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I got out in May 2007 and I'm working on my SRO license at a commercial nuke plant right now so I can answer questions from people getting out and wanting to stay in the field.Magnificent Quiver posted:What kind of jobs can a nuke look forward to once they leave the Navy? I imagine turnover is pretty low at American nuclear plants, since there are so few and competition must be pretty heavy. The jobs have died down lately it seems. The economy probably has something to do with it and the unusually mild summer of last year probably has something to do with it. I know my plant went into a hiring freeze for a while and even now doesn't seem to be hiring much. Three years ago when I got out there were jobs all over the place though. I excluded myself from applying at any job in the south east part of the country and was still able to find a lot of interviews. Lots of new plants are in the licensing phase right now though and like moker said the workforce is pretty old on average. I think the number of operators at my plant right now that are eligible for retirement in the next few years is around 30, and that's out of probably 80-ish people. I should note that the jobs that I interviewed for outside of the nuclear field were also promising. I was an ET and I was interviewing for jobs around the 50-60k base pay range for I&C tech work before I went for the real money.
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Mar 26, 2010 23:07
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LordNad posted:^^^^How bad is the licensing school? My mother isn't stupid and yet she was coming home every night stressed as gently caress and studying her rear end off. Some nights she'd look like she wanted to cry. Also if you don't make it through (she said a good number of people in her class didn't), do you get fired? She's union and iirc she was forced to go through the school to keep her job and had to pass. It's very tough. Easily the hardest thing that I've ever attempted. It's like the Navy Nuke pipeline on speed and this time around they aren't bashful about failing people out. At our plant people don't get fired if they don't make it through license class, they either get moved down to a NLO (non-licensed operator) position or they go somewhere other than operations. My plant is non-union though so it doesn't have the problems that some union plants do with that process. I worked an outage at Fermi and their ROs were non-union and their NLOs were union so if they went to license class and got kicked back to NLO they lose all of their seniority and everything that came with it.
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Mar 27, 2010 00:33
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Torvec posted:Quick question, once you go through your schooling and are ready to join the fleet, what determines if you're going to be on a Carrier or a Sub? Do you actually get to choose or is it another one of those "Needs of the Navy" situations? Which is better to be on Sub or Carrier? Just needs of the Navy. You will fill out a wish list but they may or may not even look at it in my experience. In my NPTU class almost everyone went to carriers, sub vols or not. My first choice was Groton and my second to last choice was a carrier out of Bremerton and I went to a carrier out of Bremerton. Luckily that turned out to be the nicest thing the Navy ever did for me. LordNad posted:Yeah when she said she was one of a handful of female ROs in the country, I thought it was some bullshit thing she made up to make herself feel better. Don't know about my uncle's plant (Seabrook station), but my mother says her plant (Pilgrim think? they change hands every so many years) has it's own commandoesque team for defense. Do you guys have the same thing? Trumped up security guards running around with submachine guns and tacticool poo poo? We have our own in house security force. We actually have more security personnel than any other department. They carry around M16's and some sort of pistol. I can't really say much else about our security because that's one of the only things in commercial nuclear power that is classified (well not classified but considered "safeguards information" by the NRC).
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Mar 27, 2010 12:41
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Manawski posted:So, concerning Prototype, are there any tips on how not to suck? So far we've heard "You have to work hard" and "It's a completely different game than Power School." Elaboration on those two statements wasn't provided. Don't be a dickhead, don't overstudy, and act like you give a poo poo about your job and you'll do fine. Of course that pretty much applies to any part of the nuke field after you get out of power school. Also I avoided SPUs as much as I could if I had the choice. They tend to be giant twats. Always go to the sea returnee if you have the choice. Edit: Actually going back I gather that you're an officer? Don't avoid the SPU's at all in that case. belt fucked around with this message at 03:42 on Apr 3, 2010 |
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Apr 3, 2010 03:39
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Manawski posted:"So, sir, what do you think about the idea that pilots get a mandatory eight hours of sleep a night, but the people running the reactor might be working on less than four" Seems like a valid question to me.
