Construction: generating jobs and power.

Nuclear plants generate more than power in the Carolina--they create thousands of jobs and pump billions into the local economy. While there are six nuclear reactors in the planning stages for the Carolinas. the closest to actual construction are two units at the V.C. Summer Nuclear Station near Jenkinsville, S.C. They are being built for South Carolina Electric & Gas.

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Shaw Group, based in Baton Rouge, La., but with a major subsidiary in Charlotte, has more than 600 people on site for preconstruction activities and about 900 on site altogether. "And that will reach 3,000 to 3,500 people once construction really ramps up." says Jeffrey S. Merrifield, senior vice president at Shaw's Power Group, based in Charlotte. "When plants get put online, in terms of jobs, you end up with about 800 jobs for people living near the plant, generating power." Shaw, a leading force in the nuclear power industry, has 1,100 employees in the Queen City alone.

Those jobs in Jenkinsville will continue for at least five years, the usual construction period required before fuel load, Merrifield says. That plant is expected to become operational in 2016, according to a Clemson University study on the economic impact of the nuclear cluster in the Carolinas.

Construction of these projects, experts say, already is having a tremendous impact on local economies. Merrifield says they have generated as much as $450 million in economic activity. Of that, about $40 million is labor income. Municipal governments surrounding nuclear plants also benefit greatly, he says. Plants generate nearly $20 million per year in local tax revenues. "That allows communities to build terrific schools, town halls and staff excellent police forces," Merrifield says. "And that's why you see such extraordinary support. There are exceptions to that, but it is...