Nuclear vs Oil & Gas

Hi Ken,

I can’t speak for the Canadian sectors of the same market, but here in the UK, there is approximately £75 Billion of Nuclear decommissioning.....and that excludes any New-Build that is likely to occur due to the "energy-gap". This lot is due to happen over the next 50 years, barring any funding crises.

The only real disadvantage (depending on your perspective) is that the Nuclear industry works very slowly, and it all has to be written down, in triplicate.....even if you want to take a crap at 3pm on a Friday afternoon.

With regard to the oil & gas markets; my guess is that the total output may be reducing over the next 50 years, but the quantity of drilling and exploratory operations will continue. It just means that the planning will need to become significantly more effective.....as the return-on-investment needs to be maintained.

Overall, things are not likely to change too much over the next 20 years, in either industry; so go for the job that gives most of what you’re looking for.

James.

Ken,

According to a programme i saw on the discovery channel, we have only used just under half of the oil we currently know about.
With this in mind, there must be about another 30 years of currrent stock left without going exploring for more, plus the oil companies are the richest organizations in the world so they won’t just decline, they will just monopolise new technologies and there core business will evolve.


In short I wouldn’t worry about which of the two industries you go into as both will be around longer than you or i will.

ken,

I am a planner worked both in nuclear and chemical industries in China. Here China plans to build 30 nuclear power stations within next 15 years, so there are a lot of opportunities. I think the diffrence between the two is that you can get more quick trainning in oil & gas field as the duration is much short while the nuclear power station building process is very long. And also of cource the work of nuclear field is not so urgent because the quatity is number 1.

Thanks for the reply,

I figure that once I have the experience it will be possible to go to either oil/gas or nuclear. I am with a company in Canada now that is strickly oil/gas and chemical. I have been here planning/scheduling for about 2 1/2 years now. My intentions are to put in 5 years here then start my own consulting company and travel around for jobs.. If anyone has any pointers or tips for me it would be much appriciated.

Ken Barrett