Richard Scrannage walked into an open house for prospective students sure that he was interested in electrical engineering. But a conversation with one of the University of Ontario Institute of Technology's professors made him go nuclear.

"He convinced me that nuclear engineering was the way to go," recalls Mr. Scrannage, now a fourth-year student in UOIT's energy systems and nuclear science program. "He talked about nuclear being a front-line, cutting-edge technology where there are still many new areas for discovery, and how most of the professionals in this industry are starting to retire.

"In other words, there would be a lot of possibilities and opportunities for students coming out of the program."

After years of chugging quietly in the background while other engineering disciplines such as civil and mechanical got most of the attention — and the lion's share of students — nuclear engineering has re-emerged as the place to be for students looking for great career opportunities.

Enrolment levels certainly support this observation. For example, UOIT, which launched its nuclear engineering program six years ago, reports "steadily growing" enrolment in its undergraduate and graduate programs.

"We now have 230 undergraduate students and 30 graduate students in this program," says Daniel Meneley, acting dean and adjunct professor at the Oshawa, Ont., school's energy systems and nuclear science program.

At McMaster University in Hamilton, the number of students signing up for nuclear engineering — offered as a stream in the last two years of the engineering physics program — has seen a ten-fold increase over the past four years, according to engineering professor John Luxat.

It's a similar story at the University of New Brunswick, where students in chemical and mechanical engineering can pursue nuclear and power production studies as optional courses.

"We have seen quite a dramatic increase in enrolment in our nuclear-related courses," says William Cook, an assistant professor in the chemical engineering department at the University of New Brunswick. "Over the past 10 years we would have an average of 15 to 20 students per [nuclear] course, but that's gone up to more than double over the past three to five years."

So what's driving this surge of interest in nuclear engineering studies?

Murray Elston, president and CEO of the Canadian Nuclear Association — the non-profit group representing Canada's nuclear industry — points to a "nuclear renaissance."

"The nuclear industry has now become invigorated, due primarily to what I think was a realization by a number of people in the world that we were again in need of a new supply of electricity," says Mr. Elston. "Renewable energy such as wind and solar are providing some new sources of electricity but not supplying that heavy lugging power which goes 24/7 and which is really needed to have a strong electrical supply."

More and more, nuclear energy — which produces virtually no greenhouse gases or pollutants that cause smog and acid rain — is being hailed as the only non-fossil-fuel option, other than hydro, for large-scale electricity generation.

Dr. Luxat at McMaster University says climate change has caused people to rethink their perceptions of nuclear energy.

"As a result, it's now become a more acceptable energy option than it used to be."

Indeed, a recent survey, conducted by Ipsos Reid for the Canadian Nuclear Association, found 50 per cent of Canadians support nuclear energy as a means of generating electricity.

To meet the huge and still-growing demand for electrical power, countries around the world have been busy building new nuclear reactor plants or refurbishing old ones. According to the Canadian Nuclear Association, there were 35 nuclear reactors under construction at the start of 2008 in countries such as Romania, China, Korea and Argentina, and 91 more in the planning stages. There were also proposals for 228 new reactors, mostly in Asia and Eastern Europe.

In Canada, plans are under way to build or refurbish reactors in Ontario, New Brunswick, Quebec, Alberta and Saskatchewan.

For nuclear engineering students, all this activity translates into a wealth of career opportunities since the new and refitted plants will need to be operated, monitored, and maintained by skilled workers — and the baby boomers who have been on the job for the past three decades are now starting to retire.

Competition for graduating students will be fierce; in the United States, only about 250 new engineers each year are expected to enter the job market — hardly enough, according to the American Nuclear Society, which estimates that 700 nuclear engineers will need to graduate each year to meet the human resource demand in the industry.

While there are no similar figures for Canada, those in the industry say this country's new crop of nuclear engineers and workers will have no problem finding work.

This has certainly been the case with Maria Naidin, a UOIT student who was offered a job at Ontario Power Generation's Darlington nuclear generator near Oshawa while she was still in the third year of the school's four-year program. Ms. Naidin, who has since advanced to graduate studies at UOIT, accepted the job and now works at OPG while going to school.

Like Ms. Naidin, Mr. Scrannage will also have a job waiting for him when he graduates this spring. Bruce Power, a private nuclear generator located about 250 kilometres northwest of Toronto on the shores of Lake Huron, offered him a full-time position on the last day of his 16-month internship there.

Special to The Globe and Mail

NUCLEAR NUMBERS

14.6 per cent: The proportion of electricity produced by nuclear power that was consumed in Canada in 2007.

15.6 per cent: The percentage of electricity produced by nuclear power that was consumed worldwide in 2007.

51 per cent: The proportion of Ontario's electricity generated by nuclear power in 2007, making it the primary source of power.

8: The number of thumb-sized pellets of uranium — the radioactive element used to create nuclear energy — that can power an average home for one year.

Canadian Nuclear Association