MN company holds job fair for local displaced workers
By: Administrator
Updated: January 3, 2013
GREEN BAY, Wis. (WFRV) - A Minnesota company is coming to the rescue for some of the 650 workers who will be affected by the Kewaunee Nuclear Plant closure.
After unsuccessful attempts to sell, company leaders are shutting down the plant this spring. However, there is new hope for those willing to make a move.
Jack Vial has spent the past 24 years working at the Kewaunee Nuclear Power Station.
"I've done a lot of things there but at the present time I'm the Lead Instrument Instructor," said Vial.
After the plant's parent company, Dominion, announced last fall plans to shut down the station, Vial started looking for new work.
"I'm one of those employees that isn't quite ready to retire," he explained. "I still have some time to put in."
He was one of dozens of Kewaunee employees at the Xcel Energy job fair in Green Bay Thursday. The company operates two nuclear power plants in the Minneapolis area, and they're looking to hire.
Company leaders said they could have up to 70 jobs available.
"These are highly skilled people over at Kewaunee," Mark Schimmel, Site Vice President at the Monticello Power Plant, said. "and I think we would benefit through their experience and that's why we're here trying to pick up the right people and perhaps give them the opportunity to come to Minnesota."
Company leaders are sitting down with the potential employees, going over resumes and gauging their areas of interest. They're even doing some hiring right on the spot.
Schimmel calls nuclear power a small, niche career that will require relocation, and said Minnesota is an option to stay close.
"I know people like to stay in the Midwest," he said. "And if you're going to pursue a different avenue in your career, perhaps you might not want to leave the Midwest."
It's a five hour move Jack Vial is willing to make if it helps him achieve his ultimate goal.
"A position., a job," said Vial. "To continue my employment in the nuclear industry."
The job fair continues Friday at the Country Inn and Suites on Kepler Drive in Green Bay.
