Washington Business Fall 2016 | Washington Business | Page 44

business backgrounder | education & workforce

“So many people were retiring
and we knew we’d be struggling
to fill seats,” Keith said.
Since that 2009 brainstorming session, 99 students have
e a r n e d t wo -ye a r a s s o c i a t e
of applied science degrees
in three areas: non-licensed
nuclear operator, radiation
protection technician, and
instrumentation and control
technician. One-year certificates also are available.
“I’m seeing students from
that first class who are really
in some great positions around
the country,” Brandes said.
Many of the nuclear
technology graduates end up
with jobs at Energy Northwest
or with contractors working to
clean up the waste left behind
from the past production of
plutonium for the nation’s
nuclear weapons program at the
Hanford nuclear reservation.
In the past four-and-a-half
years, 12 graduates were hired
at the public power agency,
said Grover Hettel, vice
president for operations at
Energy Northwest.

Northwest’s Columbia Generating
Station near Richland.
She’s now with Pacific Northwest
National Laboratory in Richland,
working as a radiological source
custodian for the radiation portal
monitoring program. And she’s one
of the nuclear tech program’s biggest
proponents, serving on its advisory
board to provide input on the
curriculum and coaching students on
how to land their first internship.
“I’m really a strong advocate for
these two-year voc ational programs
and think they’re an excellent and
good path to go down. After two
years worth of time, you’ve got a good
paying job,” she said.
Her 22-year- old son will be
following in her footsteps, joining 29
others this fall when he begins the
CBC program Sept. 19.
As Wiesner looks to the future,
she dreams of one day working for
the International Atomic Energy
Agency in Vienna. Until then, “I’m
here to learn everything I can and
figuring out what doors there are.
Brenda Wiesner of Richland was in the first graduating class of
I don’t even know which ones exist
Columbia Basin College’s nuclear technology program. She went
yet. There’s a lot of opportunity
on to work at Bartlett Nuclear and Energy Northwest before joining
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland as a radiological
here,” she said.
source custodian for the radiation portal monitoring program.
Janese Thatcher, CBC’s dean for
computer science, engineering, and
career and technical education, agreed: “Even though it
has a nuclear focus, our students can go into other areas.
Our graduates are very versatile.”
They have transferrable skills to work in process
operations, manufacturing and energy generation sectors,
she said.
The coursework isn’t easy. Keith calls it rigorous, and
— Brenda Wiesner, 2011 CBC graduate
Wiesner said CBC “crams a lot into two years.”
Class sizes range from 18 to 30 students. Core classes
He said the CBC graduates are ready to get to work and have all include nuclear math and physics, radiation safety, nuclear
the right certifications because the program is nationally accredited facilities, electricity and power transmission. Internships are a key
by the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations.
piece, with students getting plenty of hands-on experience on a job
The students “coming from CBC are bright, eager to learn and to site, as well as in classroom labs.
grow and we really do like hiring them,” Hettel said.
Keith says the program is “definitely more challenging than a
Brenda Wiesner, 48, of Richland, graduated with the program’s standard AA-type program. There’s a lot of technical material,”
first class in 2011. Since earning her radiation protection he said.
technician degree, she’s traveled the country to work at outages He also points out the program is different because all the
at nuclear power plants across the country, including Energy instructors are adjunct professors who work in the fields they teach.

“I’m really a strong advocate for these two-year
vocational programs and think they’re an excellent
and good path to go down. After two years worth
of time, you’ve got a good paying job.”

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