What skills really count for a welder?

[bobnburn550]

Hello,

I am a Pipe Welder with 3 years experience looking to hopefully break into the Nuclear field sometime in the future as I've read it's a great place to do high quality work and they're always looking for qualified individuals.

I have done some searching on these forums and started to introduce myself with Sections III and IX of the ASME code and the local union halls who do the outages. With that in mind, I wanted to ask the more experienced crowd what kind of welding skills would they feel like would make a person desirable in the industry? The ability to mirror weld? Knowledge in chrome molly, inconel, or other nickel based super alloys? I've done the basic TiG ER70S root, hot pass, Stick 7018 and 1108 all the way out on thin wall/heavy wall and wide diameter/small diameter piping. As well as TiG 308, 309, and 316 Stainless. I do have a clean background as I've worked on government contract jobs before.

Any advice is appreciated. Thank you in advance!

[Smooth Operator]

Can you imagine yourself welding in a full dress out suit, respirator, high radiation dose field, sweaty as hell, can't touch your face...

[bobnburn550]

Can you imagine yourself welding in a full dress out suit, respirator, high radiation dose field, sweaty as hell, can't touch your face...

I've heard of that and I've heard that's it's not always that bad. There have been a few times I've had an artificial air supply attached to me, though, never a full body suit.

Welders who can pass the booth test are always in demand and usually are paid a premium above scale.  You should have no problem getting outage work if you can pass the badging requirements and weld test.  You will need to be a union hand.  Join a local close to your home or site you want to work at.  Also, consider hooking up with a speciality welding outfit like Wachs Technical Services, LTD.

Ok that's understandable. I've heard that for specialty welding companies like Wachs you need to "know somebody" in order to get hired on with them. Same thing applies for the Unions. Just because you join up with them doesn't necessarily mean you'll be selected for the outage work. Understandably it's based on their skill assessment of you and seniority. I could be wrong and everyone is so desperate for nuke hands they'll take anyone who can pass the test and get badged (btw what does that mean being "badged"? Passed clearance?) That's why I'm here asking the experts

[SloGlo]

bobnburn550,  yinz have a nuke plant near your home?  if so, go to the local there 'n join to go in the plant.  ask first if you'll be able to go to that plant if you join.  sum unions have so many people in them that want to work the nuke that you can't get in there for years. 
otherwise, apply to all the welding companies that hire for outage work.  remember that you'll be a traveller in the union.  you may get work in a nuke faster that way.  as far as "knowing" some won, just be very polite to the person on the phone and you'll probably catch a job in january or february.  after that, you're on your own, you'll have to pass security background screening, witch gets you "badged".  then you'll have to pass the welding tests, which will get you the on site job.  weldcome to the wonderful whirled of nukeworkers. 

[BeerCourt]

I have not seen mirror welding outside a shipyard in over 20 years, but it is still a skill that you can hang your hat on if you have it.  I just don't think that it will hurt you to not have it.

If you have the skills you describe, and can work under pressure ( the weld tests are usually a pass-or-go-home affair) you'll do well.  If you are a member of UA, check out roadtrash.com for news relating to work for pipe welders.

good luck

[bobnburn550]

I've been working in the Ingalls/Northrop Grumman shipyard in Pascagoula for the past 6 months and most road dogs laugh at the thought of mirror welding saying that it's just a shipyard thing. They say if you can weld in a shipyard you can weld anywhere.
Test stress is no problem. I've met some a-hole Q/Cs who like to bird-dog their testers, but you learn to ignore it. The roadtrash.com website shows a picture of someone's busted side-mirror and nothing else. Wrong site or bad link?

edit* One last thing I wanted to know. Are there any special metals that the Nuclear industry uses that I should get my hands on to prepare myself? I've heard that the Westinghouse company Carolina Energy focuses on P91 piping and I think that's a chrome base alloy. Thanks for all the helpful responses!

[BeerCourt]

You need permission to get onto that site.  The site owner won't give it unless you are a member of UA. 
The domain may be .org instead of .com

[bobnburn550]

.org isn't working. It makes sense that they would not allow non-UA members to see the .com site, but I am not seeing any sort of login on the front page.

I spoke with a welder with Nuclear experience today who gave me a brief explanation of "hot" welding and "cold" welding. He explained to me that when performing "hot" work where the nuclear generator is running you receive radiation exposure which is defined by RIMs. After a certain amount a company will essentially lay you off for a few months. For the older welders they may give them "cold" work where there isn't any radiation or simply move them to a different job. Can anyone comment on this?

[UncaBuffalo]

.org isn't working. It makes sense that they would not allow non-UA members to see the .com site, but I am not seeing any sort of login on the front page.

I spoke with a welder with Nuclear experience today who gave me a brief explanation of "hot" welding and "cold" welding. He explained to me that when performing "hot" work where the nuclear generator is running you receive radiation exposure which is defined by RIMs. After a certain amount a company will essentially lay you off for a few months. For the older welders they may give them "cold" work where there isn't any radiation or simply move them to a different job. Can anyone comment on this?

Some of the vocabulary is a bit off..."nuclear generator"?  ..."RIMs"?  But the basic concept that some of the outage workers (welders included) will pick up enough dose during the shutdown that they won't have margin left to continue doing radiological work that year is true.  It used to be more prevelant in the industry (bring in a 'jumper'...give him his 5 Rem...send him back to the hall), but there are still workers who approach NRC or site dose limits...in which case they are excluded from further 'hot' work until the following year (or until they are given a dose extension, if it was a site limit they were approaching.)

[UncaBuffalo]

I have met many welders during my 29+ years in the business.  I have yet to meet a welder, or even hear of a welder, who was restricted from working inside an RCA because their exposure for the year was approaching an administrative or Federal limit.  I am not saying it never happened, I am saying I have never heard of it.

Definitely NOT something that happens often enough for bobnburn to worry about it.