and international students studying engineering in the United States.

The team educated the students about AREVA and discussed career opportunities. “Our goal is to meet well-rounded, motivated students, who are interested and excited about career opportunities at AREVA,” explained Althea Jones, Technical Recruiter. “We conduct an initial meet-and-greet to learn more about the candidate, and we follow up with the most promising for further consideration.”

read more…