I'm considering RCT at commercial power plant, how large a staff of house techs

[wp_913]

Hello all,

I'm currently working DOE-RCT, with an NRRPT, not a bad place to be. However, my wife and I are now empty nesters with the kids off on their own and we are considering moving to an area with a lower cost of living. My thought is to maybe settle somewhere near a nuclear power plant and get a job as an RCT there.

I have never worked nuclear power, and I know that is a disadvantage. I also don't think I would want to consider road-tech lifestyle. So my question is, how hard is to get a house-tech job.

How many rad safety people typically work at a plant and what are the turnover rates, how often do they hire full time positions, I'm over 50, but have a "few" good years left.

[Shawnee Man]

I suggest you try outages first. The pace, skeleton crews at power plants, and the different style of radiation protection will definitely be different. You need to get a taste before making that move.  

[indoprime]

Im thinking of doing the same as well.....considering being a house tech at a commercial plant.  Ive done the outage thing for a while, so i know the rigors and pressures of being an RCT in an outage situation.  But I'd like to know who's hiring, who's looking, that sorta thing.

[rumrunner]

I can only address things from the perspective of my retiring from TVA as an RP supervisor a couple years ago.  Turnover is quite low.  Non-outage shift staffing is bare bones.  Look at Browns Ferry with three operating units - the technician staffing is 35 or so and that includes dosimetry, radwaste, and instrumentation.  I spent many long nights, and holidays and weekends on both shifts, with just me and 2 or 3 techs to handle everything.  I don't know about other plants but we worked rotating 12 hour shifts which seems fairly common.  Frankly, someone with no commercial experience would not be at the top of the list of prospects unless they offered a compelling reason such as having a BS degree or being eligible for veterans preference.  Again just speaking from my experience we looked first at known commodities - those being contract techs who had a good track record with us and met the education and experience standards.  NRRPT helped but it wasn't enough by itself. 

[Rennhack]

You guys are WAY WAY WAY off topic.