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Apr 19, 2010 02:44
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edit: Err, nevermind. I'm not in the Navy anymore so I can quit whining about it.
belt fucked around with this message at 00:22 on Apr 20, 2010 |
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Apr 20, 2010 00:03
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Sandler311 posted:Thinking of getting out and doing the same job? I just took the POSS test at Comanche Peak. I was the youngest guy there, plenty of chiefs or very old salty guys, and very few non nukes. One guy was an engineer at the plant who wanted to change over for more money. I think the worst thing about the POSS test was the fact that the practice tests online were a complete joke compared to the actual test. The math section was the toughest part for me, and I think it would benefit anyone taking the test to go through some algebra practice problems before they took it. I don't think we've ever had that many people apply for our NLO (or NEO) jobs here but that probably has something to do with our location. It's kind of funny though I've been here almost three years now and I'm still one of the youngest guys in Ops at 26. What's Comanche Peak starting wages at? If you don't mind me asking that is.
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May 4, 2010 15:26
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Sandler311 posted:What the hell is SOBC? What broken thing is that? That's interesting, I never got the results from my test just that I passed. I should stop by HR tomorrow and see if they keep those on record.
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May 13, 2010 23:02
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Cerekk posted:How much will having a non-technical degree hurt me in the pipeline? It won't, they'll teach you everything you need to know and some of the poo poo they teach you is going to be different than what is taught in college. At least that's what all the people that I served with that had degrees (officer and enlisted alike) said.
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Jun 4, 2010 22:22
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Manawski posted:So how much do you expect us to suck on our first watch? I got RO, so I'm probably hosed Everyone is going to blow on their first watch. You should expect to have to be walked through your logs and pretty much else and finish the watch feeling like a dumbass. First watch is usually just getting familiar with where everything is on your watchstation and becoming familiar with performing the routine everyday tasks. Coincidentally my first under instruction for RO is tomorrow too. Except it's for civilian reactor operator and my panel looks similar to this. 
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Jul 31, 2010 11:55
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Third World Reggin posted:Is that comanche peak? Couldn't tell you to be honest. First thing that popped up on google image search, haha.
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Aug 2, 2010 00:49
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Sounds about right, student punished for a dumb rear end instructor doing stuff he isn't qualified to do.
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Aug 3, 2010 18:45
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Jacco posted:What kind of math do you learn while going through the nuke program and is there a lot of it? I'm awful at math and only went up to Algebra 2 in high school and found the math to be pretty easy.
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Sep 2, 2010 22:19
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Tonedeff posted:My recruiter told me something today about Nuke-A and Nuke-B. She says the difference is that A's autoqualify for nuke (according to ASVAB scores) while B's didn't. But for the life of me i can't find any info on this anywhere. I just want to know if this is BS or not because, according to this recruiter, the navy isn't accepting Nuke-B's which sucks for me :/ It's been a while since I enlisted but I've never heard about Nuke-A or Nuke-B. Sounds like bullshit to me. You have to get a certain score on your ASVAB to be a nuke, and then after that if you're below a certain level (90 I think) you have to take the NFQT qualifying exam. What was your ASVAB score?
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Oct 13, 2010 21:42
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I'll answer some questions from my point of view as a 6 and out ETN second class turned civilian nuke. MonkeyFit posted:How easy is it to go in as enlisted and then become an officer? (HS Diploma, no college) belt fucked around with this message at 09:16 on Jan 9, 2011 |
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Jan 9, 2011 09:14
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On an aircraft carrier.MonkeyFit posted:How long are shifts? On my carrier we had a 5/25 watch rotation. Which meant that you stood about 5 hours of watch a day. Other than that there was cleaning stations in the morning for an hour where all the non-quals cleaned our spaces. Maintenance was usually done when flight ops was over (usually on the 10-2 or 2-7 watch) and for the most part that didn't take more than a couple hours. quote:How many ports do you stop in? (boomers are obviously exempt) We averaged about a port a month. So on a 6 month deployment probably about 6 or 7. quote:What kind of shore leave do you get? I don't really understand what you want to know here, if you wouldn't mind expanding. quote:What is shore duty comprised of and what is it like? Most shore duty for nukes is either served at A-school/Power school or at one of the prototypes. Some people manage to get recruiting or duty on a sub tender somewhere but those are less common. As for what it's like I was lucky enough to never find out.
