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Melbourne CFO in 2012 are commanding $200k to $300k up from $170k to $250k pa in 2011; finance manager/financial controller, $125k to $200k unchanged from 2011; payroll clerk $60k -$70k C unchanged from 2011.

Sydney Group Finance Director is the most senior role listed by Robert Walters at an annual salary of $250k-$300k a year unchanged from 2011. Next on the Sydney list is a CFO at $250k a year unchanged from 2011; finance manager 3-5 years experience is fetching $140k to $180k pa up from $149k to $175k pa. Payroll officers in Sydney fetch $55k to $75k a year unchanged from last year.

I got an email from a young woman upset after seeing an ad posted by her employer for a role more junior than her own but that paid more. Usually, the fastest way to increase salary is to move jobs as we tend to move for something better or more senior and rates are influenced by market competition for talent. Internal salaries are subject to a greater range of influences including whether you are the type to ask for more money, how hard you are to replace as well as the financial performance of the company and the economy.

Sydney HR directors in 2012 have an annual salary range of $220k to $350k slightly down on the 2011 range of $230k to $350k. An HR Manger fetches $130k to $160k a year down from $150k to $170k pa in 2011; there is no change for HR administrator or HR coordinator at a range of $55k-65k pa and an HR officer in Sydney has lost ground $65k to $75k this year $70k to $80 pa in 2011.

ICT roles comparing Brisbane and Melbourne - CIO/IT Director Brisbane, $160k to $250k and Melbourne, $160k to $270k in 2012. Both rates are up on 2011. Project manager Brisbane, $100k-$120k C up $10k on 2011 C Melbourne $95k-$160k pa. Business analyst Brisbane $75k-90k pa; Melbourne, $80k -$145k and Help desk in Brisbane, level 1 & 2, $45k -$65k pa and in Melbourne, $48k to $70k pa.

Marketing managers seem to be doing okay. The info does not specify the size of the organisation. In Adelaide a marketing manager supposedly pulls in $90k to $130k a year C unchanged from 2011. In Brisbane, a marketing manager can expect to earn a package of $110k-$150k this year, up from $110k-$145k pa last year. In Sydney, that same role commands $100k-$160k pa, up from 2011 levels of $90k-$150k. Contract rates in Sydney has also moved up to $60 to $85 an hour from $50-$83 an hour in 2011. Just for your interest, a marketing manager with four years experience in New York City can expect an annual salary range of $95,000 to $145,000 this year down from $100k to $160k pa.

Saying that, the 2012 salary market is pretty flat. Hudson research shows the salary expectations of many candidates are even exceeding the budgets of employers and the new Robert Walters salary survey shows the market rates for some roles are below 2011 for example finance managers in Adelaide and financial controllers in Perth. There are market hotties too - oil & gas workers, mining and some ICT roles - where salaries are rising.

Other areas procurement, banking, mining & resources, in house legal 7 more.

Finding out what other people earn is a double edge sword. You need to know the market rates for your role to help you negotiate pay but knowing what others rake in can leave you feeling bad or angry.

Meanwhile, Personal Assistant’s in Perth are the best paid at $65k-85k a year and $35 to $45 an hour. The 2012 salary range for Sydney PAs is $60k-$80k a year (inclusive of super) while contractors get $30-$35 an hour. Melbourne PA’s are on $60k-70k and the Brisbane range is $60k-$75k pa.

Salary for a chief financial officer in Adelaide remains unchanged $175k-$400k pa while a finance manager with two to five years experience there is fetching $90k pa down from $100k pa last year. Payroll officers can earn $54k to $65k in 2012 up from $40k to $50k a year in 2011.

The Hays Oil and Gas Global Salary Guide 2012 reveals that while many sectors are keeping salaries tight this year,Miu Miu Glitter Starfish Pyrite Coral Sandals, oil and gas workers are expecting increases of 10 per cent or more. Expats oil & gas workers in Australia are the second highest paid workers in the sector taking in an average of AUS$167,560 a year. Only expats working in Papua New Guinea get paid more although that country’s local workers only get paid US$29,600 a year. Australia also has the top contracting rates across all the five expertise levels surveyed from technician level at AUS $610 a day to VP level at average of AUS$1,770 per day.

Brisbane CFOs will command $175k to $350k this year up by only $5,000 on 2011’s salary range while finance managers have lost ground with the 2012 range at $110k to $140 compared to the 2011 range of $100k to $150k pa. Payroll officers can expert $55k to $70k a year in 2012 up from $50k-$65k pa in 2011.

In Perth HR managers in mining and resources can expect $140k to $180k this year up from $130k to $170k last year. An HR manager working in professional services can expect a range of $110k to $140k pa compared to $100k to $130k in 2011. HR advisor can expect $80k-100k pa in 2012 in Perth up from $70k to $90k in 2011.

