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In a move expected to have major workforce development implications for the state and the country, the University of South Carolina will partner with Westinghouse to establish a first-of-its-kind nuclear innovation center at its Columbia campus, officials announced Tuesday.
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Westinghouse Electric Company, one of the world’s leading suppliers of nuclear technology, on Tuesday morning signed an agreement with USC to create a multidisciplinary nuclear workforce development program centered at the university’s Molinaroli College of Engineering and Computing.
The new center will serve as a training hub for the nation’s next generation of nuclear engineers, operators and technicians while supporting the Trump administration’s target of beginning construction on up to 10 nuclear reactors across the country by 2030.
“We look forward to collaborating with Westinghouse to develop workforce education opportunities for our students as we plan for our proposed Nuclear Innovation Center at the University of South Carolina,” said USC President Michael Amiridis, who signed the partnership at Tuesday’s South Carolina Nuclear Summit, where 600 business, government and academic leaders convened in support of advancing the state’s role in nuclear innovation and economic development. “This partnership between higher education and industry promises to strengthen South Carolina’s leading role in the future of nuclear energy for our state and nation.”
With energy demand rising nationwide, driven by the artificial intelligence boom and the construction of electricity-intensive data centers, nuclear power is experiencing a resurgence.
Leaders in South Carolina, which relies more heavily on nuclear power than most states, are embracing the nuclear revival and want to ensure South Carolina remains at its forefront.
“We are a nuclear state,” said Ethel Bunch, founder of the Palmetto Nuclear Coalition, an industry advocacy group. “There is not another state that has the amount of assets we have in South Carolina. There are a lot of states talking about what they’re doing, what they could do, what they want to do, but we have all the assets.”
Toward that end, state-owned electric utility Santee Cooper last year advanced a plan to restart the failed V.C. Summer nuclear expansion project in Fairfield County, selecting Brookfield Asset Management — Westinghouse’s parent company — to finish two partially-built AP1000 power reactors at the Jenkinsville site.
The project’s revival could create as many as 7,300 jobs during the construction phase and support more than 2,700 jobs once it’s operational, according to a study by PricewaterhouseCoopers.
“The AP1000 is an economic engine that provides good paying jobs for South Carolina families,” Kathryn Metzger, Westinghouse’s director of advanced fuel and technical management, said last week during a presentation to the Governor’s Nuclear Advisory Council.
Training people to build and operate nuclear power is one of the industry’s biggest challenges, Bunch said. That’s where USC’s Nuclear Innovation Center enters the picture.
The center, planned for the university’s engineering district on the far south end of Main Street, should boost South Carolina’s research and technology infrastructure and strengthen the state’s pipeline of skilled workers.
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It will create pathways for both traditional and non-traditional students, and even reach down to the middle school-level, said Hossein Haj-Hariri, dean of the College of Engineering.
“The beauty of the facility,” he said, “is that it’s going to house technicians and engineers side-by-side.”
That’s essential, Haj-Hariri told reporters, because technicians typically identify the issues that engineers are called on to solve.
A significant portion of the center will be devoted to laboratory and simulation space, affording students hands-on training opportunities aligned to industry needs and providing faculty members the ability to conduct cutting-edge nuclear research, USC spokesman Jeff Stensland said.
In addition to gaining building and maintenance experience in hands-on construction labs, students will also use wearables, augmented and virtual reality, and artificial intelligence-enabled products to develop new and advanced technologies, officials said.
They’ll also get to train on the center’s digital AP1000 simulators in a replica control room that simulates the operational conditions of an actual plant, the university said in a statement.
“Anybody that wants to be building or operating these reactors somehow will have to come through us,” Haj-Hariri said. “Because we are going to have a unique facility as far as training.”
Beyond helping South Carolina meet its growing energy workforce needs, the nuclear innovation center is also expected to create new opportunities for research and entrepreneurship and boost the state’s ability to compete for nuclear and technology industry investment in the years ahead, university officials said.
Haj-Hariri said that with additional energy capacity and a ready pool of skilled workers, South Carolina can begin to attract advanced manufacturing companies to further bolster economic development.
After years of atrophy in the nuclear sector, the dean said he was thrilled that South Carolina was playing an integral role in the industry’s revitalization.
“We seem to be very close to the driver’s seat,” he said. “And by doing this MOU and building this facility, we will be in the driver’s seat. It’s very exciting for South Carolina to be able to lead the nation in this area.”
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