NEI Nuclear Notes

Due to some technical difficulties, CNBC wasn't able to push out its complete package on nuclear energy & jobs last Friday from V.C. Summer Nuclear Station in South Carolina. On Monday night, the rest of Mary Thompson's report from the plant site was aired by the Nightly Business Report . Want to learn more about working in the nuclear industry? Please visit the Careers & Education section of our website.

VC Summer Nuclear Station is hiring the next generation of nuclear workers . Here's Mary Thompson of CNBC , who filed this report from Jenkinsville, South Carolina where she interviewed SCE&G Chief Nuclear Officer, Jeff Archie: For more on how to snag a job in the nuclear energy business, visit the Careers & Education section of our website.

NPR's Richard Harris talks to former NRC Chairman Dick Meserve, EPRI's Tom TerBush and Union of Concerned Scientists' Ellen Vanko in his balanced piece on nuclear energy on this morning's Morning Edition program. And here is an excellent interview with Exelon CEO and Chairman John Rowe on CNBC this morning discussing, in part, how Exelon's investment in nuclear energy has the company well positioned to tackle the climate change challenge. Listen, watch and learn.

Your must-see TV tonight (assuming watching Warren Sapp and Susan Lucci cut the rug doesn't float your boat): CNBC premieres its 60-minute special," The Nuclear Option ," at 9:00 ET. From the programming notes, Power consumption in the United States has never been greater. Currently the country gets 20% of its electricity from nuclear energy. But with the price of oil soaring and increased opposition to coal fired plants, many wonder if America should be more like France, where 80% of the power is nuclear. Americans haven’t built a new nuclear plant in thirty years. Now the country sits on the verge of a nuclear revolution. CNBC's Melissa Francis explores the issue, which according to a recent CNBC poll has the nation divided. She takes viewers on a rare tour inside of a nuclear power plant, to France where nuclear energy is working, and to what may be the future home of the first new nuclear power plant in the United States in over 30 years.

In case you missed it: NEI's Sr. Director of New Plant Deployment, Adrian Heymer, appeared this afternoon on CNBC's Street Signs to discuss the licensing process with Michael Johnson, the NRC's Director of New Reactors. The entire segment can be seen here . Heymer is optimistic that the application process can be significantly shortened: Once the first applications have gone in and they've gone through the process and we've incorporated lessons learned and the industry sticks to standardization - a cookie cutter approach - we believe that the licensing process can be done in 'round about 27 months.

Thomas F. Farrell II, CEO of Dominion, appeared on CNBC plugging nuclear energy specifically , as part of the mix to alleviate our energy woes. Here is the video ! Here is a text story based on the video, from the Richmond Times-Dispatch , " Dominion CEO tells of North Anna plans ." And these are some highlights - can anyone recall comparable comments from a utility executive, ever? "Right now, more than 50 percent of the nation's electricity comes from coal. That's problematic as we all know," Farrell said, alluding to the effect burning coal has on greenhouse-gas emissions. "The country is going to have to move in the direction of nuclear power." "There are 104 plants right now. We probably should have, as a nation, 200 or 250 plants. Now that's a long-term prospect." Thanks to Michael Stuart for the tip.

David Kreutzer from the Heritage Foundation and Michael Mariotte from NIRS duked it out earlier today on CNBC. Check it out. Hat tip to McErlain for the link.