Perth Group Financial Controller (they don’t list CFO) $190k to $240k pa down from $220k to $250k pa in 2011; finance controller $140k-$180k pa down from $150k to $200k pa in 2011. Ouch. Payroll clerk $60k-$90k way up on $50k-$75k in 2011,Jimmy Choo Sepia Pumps Nude-Black Online.

Using the new Robert Walters salary survey I will look at salaries in 2012 for a few a certain number of roles. However, the survey covers more sectors than I mention here and salary rates across Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney so if I don’t mention yours, ask me and I will see if it is in the survey. Overseas markets are also mentioned. Note that the Robert Walters salaries include super but exclude bonuses and other extras.

Australian oil and gas workers are supposedly the best paid in the world according to Hays with an “average” annual salary of $163,144. The global average is $77,885 pa with others highs in Denmark where average salaries are AUS$142,382 a year and New Zealand NZ$145,625 pa.

At 12pm AEDT today, the local unit was trading at 103.26 US cents, unchanged from the end of yesterday's local session.

Since 7am AEDT today, the dollar has traded between 103.18 and 103.40 cents.

CMC chief market strategist Michael McCarthy said the dollar had failed to make much ground despite sharemarkets making small gains.

"We did a U-turn in sentiment overnight with a weak European session leading into a weak start to the US session, which finished on a high note," he said. "We're watching the euro-US dollar cross rate very closely as a lead-in to what the Aussie dollar might be doing against the US dollar."

Mr McCarthy said the markets are awaiting the release of Chinese manufacturing figures for October and Australian inflation numbers for the September quarter, both due out tomorrow. Australia's inflation rate is expected to rise by 1.6 per cent in the 12 months to September, according to an AAP survey of 15 economists, which could spark a November interest rate cut.

",Jimmy Choo Suede Round-Toe Platform Pumps Nude Online;They could be market-moving events but it does seem as if it's unlikely that we will be making any significant moves ahead of those," Mr McCarthy said.

Meanwhile, Australian bond futures prices were lower at noon. At 12pm AEDT today, the December 10-year bond futures contract was trading at 96.890 (implying a yield of 3.110 per cent), down from 96.935 (3.065 per cent) yesterday. The December three-year bond futures contract was at 97.480 (2.520 per cent), up/down from 97.540 (2,Jimmy Choo Zinc Cracked-leather Glitter Sandals Gold Online.460 per cent).

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"Antarctica," the prophesising veteran had told me, "is a place of vivid mateships." And so it was that I stumbled across Martin, a historical archeologist sent down south to assess the heritage value of the buildings at Australia's Mawson Station (established 1954) and Davis (1957).

The man's expression was hard to read and I could not tell if his prophecy would be a good thing or a bad thing. All I knew was that he had a lot of living in his eyes and he never wanted to go back to the place. He would not say why.

Penguins, thousands of them, clucking and calling in a frenzy of hormones as the breeding season began. A strangely lunar landscape of rock and ice in the hills surrounding Davis.

It took a while but slowly, gradually, I began to feel weirdly euphoric at times, as if I was scrubbing my life, starting afresh. Martin's wish, for both of us. At the age of 28 I grew up - it was like I was being hauled into adulthood. Grief gave me clarity, it stopped the silliness.

There were too many people, too much noise. The only things I wanted from home were the sun on my skin and the dirt on my hands and the taste of bananas in my mouth. Apart from that I wanted to be back in Antarctica, achingly.

There were few women. There were a lot of beards. I set about my task of ferreting out narratives with the zeal of a forensic scientist..

-- This is an extract from Better Than Fiction, edited by Don George, Lonely Planet 2012. Published this month, RRP: $24.99, lonelyplanet.com

Martin was contemptuous of the voyagers who spent most of their time in the video room in the bowels of the ship.

Our ship was the first to reach the continent after the long, dark winter hibernation, the only one out of all the Antarctic nations so far south at that time. Most of the people on board, apart from the crew, were scientists and tradespeople being dropped off at Australia's bases for the summer.

There was a surgery and an operating theatre and a doctor but no nurses. If an operation was required the diesel mechanic and the chef would help out; they had gone through a two-week course on the mainland.

I smelt Tasmania before I saw it, smelt trees and soil on the breeze. Then I saw green, in all its exotic vibrancy. It had been so long since I'd seen that colour in nature after my strict Antarctic palette of white and blue and grey and black.

We both wore seasick patches, were both vaguely dissatisfied with our jobs, wanted to write books. We would stand on deck in the early hours of the morning and watch auroras like giant scribbles of moving light in the sky, and talk endlessly of lives we didn't lead and most likely never would, of what we would do when we got back. How we'd finally have the courage to do what we really wanted to. It all seemed possible down there.

