Local Lodge 26

NRC approves first licenses since 1978

THE NUCLEAR REGULATORY Commission (NRC) on Feb. 9 approved the first licenses to build nuclear reactors in the United States in more than 30 years – and much of the skilled labor involved will go to union Boilermakers.

The $14 billion project will add two new 1,100 Mw Westinghouse AP1000 reactors (units 3 and 4) at the Vogtle Electric Generating Plant (Plant Vogtle) in eastern Georgia. The plant’s existing reactors (units 1 and 2), which produce 1,200 Mw of electricity each, began operating in the late 1980s.

Northeast & Great Lakes

Toth and Buskey win Northeast; Vodraska and Woods win Great Lakes

THE NORTHEAST AND Great Lakes areas held their 23rd annual joint graduate apprentice competitions May 4-8 at Local 5 Zone 197 (Albany, N.Y.). The top two finishers in each contest will represent their areas in the national contest in Kansas City, Kan., Sept. 27-Oct. 1.

Local 40 places first for third consecutive year

FOR THE THIRD year in a row, a Local 40 (Elizabethtown, Ky.) member has won the Paul D. Wedge Memorial Award for the Outstanding Graduate Apprentice of the Southeast Area. William Dietsch took the top honor at the competition, which was held July 28-31 at Local 433 in Tampa, Fla. Christopher Carpenter of Local 667 (Charleston, W.Va.) was the runner-up.

Structure named in honor of SAJAC’s Mike Peterson

MEMBERS OF LOCAL 199 (Jacksonville, Fla.) dedicated their new rigging training structure to Michael Peterson Aug. 29. Peterson, a graduate apprentice and member of Local 199, serves as an Assistant to the International President and Director of SAJAC — the Boilermakers’ Southeast Area Joint Apprenticeship Committee.