It is as significant to the area's employment as if a second E-Z-Go plant popped up in Aiken County.

The impact of the MOX facility could be stated as four Wal-Mart Supercenters, though it will pay much better.

MOX will employ between 800 and 1,000 professionals when it begins operating in 2016.

The facility will cost $180 million a year to run, and much of that -- $110 million -- will be payroll, said Donna Martin, the spokeswoman for Shaw Areva MOX Services.

- The facility is going to employ about 450 operators and technicians, she said. The median salaries are between $66,000 and $70,000 for electrical, chemical and control technicians, according to the Nuclear Energy Institute.

- MOX will employ 150 engineers and chemists. The median salary for a nuclear engineer is $81,000.

- Radiation protection technicians' median salary is $69,000. The facility will need 70.

- The plant also will employ accountants, human resources specialists, security guards and information technology staffers just as in any other large business, Ms. Martin said.

Building the $4.86 billion mixed oxide fuel facility already has had an economic impact:

- Shaw Areva MOX Services has pumped $13.7 million into local businesses and has contracts with nearly 90 area companies.

- The company has spent $6 million with local small businesses on construction materials.

- There are 450 workers employed at the construction site now. At the peak of construction in 2012, 1,600 people will be employed.

Reach Tim Rausch at (706) 823-3352 or tim.rausch@augustachronicle.com.