The Australian Government fully kitted us out army-style the day before sailing. Almost everything we were given, from thermal underwear to padded jumpsuit to steel-capped boots, was bloke-sized. I had little idea what I'd be getting myself into but these early signs weren't promising.

To not let people fool you into giving up. I lost the hunger for journalism, the observer's life. Learnt to live closer to the earth, to be still with it and to listen to it. I wrote a book about the experience, a novel called Shiver, which balmed me through the whole process of grieving.

I was not wanting my life changed. A radio journalist too fond of wearing black, I was just doing my job on this trip, nothing else. And with all the righteous zeal of youth, I believed the journalist's blazing function was to make trouble - with other people's lives, not my own. I was the outsider, the observer, and when on a job I was never meant to get my hands mucky in the mess of life.

No souveniring rocks from the continent. No taking polystyrene balls from packaging and bean bags to the continent, because they didn't degrade and they got stuck in the throats of animals and choked them. No leaving anything behind in the field but footprints and urine (and if possible, urinate down a crack in the ice).

-- Meet the author

And always in Legoland there was the hum of the generator. Martin told me to walk Antarctica, to move beyond that hum, any way I could, to listen to the thick silence of the land. It's a silence that thuds in your ears.

A "winterer", helicoptered on board from another station, bit into an apple. "That's better than sex," he declared. It'd been a long time between apples. We, the "summerers", were delivering the first supply of fresh fruit and vegetables Davis had seen in seven months. Another newly arrived winterer ate five apples in a row.

My gift to Martin and his gift to me. Because finally, in my late 20s, I was doing what I really wanted to do with my life.

"People are always wanting a piece of you. I had to go for 10-minute walks outside just to get away from it all."

One day the strap of my camera froze into a stiff scribble. The flesh of my cheek stuck to the cold metal of the camera back and, panicking, I pulled my skin away. I had been trying to take a photo of a woman's eyelashes dusted with ice. It looked like white mascara.

"I feel so alive in this place," Martin laughed in vivid contrast, exhausting me with the ferocity of his enthusiasm. He was 37, the age of reckoning as we career into middle age, and he was gulping this world like a gleeful boy. He said that we must live differently after this trip, do all the things we really wanted to do.

Everything else in terms of human waste was to be removed because it would never rot. Plastic bags were handed out for defecating during field trips and women got an extra device, a FUD (Female Urinary Device), plastic and pink and shaped like a funnel. It meant we could go standing up like a man.

On the ice chunks were seals and their blood - it was the pupping season and there were many births. There were penguins that scurried in a panic. In the channels between floes were minke whales, their backs breaking the surface in a stately arc. And circling around the Aurora were snow petrels soaring and dipping like hundreds of angels watching over us.

I didn't want to leave this place. Didn't want to go back to my cluttered, inner-city life. Didn't want to leave Martin. He had entered my heart, was riveted to it, the relationship sanctified by the shared wonder of this land. But he was staying behind, his work wasn't finished. As we said goodbye our cheeks felt like plastic.

Tears pricked my eyes with the sheer monumental emotion of it all.

The Australian mainland was "the real world". I wanted to leave the real world far behind, drown myself in this brave new existence, so vulnerable and lonely and exhilarating and replenishing, in the vastness of this unsullied continent.

In the daytime there were icebergs that looked like pool tables or Cambodian temples or Walt Disney castles or Uluru, some so blue it was as if the ice had trapped a piece of the sky. We stood on the bow as the ocean changed around us from open sea to water like heaving marble with long veins of white through it.

Outside were utes and bulldozers and a small cement-mixing truck. Tank-like vehicles called Hagglunds were so noisy you had to wear headphones when you were in them, assaulting the silence that felt thousands of years old, untouched. And at night, the vehicles in the open were lined up and plugged into heaters to keep the oil in their engines warm.

Nikki Gemmell has written six novels, Shiver, Cleave, Lovesong, The Bride Stripped Bare, The Book of Rapture and With My Body, as well as several non-fiction books. Her work has been critically acclaimed internationally and translated into many languages. In France she's been described as a female Jack Kerouac, in Australia as one of the most original and engaging authors of her generation, and in the US as one of the few truly original voices to emerge in a long time.

Three weeks after I returned, I got a phone call from down south. I recognised the crackle on the line and instantly felt the tug in my belly I always got when I spoke to Martin.

And always, the stretched sky.

When the Aurora docked, I stepped on to a pavement that was too hard and after two days I'd jarred my shins.

