Are you in the PWR or BWR side? What plant (if comfortable)? How long have you been there (or in the industry)? What challenges are you currently facing? What successes have you had? Anything innovative going on? New build status (if any)?

2/18/2009 2:40:45 PM

Are you in the PWR or BWR side? BWR
What plant (if comfortable)? Brunswick Nuclear Plant (Progress Energy)
How long have you been there (or in the industry)? Since September
What challenges are you currently facing? None really. Just qualification and training.
What successes have you had? None... haven't really been here long enough for that.
Anything innovative going on? Not particularly. Most of the equipment is older than I am.
New build status (if any)? Progress is going to build a new plant in Levy County, FL

PS Holy crap @ the Creative Jukebox Zen Xtra in your pics. I have one of those.

2/18/2009 4:13:59 PM

Quote :

"Progress is going to build a new plant in Levy County, FL"

...and a new plant at the Harris site after that.

2/18/2009 5:31:08 PM

There's a reactor engineering position opening up where I work now but I'm went into OPs instead. I'm temporarily working in engineering until training begins in July.

^^I might go down to Brunswick next week to help out with the outage.

[Edited on February 18, 2009 at 6:20 PM. Reason : yo]

2/18/2009 6:20:24 PM

Brunswick is the probably the best location for a Nuke Operator for one simple reason, its not in BFE.

2/18/2009 6:48:34 PM

^ It's pretty gorgeous up here along the Chespeake Bay at Calvert Cliffs. I can't see ever working anywhere else.

2/18/2009 10:01:57 PM

my dad always loves the outage because it's the one time he gets to crawl around in the drywell, he always asks to be a drywell supervisor, lol

i guess EP gets boring after a while

2/18/2009 11:47:48 PM

a friend of mine is a reactor engineer, but he designs them. he's up in pittsburgh at westinghouse

2/19/2009 7:42:30 AM

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=6889182&page=1

2/19/2009 9:32:25 AM

Russian women in general are hot until the Baboushka effect.

2/19/2009 3:16:27 PM

At 3:19 pm today, we broke the world record for a continous PWR run! 690 days and counting! Breaker to breaker, baby.

2/19/2009 3:24:40 PM

I think Brunswick has the record for a BWR, or at least they used to. They've had a few breaker to breaker runs. I don't know what the capacity factor was for those runs though. I don't know why the records are kept in days. They should be kept in MWh of continuous operation, or at least EFPD.

2/19/2009 4:15:51 PM

^^two year fuel cycle, huh? must be nice. oconee has two outages every year

2/19/2009 7:03:11 PM

two year fuel cycle, but two units, so there's an outage every year.

2/19/2009 7:30:34 PM

well no shit

you cant build just one unit at a site

2/20/2009 10:13:48 PM

^i'm going to assume you're being sarcastic

2/20/2009 11:15:02 PM

Two days until doom. Wish me luck. Probably best not to say the exact outage length, but if we make the schedule, it will be the shortest outage ever for any Combustion Engineering plant in the world.

2/20/2009 11:22:26 PM

maybe one day i'll come in here and make a Boiler Engineer Thread

2/21/2009 7:38:21 PM

Brunswick unit 2 I believe had a 707 day run.

2/21/2009 10:09:35 PM

I GOT DAT ILL AZIMUTHAL UNTILTED PLANAR PEAKING FACTOR





AND DAT ILL SMIRNOFF SON

2/22/2009 12:19:55 AM

I'm in BoP at McGuire. I've got Control Room HVAC, Compressed gas systems, and Instrument Air system. Been there since 9/11/2006.

We are supposed to build 2 new reactors in Cherokee SC.

[Edited on February 22, 2009 at 5:25 PM. Reason : a]

2/22/2009 5:24:46 PM

Quote :

"Brunswick is the probably the best location for a Nuke Operator for one simple reason, its not in BFE."

haha, [no]. There are more desirable locations in FL, NY, CA, etc etc. I spent a few months down in Brunswick and it was kinda depressing. Granted, Wilmington is somewhat close but there is NOTHING in Southport.


Anyway, I work with both BWRs and PWRs, been in the biz for 4 years now... as far as innovation, I've been involved in upgrading old plants to digital plant systems (not fun when you're trying to retrofit to 50 year old equipment) and design of new plants (obviously digital + much fancier in terms of design than the dinosaurs currently in operation).

My company is currently building a whole bunch of nukes in other countries right now, but the US market seems completely stagnant. The gov't (and obviously the economy, now, to some extent) seem to be holding back any real development here.

[Edited on February 23, 2009 at 9:50 AM. Reason : d]

2/23/2009 9:44:46 AM

^ We're full steam ahead on Unit 3. The community and all of the local politicians are on board. Plus we have a newfound resource in EDF.

2/23/2009 10:38:43 AM

I was mostly talking about totally new builds, rather than add-ons. I know a lot of work is getting done on paper, sites are being planned, etc... but AFAIK no one is even close to pouring concrete yet.

There are government incentives hanging out there for the new sites, but I don't think the money has been freed up yet. At least that's the way I understand it.

Calvert Cliffs-3... isn't that going to be an EPR? (or at least based on one?)


[Edited on February 23, 2009 at 11:27 AM. Reason : 2]

2/23/2009 11:23:12 AM

Quote :

"Granted, Wilmington is somewhat close but there is NOTHING in Southport."

tr00

2/23/2009 11:32:23 AM

^^ Yes, it's going to be an EPR.

