Framatome announces Nuclear Technologies Academy relaunch with $400K investment
The nuclear power firm Framatome will invest $400,000 more than 4 years to relaunch its Nuclear Technologies Academy, a collaboration with Central Virginia Neighborhood College to educate students to turn out to be nuclear technicians.
By means of the system, students can earn an associate of applied science degree in nuclear technologies with a mechatronics track. They’ll split their time among the classroom and functioning at Framatome although earning complete-time spend with rewards, mentioned Craig Ranson, senior vice president of the Installed Base Small business Unit at Framatome.
The Framatome Nuclear Technologies Academy has been operating considering the fact that it initially launched in 2004. But the system previously was restricted to present Framatome staff and now is open to all students, CVCC President John Capps mentioned.
Ranson mentioned the system has been reworked to greater balance students’ classroom time and on-the-job time, to offer you students additional competitive spend, and to offer you graduates possibilities for complete-time, rather than component-time, jobs at Framatome.
“These students have the chance to come out absolutely debt-free of charge with a job. And that is great,” Ranson mentioned at a Thursday news conference announcing the relaunched system.
Framatome, which was named Areva prior to it rebranded in 2018, is a France-primarily based firm that employs additional than 16,000 folks worldwide, which includes 1,320 in Lynchburg, the web site of its North American headquarters.
Framatome styles and maintains big nuclear reactors, offering manage systems and other gear, fuel and upkeep solutions. In addition to servicing current nuclear reactors about the globe, its present projects involve constructing the two European pressurized water reactors for the three,200-megawatt Hinkley Point C nuclear energy station beneath building in Somerset, England.
Framatome says it modernized its system with CVCC for the reason that it expects the demand for skilled nuclear technicians to improve to meet U.S. and international power wants.
Katherine Williams, Framatome’s chief economic officer who will turn out to be its CEO on July 1, mentioned Thursday the nuclear business gives “tremendous possibilities.”
“We are providing young folks the chance to make a distinction, to aid us preserve the lights on, to aid us aid North America develop, and even internationally,” Williams mentioned. “We have the technologies. We basically require the workforce, the sources, folks who are committed and are prepared to make the work by way of this system to get educated, and then we will take it from there and give you lots of possibilities.”
The Framatome Nuclear Technologies Academy will have 30 students in its fall cohort, and Ranson mentioned officials hope to have 30 students in the system at all occasions.
Graduates who turn out to be nuclear technicians could execute perform such as non-destructive examination of nuclear components, supplying nuclear reactors with fuel, and upkeep and upgrades at nuclear energy plants, Ranson mentioned.
A job posting for a Framatome Nuclear Technologies Academy Technician, accessible by means of Framatome’s web-site, lists the beginning spend at $20 per hour, with rewards and doable overall performance incentives or annual bonuses.
At Thursday’s news conference — which culminated in officials ceremonially cutting a ribbon that was held in location by two robotic arms — Capps praised the sturdy partnership among the college and Framatome.
“The significance of that partnership is reflected in CVCC’s nuclear technologies degree, the only degree of its kind in the state of Virginia,” Capps mentioned. “It’s reflected in the truth that the college has educated more than one hundred nuclear assistance technicians whom Framatome has deployed worldwide.”
The news conference was held at CVCC’s Framatome Technologies Center, and Capps noted that Framatome had secured the naming rights to the constructing, which opened in 2004, by way of a donation of $1 million — the biggest in CVCC’s history.
Framatome’s assistance of the college continues to the present day, Capps mentioned.
“Ultimately, it underscores Framatome’s dedication to secure and economical low-carbon power, the kind of clean, sustainable power that our nation and our planet desperately require,” he mentioned.
