Reaching Out, Communicating: An Important Role at Oyster Creek

Oyster Creek had the privilege of staffing an information tent about our facility at Lacey Day. It’s a great annual event held by the Township Recreation Commission where community organizations and businesses highlight their services for their neighbors.

Oyster Creek employees are there to meet our neighbors, answer questions and address concerns. The employees of Oyster Creek love to talk about their jobs, their facility and the benefits of nuclear power and are eager to volunteer at events such as Lacey Day.

It’s an opportunity to reconnect with old friends and make new ones. We met a young boy starting Kindergarten in the fall, who literally jumped up and down when he saw our informational table. His mom said she and her husband had told him all about Oyster Creek when he would see the facility from his car and ask about it.  He stayed at our information booth for quite some time, asking great questions and soaking up knowledge. Days later, his mom contacted us to say he poured over all of the brochures he picked up and told everyone he saw about Oyster Creek.

Reaching out to the community is a vital part of what we do. We cannot just hope that our neighbors understand and support Oyster Creek. We need to take time to communicate and educate those who have questions, whether it is a curious five-year-old or a retired couple thinking about moving to the area. 

Every Oyster Creek employee is an ambassador. Whether they bump into you in a supermarket, at the playground or at a sponsored event, all of our employees are happy to take time to answer your questions about the station and about nuclear power.

Throughout the year, our employees make formal presentations at civic and church organizations, they speak at schools and are asked to judge science fairs. Each year we open our doors for Community Information Night, where Exelon representatives and technical experts will provide information on nuclear energy topics, including plant operations, emergency preparedness, used fuel storage, safety, security, environmental stewardship and community outreach.

This year, we held our first Energy Education Day where some 350 students from schools throughout New Jersey visited our Training Center and participated in a series of interactive presentations, displays and activities.

Earlier this summer, we partnered with the Jersey Shore Council of the Boy Scouts of America to help scouts camping at the nearby Citta Scout Reservation achieve their Nuclear Science Merit Badge.

Once a week for five weeks, our employees volunteered their time and expertise to teach the boys, ranging in age from about 11 to 17, all about nuclear power. Some 144 boys – from troops throughout New Jersey and Pennsylvania – successfully completed the program.

This is not a new program. We have hosted merit badge workshops for a number of years and expect to continue.

These young men could be future nuclear engineers and scientists, making discoveries and inventions that we never thought possible. Our little friend from Lacey Day may one day take the little bit of information we gave him and use it to advance technology. And the residents whose questions are answered by our employees may have a greater understanding of their neighbor, Oyster Creek.

We are part of the community. We want to share.