We were told that if an attachment was formed,Handbags, then the absolute rule was discretion. Later the chef, an old Antarctic hand, told me that if there were two single people on a station then invariably they paired up, but it was not the done thing to openly fraternise. I was single when I began this voyage. I was intrigued, by all of it.

Patton and the Giants were putting in the building blocks of their pre-season training yesterday, sweating it out during their first skill session.

His No. 1 draft pick from last year, Patton, is set to make a big impact in 2013 with his first full pre-season under his belt.

Coach Kevin Sheedy said Tippett's versatility would be the key to fitting him into the Giants' already talented forward line.

It was their first full training session without Israel Folau, the first proper pre-season for No. 1 draft pick Jonathon Patton and the first declaration from Giants players about their desire to sign Adelaide Crow Kurt Tippett.

"In the first few days of pre-season I haven't felt any pain."

Patton's January surgery delayed his senior debut until the round-12 match against Richmond at Skoda Stadium - and severely limited his impact in 2012.

"If he comes here, Jeremy and I will be looking forward to working with him in the forward line."

"Going from under-18s football with no pre-season into the AFL was a massive step."

",High Heels Red Bottom Gomorrhe Flat;It's feeling really good at the moment," Patton said.

I could go on, but you get the picture. These are the messages boys receive VERY early on about themselves, and they become ingrained.

I honestly believe you are severely underestimating the impact that the seemingly pre-determined female life ‘narrative’ has on young girls.

The point is, unless you have the mostly male-controlled movie makers and the media consistently throwing a female narrative in your face that encourages an emphasis on looks and relationships, I doubt you can reallt relate to how infinitely saddening this is to watch, and how gald I am I had other influences on me growing up.

Girls, as a whole,High Heels Red Bottom Isabelle 140mm, do not get these types of stories made for them, and it saddens me greatly. I also know it must sadden others, because the minute a movie is made about a woman overcoming adversity - Sarah Connor in Terminator 2 is a good example - so, so many women love to actually see something different from the norm on the screen.

SSR -

Do you know how refreshing movies like that are to watch as a woman? Do you also know how rare they are?

1. Your individuality is a good thing.
2. You are capable of influencing society in a good way through your intelligence, strength or creativity.
3. You can overcome adversity if you really dig deep within yourself and find inner strength to overcome hardship.
4. You do not need others to define you and you must find your own path.
5. Freedom is precious and every man must have his.
6. Your self worth lies deep within, despite how people may try to treat you…

The more lenient charge is usually reserved for people who can prove a long-standing drug addiction.

The Darwin man was arrested on September 17 last year at the hotel where he was staying at Kuta Beach with a package containing 0,Christian Louboutin Ron Ron 100mm Navy.64g of methamphetamine, commonly known in Indonesia as shabu shabu.

The others included the Bali Nine,Christian Louboutin Lady Peep 150mm Black Patent Leather, the Gold Coast's Schapelle Corby and Sydney man Michael Sacatides, all of whom have been jailed for drug-related offences.

It's expected he will be released on March 16 or 17, after which he will be deported to Australia.

Pollock was one of 12 Australians who refused to leave the jail despite authorities wanting to evacuate all foreigners amid fears they could be targeted by other prisoners involved in the unrest.

Continuing the cricket analogy, axing Beale after a nondescript effort in victory last weekend is like telling David Warner: a duck gets you dropped and 50 keeps you in the team.

The inconsistency would be damaging. In one week, out the next. If you drop a ball, you're out. If you score a good try, you stay in the following week.

But it would be tough to swallow when Barnes, who has hardly ever played fullback, is picked instead.

The pressing question is: does he know what he has to do? Has he been told that by Robbie Deans?

The Wallabies have a tough tour of South Africa and Argentina coming up, a third clash against the All Blacks and then a challenging Spring Tour,Christian Louboutin Lady Lynch 120mm Black.

Beale's swagger took a big blow after Sydney, but I thought he bounced back off the bench in Auckland and then performed solidly in Perth. There was a platform for him to keep building there, but that has been taken away now.

Australian rugby needs Beale in top form - and you don't get that by leaving him out of the team.

RUGBY CHAMPIONSHIP

I couldn't see any fitness problems for Beale in Perth, and while it wasn't his best game, I thought he was starting to take some positive options.

Wallabies: B Barnes, D Shipperley, A Ashley-Cooper, P McCabe, D Ioane, Q Cooper, N Phipps; R Samo, M Hooper, D Dennis, N Sharpe (c), K Douglas, B Alexander, T Polota-Nau, B Robinson. Res: S Fainga'a, J Slipper, S Higginbotham, L Gill, B Sheehan, A Fainga'a, K Beale

For a confidence player like Beale, this rollercoaster ride can not be doing him any good.

