Wow. Another incredibly insightful post.
The best you can do is attempt to ignore these few drama queens and do not engage with them. There are lots of useful individuals/posts here but a also a few clowns that feel obligated to reply to an OP question clearly not addressing the question or being useful…they simply feel the need to but in
Now, I did not get if you have an engineering degree or not. If you do, whether specifically nuclear or not, as far as I have seen it is relatively easy to move from nuclear to fossil within engineering companies that support nuclear utilities. I even know ex ops guys consulting (not contracting but working for companies) on wind farm projects. These are all degreed engineers and that gives you flexibility if you have any engineering experience (operations included). You learn everything on the job anyway so diplomas just get you in, your work ethic determines the rest.
I am and have been involved with new nuclear generation in the US and globally. The consensus is that nuclear won’t change in the US in the next decade (new capacity (Vogtle, VC Summer…) will pretty much compensate for the reduction due to shut down units. Additional units that are on hold in the US may be initiated again once natural gas prices go up (this is not unlikely once the LNG export terminals are finished and a few years go by…these nat gas fields have high depletion rates). In addition, nuclear has become a global business and there are ~ 50-60 units in construction right now (I might be slightly off). Especially in the middle east, where they have no operational experience and required human capital they are turning to the US (just recently I saw one company looking for 30 procedure writers/ex ops people to work in the US in support of the UAE units). This trend seems to be in the beginning phase and will last for decades. Wait until Saudis start spending money – within one year they will have lined up the reactor vendor and construction companies and I bet that will keep many people in the US busy as well (similar to the benefits their oil boom benefited companies here). Bottom line, speculating now what will happen down the road is more or less pointless…whether you get a job in the nuclear industry or elsewhere. The fact is that hard working people end up taking care of themselves.