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Mar 5, 2011 04:48
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moker posted:Didn't you spend your entire sea duty on a carrier in the yards Coming from the same carrier as him in the same RCOH, I can say that the shipyards was MUCH more difficult and painful than being deployed on that carrier.
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Mar 5, 2011 17:20
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Carriers definitely have it easier, but that's why volunteering for sub duty and crying about how easy the carrier nukes have it is retarded. But yeah, gently caress RCOH.
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Mar 6, 2011 01:12
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Yeah, we were usually in 3 section during port calls (on duty 1 day, off the next two), and pulled in anywhere from 3-5 days. Depending on which port it was we might have to come back to the ship for the night but for most ports we could stay overnight in town if we didn't have duty the next day.
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Mar 8, 2011 01:27
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moker posted:So thats why that rear end in a top hat master chief from reactor tried to get my clearance revoked when he found out I was a former nuke(I don't know the rules but man that guy was an rear end in a top hat) It's a process that's not totally different than the Navy. You'll fill out the same kind of paperwork about your past and they'll run it. After that you'll do a psychological test where you answer 100 or so stupid questions like, "Have you ever wanted to kill your father/sleep with your mother." And if you're applying to be either an operator or some of your answers don't sit well you'll have to talk to a psychologist about it. I don't know how much the psychologist visits will play into your application but I had a DUI myself and I got cleared. The biggest thing is just being honest about everything.
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Apr 2, 2011 13:38
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KetTarma posted:Today was sucky. I worked on the battery today at the start of my watch and got a little diluted acid on me. The potable water system is down due to e. coli contamination. I sat on watch for 8 hours with an awesome itching sensation without being able to wash myself off. Learn to read the MSDS n00b.
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May 9, 2011 00:03
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KetTarma posted:Also, theres absolutely no leeway given for "I forgot all of power school because I was on hold." Few things annoy us more than students that show up as though we'd picked up random people off of the street. It's really hard to teach someone how to operate a reactor whenever they don't know what one is. How long is the backup where they'll use this as an excuse?
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Jun 4, 2011 17:07
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Mr. Doom-Baddy posted:It seems like I all I hear in this program is excuses. It has gotten very tiresome to hear shipmates use the "my roommate turned off my alarm" phrase. Do the majority of students, once they get to Prototype, actually have their poo poo together, or should I expect more of the same bullshit among my classmates? No, you can expect people that are bad at their job, horrible at life in general and do nothing but make excuses all day throughout every part of your Navy career throughout all ranks. That's what happens when they refuse to remove people from the program because it makes some O-5's fitrep look less than immaculate.
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Jun 4, 2011 20:47
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KetTarma posted:Ditto any nuke that reenlists past 6 Fixed that for you.
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Jun 16, 2011 08:58
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Kawasaki Nun posted:MARF was the highlight of my 3.5 year naval career to date. Enjoy your time in new york. Cannot recommend going to Montreal and NYC at any and every possible occasion enough. Prototype blew, but Saratoga Springs was the greatest place that I lived while I was in the Navy, so yeah, enjoy it.
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Jul 15, 2011 00:47
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Wade Wilson posted:Is going nuke really all that terrible if you already have zero social life and work 10+ hours a day in your civilian job in a cubicle, anyway (assuming you can still hack it through the schooling/aren't too stubborn to learn new things, etc.)? The thing is it's all dependent on your command and your own ability. If you're good at retaining poo poo and a decent operator you'll have no problem in the training pipeline and it'll be relatively stress-free with a lot of free time. As for the fleet, I'll give you my own experience because it was a tale of two worlds. My first command was awesome, the RO seemed to genuinely care about the morale of his department and it was literally the best job that I've ever had. After that we got a new RO and went over to the shipyards and it went from being the best job I've ever had to the worst year and a half of my life in the shipyards. I guess my point is that being a nuke isn't inherently lovely like most people here will tell you.