It's not just that these celebrities' personas have infiltrated their lives. That's gone on for decades, from The Beatles and Bob Dylan, who liked to manipulate and mock their interviewers, to Samuel L. Jackson, who became typecast for his enthusiastic use of profanity. But recently, with the likes of Snooki, Soulja Boy and, lest we forget, Sarah Palin, tabloid performance art has thrived. With the entertainment media's hyper-short attention span, famous people who can continually make a spectacle of themselves can also usually make headlines. In the slideshow below, we present ten celebrities who have been accused of performance art, with varying degrees of truth behind the allegations.

"Performance artist" has become a common slur against celebrities who thrive on tastelessness. There's no way these people could be for real, the argument goes, so it must all be an elaborate ruse. But whether it's from James Franco, who openly admits this act, or Joaquin Phoenix, who kept it going long enough to make a documentary about it,【Christian Louboutin Metalipp 120mm Pumps Bluehttp://www.redbottomhighheelshoes.com/Lonboutin2013OutletHighHeels/christian-louboutin-metalipp-120mm-pumps-blue/】, performance art is becoming a viable career option for established entertainers.

Yet more is at risk than ice shelves and rising seas as the Antarctic Peninsula shifts from a cold and dry climate to a warmer, moister, climate. The peninsula's fragile marine ecology, from the smallest bacterium to the largest baleen whale, is being challenged. As the seas warm and the climate changes, communities of tiny floating plants called phytoplankton are becoming less common and shifting from larger to smaller varieties that are less nourishing. Along the northern peninsula, the phytoplankton no longer provide sufficient sustenance for krill, the shrimp-like zooplankton that are the biggest ingredient of Antarctic food webs -- they feed fish, seals, penguins, and whales. Younger krill are finding it more difficult to find a meal. They gorge on phytoplankton that grows on the underside of the annual sea ice. As the annual sea ice is disappearing so are the krill.

There are more tangible losses to consider as the austral summer approaches the Antarctic Peninsula. Antarctic seafloor invertebrates including sponges, soft corals, starfish, and sea squirts are fine-tuned to live at constant low polar temperatures and studies indicate many may be unable to adapt to rapid warming. The loss of these animals is tantamount to losing an investment portfolio of genetic diversity that may harbor cures to human disease including cancer, AIDS, cystic fibrosis, and infectious diseases. For example, an Antarctic sea squirt the size and shape of a soft ball has been discovered to harbor chemicals that scientists at the National Cancer Institute found kills melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer. With the Antarctic sea floor boasting a marine biota equivalent to that of the Great Barrier Reef of Australia its myriad invertebrates represent a priceless resource.

Also at risk is the esthetic value of this vast untamed wilderness. Over my twenty expeditions to Antarctica, I continue to be dazzled by the poetic grandeur of the landscape, the stunning colors of the ice, and the rocky shores teeming with nesting, braying penguins. Tourists that visit Antarctica return home transformed -- ambassadors for a remote continent. Here, politics takes a back seat. The Antarctic Treaty recognizes no sovereignty, but rather Antarctica remains a global commons for the pursuit of scientific knowledge and the preservation of our last great wilderness. What a fitting context for a diminishing Antarctic Peninsula to serve as a clarion call for a sustainable planet.

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Shoko Sato, a writer on sumo, said the lack of new trainees reflected the sport's struggle to maintain popularity among young Japanese.

However, the fact that both champions come from Mongolia highlights worries about foreign dominance of the top ranks of sumo,Coach Factory Outlet.

Fans fret that the shortage of recruits will undermine competition and make it less likely sumo can attract the kind of talent boasted by great champions of the past.

"There needs to be a balance," Ms Sato said.

"Soccer and the Major League [baseball] have greater appeal for young people now, while sumo has become a sport watched by grannies and granddads," Ms Sato said,{www.coachoutlettote.com}. "It's really worrying."

(Financial Times) -- A dearth of new recruits is thinning the ranks of sumo wrestlers, threatening the future of the celebrated but scandal-plagued ancient Japanese sport.

Only 56 hefty young trainees have applied to join sumo stables this year, about half standard recruitment levels in the early years of the century and far too few to make up for the 115 wrestlers who left the sport last year, according to the Japan Sumo Association.

Sponsors also appear to be losing interest. Even fast-food chain McDonald's, previously a loyal provider of prize money for sumo's ample-girthed athletes, has not backed a bout since March 2011,{www.coachoutlettote.com}.

The scandals are seen as a big factor in declining audiences,Coach Outlet, with rows of empty seats now a familiar feature of NHK's weekday afternoon television broadcasts of sumo's 15-day tournaments.

Losses at the sumo association have soared, with the sport's governing body suffering a fall of Y4.9bn in the value of its net assets to Y44bn,{www.coachoutlettote.com}.