2/23/2009 1:39:20 PM

I'm thinking I need to get some "on the ground" experience on some of these new builds... Probably be in pretty high demand in the next few years when things really start picking up again in the US...

So, maybe I'll see you up there @Calvert Cliffs!

[Edited on February 23, 2009 at 2:05 PM. Reason : d]

2/23/2009 2:05:21 PM

McGuire is 20 minutes to Charlotte. Granted it's Charlotte, but it is civilization.

2/23/2009 7:11:20 PM

If any undergrads are reading this we are hiring INTERNS this summer. It is a pretty sweet deal.

2/24/2009 11:03:00 PM

y'all need MEs or nukes only?

[Edited on February 25, 2009 at 12:58 PM. Reason : i'm lined up for fossil w/ progress again this summer, but my friends are all looking]

2/25/2009 12:57:48 PM

Here's the list as of today. Don't really see any ME slots.

Intern - Summer - Business Management with Information Systems Concentration (Financials Applications Integration / Charlotte)North Carolina-Charlotte-DE Carolinas-Charlotte,NC(CCC) (095)
Job Number 104954

Intern - Summer - Computer Science - (IT / Charlotte, NC)North Carolina-Charlotte-DE Busn Svcs-Chlt,NC(Toddville (194)
Job Number 104960

Summer Intern (Environment Support - Charlotte, NC)North Carolina-Charlotte-DE Carolinas-Hdqtrs (094)
Job Number 105016

College Co-op (Engineering/ETS - Carolinas)North Carolina-Charlotte-DE Carolinas-Charlotte,NC(CCC) (095), South Carolina, North Carolina
Job Number 105019

Intern - Summer - Computer Science (EMPCS Infrastructure / Charlotte)North Carolina-Charlotte-DE Carolinas-Hdqtrs (094)
Job Number 105018

Intern - Summer - Electrical Engineering ( PD / Electric System Operations/ Charlotte, NC)North Carolina-Charlotte-DE Carolinas-Hdqtrs (094)
Job Number 104909

Intern - Summer - Computer Science (IT / Greensboro)North Carolina-Greensboro-DE Carolinas-Greensboro,NC (009)
Job Number 104951

College Co-op - Electrical Engineering (FH / Charlotte - Allen Steam Station)North Carolina-Belmont-DE Carolinas-Allen Stm Stn (209)
Job Number 104964

Intern - Summer - Electrical or Computer Engineering (PD / Greenville)South Carolina-Greenville-CSSM-Wenwood OP (025)
Job Number 104928

Intern - Year Round - Engineering Technology (PD / Toddville)North Carolina-Charlotte-DE Busn Svcs-Chlt,NC(Toddville (194)
Job Number 104965

Intern - Summer - Computer Science (IT/Workstation Design & Support)North Carolina-Charlotte-DE Busn Svcs-Headquarters (093)
Job Number 104943

Intern - Year Round - Electrical Engineering Technology (PD / Fairfax Operations Center)North Carolina-Greensboro-FH-Fairfax (1030)
Job Number 104914

Intern - Summer - Electrical Engineering (PD/Asset Management / Charlotte, NC)North Carolina-Charlotte-DE Carolinas-Hdqtrs (094)
Job Number 104906

Intern - Summer - Electrical Engineering (PD / Anderson)South Carolina-Anderson-DE Carolinas-Anderson,SC (OP) (004)
Job Number 104910

Intern - Year Round - Engineering Technology (PD / Greensboro, NC)North Carolina-Greensboro-DE Carolinas-Greensboro,NC (009)
Job Number 104918

Intern - Summer - Electrical/Computer Engineering (PD/Lewisville)North Carolina-Clemmons-DE Carolinas-Lewisville, NC (1055)
Job Number 104919

Intern - Summer - Electrical/ Computer Engineering (PD/Fairfax)North Carolina-Greensboro-FH-Fairfax (1030)
Job Number 104920

Intern - Summer - Electrical or Computer Engineering (PD/Fairfax)North Carolina-Greensboro-FH-Fairfax (1030)
Job Number 104921

Intern - Summer - Electrical or Computer Engineering (PD/Durham)North Carolina-Durham-DE Carolinas-Durham,NC (014)
Job Number 104922

Intern - Summer - Electrical or Computer Engineering (PD / Hickory)North Carolina-Hickory-DE Busn Svcs-Hickory,NC (013)
Job Number 104831

2/26/2009 7:10:41 AM

2/26/2009 9:14:37 AM

Are you in the PWR or BWR side? PWR
What plant (if comfortable)? S7G/S8G/S9G
How long have you been there (or in the industry)? 12 years
What challenges are you currently facing? none
What successes have you had? safety
Anything innovative going on? no
New build status (if any)? definitely; ssn 779/780/781/782...in the next few years

2/27/2009 3:05:40 PM

Where's ssn?

2/27/2009 4:53:36 PM

ssn = submarine (nuclear power)

those numbers are the hull numbers for Virginia class ssn's

2/27/2009 10:36:11 PM

I see. So is a sub Rx Eng actually the operator? Or does he actually do engineering type work? Or both?

3/1/2009 2:29:49 PM

Navy nuclear is like a combination of the Operations and (a light weight) Maintenance departments at a commercial plant.

A Navy nuclear officer is roughly equivalent to an SRO.

Enlisted nukes are along the lines of AOs or ROs.

They don't really do a lot of engineering.

[Edited on March 1, 2009 at 7:03 PM. Reason : ]

3/1/2009 6:57:10 PM

concur

3/2/2009 3:17:21 AM