Nuclear agency goes on hiring spree

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is on track to add almost half again as many employees to its staff to keep up with an increasing demand for nuclear power.

The 3,000-person NRC aims to have 4,000 employees by early 2008. To account for attrition, the agency is signing up about 1,300 new employees.

"I've hired 400 of them so far," said James McDermott, chief human capital officer for NRC. "That's unheard of in a small agency like this. That's why our senior managers are so focused on human capital issues."

NRC's upsizing is the outcome of the 2005 energy act, which provides incentives to build nuclear capacity as an alternative to oil. After signing the bill into law in August 2005, President Bush said the country would start building nuclear power plants again by the end of the decade.

"Of all our nation's energy sources, only nuclear power plants can generate massive amounts of electricity without emitting an ounce of air pollution or greenhouse gases," Bush said. "And thanks to the advances in science and technology, nuclear plants are far safer than ever before. Yet America has not ordered a nuclear plant since the 1970s."

NRC is gearing up for the oversight, inspection and regulation of these new plants. McDermott is using an internship program to hire 60 to 80 recent college graduates -- mostly with science and engineering backgrounds -- for a three-year training program.

"We've been able to attract extremely high-caliber new graduates," McDermott said. "Believe it or not, they have a public service gene."

McDermott said agency executives have hit the stump, recruiting candidates on campuses and handing out their business cards to potential applicants. It also helps that NRC pays in the mid-$50,000 range for engineers and scientists coming straight out of universities, thanks to a special salary authority.

NRC is using Web resources such as USAJOBS.gov to get applications. "It's like drinking from the fire hydrant," McDermott said. The agency then sends personal invitations to high-quality applicants for in-person interviews. Managers in some cases can offer jobs on the spot at these meetings.

For midcareer employees, the agency lures prospective candidates with the traditional benefits of a government job.

"The pension plans in the private sector are becoming relics, things of the past," McDermott said. "I am shameless. I tell midcareer people: 'You're still a kid, come to the NRC, you'll get a nice little pension. We will guarantee you high-end health benefits coverage in retirement.' "

The agency expects to maintain its 400-person a year hiring levels for the next two years.