The declining enthusiasm for the tough but potentially glamorous life of a sumo wrestler comes as Japan's national sport -- which boasts a mythical past and semi-religious pretensions -- struggles to rebuild a reputation battered by revelations of bout-fixing, trainee bullying and underworld links.

Enthusiasts hope that the recent promotion of a new yokozuna champion, the 133kg Harumafuji, will rekindle public interest by setting up a rivalry with the veteran wrestler Hakuho, who had ruled alone as yokozuna for the past 15 tournaments,{www.coachoutlettote.com}.

The dramatic finale of the autumn competition was watched in 18 per cent of households,{www.coachoutlettote.com}, according to Video Research -- far fewer than the 27 per cent who tuned in for the final day of the tournament in 2009, the last time sumo made it into the annual TV top 20.

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Skilled workforce shortages are common across industries. (Nursing etc...)
Besides spinning up new training and increasing recruitment the issue can also be addressed with increased automation,http://www.coachoutlettote.com/, design and process improvement to reduce staffing requirements. The issue of staffing the nuclear industry is a known issue and is often cited as a reason that the nuclear industry cannot expand.

The number nuclear engineers being trained is increasing, college programs are being expanded or restarted and companies like General electric have initiated agressive recruitment programs. There is also the significant changes via design and management processes that are reducing staffing requirements per operating plant. There are 60,000 skilled nuclear workers and 20,000 of them could retire over the next five years, plus thousands more will be needed for new plants in the USA and around the world,Coach Outlet.


levels for different modern nuclear plant designs. Avg nuclear plant staffing levels were 1000-1200 in the mid-90s (already down from 1970s and 1980s when it was about 1500 people per plant). New designs with staffing levels of 440-700 would reduce the staffing needs further. While there has been staff reductions all of the safety and operational metrics have been improving for the last three decades. Avg staffing levels are now at about 790-800 people,{www.coachoutlettote.com}.

Since staff costs typically account for more than half of a plant’s O&M cost, reducing staff should reduce O&M costs. Design concepts for new plants have focused on reducing the operations burden and thereby reducing staff, which leads to staff reduction and should ultimately lower operating costs.
This study used a task-based approach to determinine plant staff requirements for specific plant operation tasks,Coach Factory Outlet. Starting with the staffing profile of a top-rated plant (North Anna), the study team reviewed the details of the new designs to determine if the advances in technology and information reporting would reduce overall staffing levels. Each task associated with plant operation was taken into account. A staff model was developed for each reactor type,Coach Outlet Online Store. This model maintains an adequate staff level to meet regulatory and best practice requirements.
The first new plants built in the United States will rely heavlily on current operational practices to ensure that the lessons learned over the more than 30 years of plant operation will be applied to the newest generation of plants. Therefore, for the purposes of this study, the organizational structure from the current operating philosophy was maintained. Although current staff structures differ between operating companies, they have a single overall goal—to reduce human error and equipment failure in all phases of plant operation and safety and to ensure an overall high operating capacity factor.
The staffing estimates used in this study include the onsite plant staff as well as additional staff that would be needed in the corporate office to support the additional units. These estimates also include corporate office support staff, which includes the staff who provide fuel design and procurement, safety analysis support, major modification development, and other more generic activities.

US Nuclear industry staffing levels

Once base power rates were established through public utility commissions, opportunities for cost reductions through labor savings became available. By the mid-1980s, U.S. nuclear plant operators began looking for opportunities to reduce cost through staffing reductions. The next major adjustment in personnel levels in the U.S. began in mid 1990s with programs to "right size" the employee workforce. While effectively improving performance in terms of capacity factor, safety performance, and reduced refuel outage durations, U.S. NPPs began to consistently reduce employee staffing levels. Since 1997 average U.S. NPP staffing levels have dropped by more than 15%. These reductions appear to have recently leveled off.

As part of the reduction of total staff, along with the technical nature and training requirements for operating NPPs, employee skills set have become very focused. To offset this situation, most U.S. NPPs proactively encourage rotation and cross training of staff. This approach provides "bench strength" to provide additional personnel with experience and/or training while maintaining lower overall staffing levels.

Consolidation of NPPs into operating fleets has had a beneficial impact on developing and maintaining key knowledge.

Dealing with staffing reductions.