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Aug 2, 2011 02:14
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Henry Meowlins posted:I don't think anyone ever said they'd only choose nuke. And yes, life can suck quite a bit. Just re-read this thread to see what you've done to yourself. I think I did, and I stand by it. Joining the Navy nuclear power program and then getting out after 6 years is among the best two decisions I've ever made. And I'm not being sarcastic at all. I was a bitter son of a bitch when I got out after I had spent a year and a half in the shipyard but if I had it to do all over again I'd do the same thing.
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Aug 18, 2011 02:37
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1337_ScriptKiddie posted:NAPT is a loving joke. Is that really the level of proficiency it takes to comprehend nuclear reactions? No wonder that guy in Sweden tried it. No but that's why you're taking it as a DEPer 2 years before you'll ever be qualified to do anything besides scrub floors and dust load centers.
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Aug 21, 2011 21:34
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moker posted:I was in 03somethin and some of my friends from school are chiefs :x Yeah, I was in 0203 and most of the ETs that stayed in with me are now chiefs. My sea-dad was an ET2 at the same time I was and is now an ETCS.
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Oct 5, 2011 04:26
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I guess I had a different experience with the DILDOs than most people did. The best instructors I had in the Navy were my HTFF and Physics instructors that both were DILDOs had backgrounds that were related to what they were teaching and education. On the other side of that my enlisted instructors typically decided to spend 75% of the class bullshitting instead of actually teaching and the other 25% of the time filling in the blanks in our notes.
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Oct 8, 2011 10:27
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grover posted:Exactly! 8 reactors to scavenge parts from That would be amazing. I can almost see the prototype suicide rates skyrocketing from here!
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Nov 21, 2011 01:55
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Don't forget making the instructors live there too, because I can't think of any other way that would make KetTarma's life worse.
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Nov 21, 2011 02:07
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KetTarma posted:There is literally no reason to stay in past Sorry, I had to.
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Nov 22, 2011 23:50
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McDowell posted:I'm talking about reactor design. As in, are there elements of modern naval reactor designs that have significant advantages in size and safety compared to privately owned reactors. You're comparing apples and oranges really. I think the best analogy I've heard is navy reactors are like a Dodge Viper and civilian reactors are like a freight train. One has to go 0-60 in 4 seconds and the other has to go 100% pulling a million tons as long as possible. It's two different applications which require two different designs. I work at a civilian plant now and I can tell you that if I operated my plant like I did a navy reactor I'd be shutdown in about 1 hour and I'd be going to jail. On the other hand if I would have operated my navy reactor like I do my civilian reactor, well lets just say there wouldn't be navy reactors because the program would be more than even our government is willing to pay. If you want to get into the actual differences in safety at each one well I could talk to you for days about why I'd rather live next to a civilian plant than a navy plant.
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Dec 10, 2011 14:18
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Oops, double post
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Dec 10, 2011 14:19
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KetTarma posted:Im (hopefully) standing my last navy nuclear watch tomorrow. I'm excited I still remember standing SRO as my last navy watch. I wasn't supposed to stand that watch but they gave me my TLD back at the last possible second, damned Navy.
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Mar 11, 2012 05:09
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Otto Skorzeny posted:It's upstate NY, there is no positive side Are you kidding? Saratoga Springs was awesome in the summer.
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Apr 13, 2012 22:33
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KetTarma posted:I've been pretty miserable for the past decade but managed to get a degree and am now interviewing for jobs that pay very well. I don't regret it now that there's light at the end of the tunnel. This is pretty much it. I didn't really enjoy my time in the Navy. I do enjoy my $150,000/yr job with no degree 5 years later though. Can't find many 6 year college programs that will do that for you. And looking back now, it was never really the job that I didn't like, it was the people I worked for, and I think that's probably a problem all over the Navy.
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Apr 20, 2012 04:01
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edit: I'm dumb.
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Jul 4, 2012 02:31
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antoniomargareti posted:I work on a neuc plant, but my job isn't as testing, if I see someone I don't recognise, I have permission to shoot to kill. This is on level alpha section only. If you don't have the right access, it's goodbye world Do you work at a nuke plant in Iran?
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Jul 28, 2012 02:19
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