Getting nuclear engineering enrollment to 2000-4000 would turn out 700-1400 graduates per year who would help to stablize and eventually increase the nuclear workforce. GE and other companies could step up and offer more scholarships and incentives to further increase enrollment and provide university endowments to created new programs. Get enrollment up to 8000 and 2800/year graduates should be produced. Increase to 16,000 enrolled for 5600/year in graduates. Increase to 32,000 enrolled for 10,200/year in graduates. There are 104 plants in the USA now and with 800 people per plant the staffing level must be 83,000. Of those 60,000 have special industry skills. In 2017, if the increased training and recruitment programs restore the workforce to 60,000 people and the staffing requirements for old plants are brought to 20% less and new plants only need 400 skilled staff then 30 new plants could be adequately staffed. Further recruitment and training would allow for more industry growth. 300 plants by 2030 in the USA with 400 skilled staff per plant would require 120,000 people. In the 2010-2020 timeframe the number of graduates would need to increase to the 5600/year-10,200/year levels.

FURTHER READING


The nine components of nuclear plants which have limited suppliers are being built up by Areva and South Korea and others. So there will be more suppliers of currently limited parts. New factories to make things you need can be started.

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The conflict in Syria is no longer considered a purely internal matter. It clearly has regional ramifications. Thus I believe Turkey's aim to secure its border is inextricably linked with regime change. Its increased military operations may stem from a calculus that it would accelerate the Assad regime's demise. The Turkish parliament's assent for its troops to conduct operations inside Syria is not merely a symbolic attempt to bolster Turkish pride while responding to domestic political pressure over the Syrian attacks. It gives its armed forces the ability to do more than defend its borders.

London (CNN) -- It would be a mistake to write off threats of war against Syria from Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan as mere bluster, assuming that Turkey will maintain the status quo in valuing its relationship with the United States on one hand, while resisting Iran's hegemonic ambitions on the other.

Yet Washington and its NATO allies could now be forced to place a significant number of troops on the ground to prevent the proliferation of Syria's stockpile of chemical and biological weapons. The Obama administration has resigned itself to wishful thinking assuming, as Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has done,s in the wake of the toppling of the Assad regime. In a vacuum of governance dominated by Islamists, this may become a proliferation nightmare,Coach Outlet.

The Assad regime knows its time is limited as the rate of military and intelligence officers defecting to Jordan and Turkey increases in momentum. Rebel attacks are inching closer to the heart of the Assad regime, such as the in the Damascus suburb of Harasta. This contributes to the regime's recklessness in firing upon Turkey with impunity.

Join us on.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Barak Seener.

The shift towards conflict with Syria is characterized by the kind of strategic shift in the region that we've seen before with Turkey. Erdogan was initially reluctant to impose sanctions on Iran and is now embracing EU sanctions on Tehran. The Turkish premier was also supportive of Iran's nuclear ambitions all the while seeking to downgrade relations with Tehran's nemesis, Israel. Now it is aligning itself with the Sunni bloc, including Gulf states and Jordan against Iran and its Syrian proxy. This could prompt an Iranian military response and in turn instigate another spike in oil prices.

Ankara may also be emboldened by the fact that Iran, a key Assad ally, could be limited in its ability to intervene due to its economic woes at home. This week its currency -- the rial -- plummeted in value due to a combination of sanctions and Tehran's own mismanagement of the economy. Turkey has less to lose by responding to Syrian aggression -- this rationale is supported by attached to its elite Quds Force.

The U.S., realistically the only nation with the necessary military and logistical capability, could easily have prevented the refugee crisis that has heightened the prospect of conflict with Turkey. Its wariness to arm rebels was to prevent blowback from the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood and other empowered Islamists in Syria. Yet the protracted conflict there has generated a kaleidoscopic civil-war and vacuum of governance across much of Syria that has attracted Islamists, , enabling it to infiltrate the ranks of the opposition and gain support in the wake of its attacks on Syrian military and government installations.

The longer the Syrian civil war continues, the greater the prospect of regional sectarian tensions emerging along Sunni-Shiite fault-lines. This could result in a Middle Eastern Cold War between regional powerhouses Saudi Arabia,Coach Factory Outlet, with its mainly Sunni population, and the Shiite-dominated Iranians.

Yet with the UN's extensive history of paying lip service to upholding the values of human rights while ignoring genocide in Rwanda, Sudan, Balkans and Iraq, its dismissive manner towards the current massacres taking place on a daily basis in Syria should come as no surprise. There are estimates that up to 50,000 people have been killed, with up to two million people internally displaced since the conflict started. The U.N,{www.coachoutlettote.com}. claims that 300,000 Syrians have fled the country.

The recent cross-border confrontation could ignite regional convulsions as Turkey is sucked into Syria, leading to belated actions on the part of the international community.

It is also likely that NATO may assist Turkey -- a member state -- with the defense of its 560-mile border,http://www.coachoutlettote.com/, creating a de facto humanitarian buffer zone, where the Syrian opposition could have a command post. However, this risks escalating the conflict into a NATO-led mission outside the framework of the U.N. Security Council -- the kind of interventionist measure Russia and China would oppose as they did in Libya.

The U.S. and its NATO allies could also have prevented much bloodshed by using air power to target the Assad regime's military apparatus. and would be overstretched if forced to respond to external military pressure.

While the U.S. is keen on winding down its involvement in the Middle East to refocus its attention on Asia, Syria may be the instigator that sucks it back into the region for another decade to manage a second Cold War.

Editor's note: An Associate Middle East Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in London, Barak M. Seener has written extensively about Middle East issues, including the Arab Spring, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, Israel's defense and security policies, and the Palestinianization of Israeli Arabs.

Meanwhile, The Obama administration's apparent strategy of "leading from behind" is an excuse for its dithering over the Syrian humanitarian crisis. Similarly, the United Nations' inaction over the crisis results from a deadlock at the Security Council, with China and Russia opposed to any intervention -- implausibly advocating that the rebels conduct dialogue with a murderous regime.

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By. Dian L. Chu

According to AAA Daily Fuel Gauge Report updated through May 13,http://www.coachoutlettote.com/, 2011, the national average price stood at $3.982, essentially unchanged from a week ago, while 16 states have average gas price of more than $4 a gallon.

MarketWatch reported that some refiners said their fuel sales in April had fallen by as much as 4% from March as high prices prompted consumers driving less. As refiners cut their run rate due to lower gasoline demand, the resulted sliding refinery utilization rate--82.8% as of April 29 as compared with 89.6% same period a year ago--has created a diverging supply side fundamental between crude oil and gasoline,Coach Outlet, which is more bullish for gasoline, and bearish for crude oil.

Although this week started off with some sign of stabilization, the heavy selling and volatility resumed mid week. The deep slide for commodities, including crude and gasoline, could be partly attributed to the reverberation from a recent wave of margin requirement increases amid volatility and price run-up in commodities.

Crude oil weakness also came from some bearish reports that hit the market this week. EIA data showed that gasoline inventories had its first weekly increase (1.3 million barrels) in about three months, while crude oil stockpiles continued to build. The IEA (International Energy Agency),Coach Outlet Online Store, citing “$4/gallon gasoline is likely to yield an anemic US driving season,” also said the oil demand in North America would fall by 194,000 barrels per day in 2011, a downward revision by 220,000 b/d.

Another factor holding up gasoline prices is the flooding of Mississippi River. Rising water levels and heavy rains are causing fuel transportation disruptions in tankers, barges and pipeline closures, which reportedly has already contributed to higher pump prices in certain parts of the Southeast and Midwest regions. About 14% of total U.S. refining capacity is located in regions affected by the rising Mississippi River. Concern about disruptions of fuel helped boost wholesale gasoline prices.

EIA projected that gasoline demand is likely to increase by just 0,Coach Factory Outlet.2% in the peak summer driving season this year. However, with Memorial weekend, the traditional kickoff of the summer driving season, just two weeks away, and as the current gasoline stocks are very low by historical standard, plus Mississippi River flooding further complicating the picture, consumers may not see a real relief at the pump till the end of summer driving season in September, assuming no huge price spikes coming form crude oil.

Nevertheless, some factors as outlined below would bring continued downward price pressure for both WTI crude oil and RBOB gasoline, particularly in the second half of this year, barring geopolitical and hurricane events.

Dian L. Chu, is a market analyst at EconMatters.

With the record retreat in crude oil prices, many consumers are expecting ‘some big retail price drops’ in time for Memorial Day weekend. After all, crude oil accounts for more than two thirds (68.3%) of the price in a gallon of gasoline as of March 2011, according to the U.S. Energy Department.

The Reuters Jefferies CRB Index is down 8% so far in May with almost every single commodity in the index registering red. Even the ongoing geopolitical tension in the Middle East and North Africa has not been able to shield the ever bullish crude oil from the commodity rout. Both Nymex WTI and ICE Brent suffered heavy losses.

•Various forecasts of slower global GDP and oil demand growth
•Signs of demand destruction in response to high energy prices
•The end of QE2 in June
•Stronger dollar due to ongoing debt problems in Europe
•China and other higher growth economies tightening and slowing down to fight inflation
•Some big players still holding long positions in anticipation of higher oil prices, which would trigger huge price plunge and volatility should they decide to liquidate.

Looking ahead, crude oil price may be hinged upon gasoline for the remainder of this year. That is, WTI prices may get support if there are continued draws on the gasoline inventory signaling stronger fuel demand. In the next 3 months or so, some drawdowns of crude inventories could be expected as refiners increase run rate to replenish the low gasoline inventory amid peak demand season, which should also provide support to crude oil price as well.

Chart Source: Barchart.com