Subnuke - this reply is a bit long, so hang in there!
As an experienced nuke located in the Houston, TX area you are sitting on boatload of opportunities you may not be aware of - just think outside the box all us nukes were conditioned to stay in. Houston is the global capital for the oilfield business and in particular for the high tech subsea business. Oil companies directly as well as the numerous subsea equipment and service providers headquartered in the area are hungry to find and hire people with the skill sets you bring from the navy nuclear program.
I am an ex-navy nuke and did 20 years in the commercial nuclear industry when I got out, before switching 5 yrs ago to subsea oilfield segment. While the recruiting pipeline to connect navy nukes with the utility industry is better established than that for the subsea oilfield business, the opportunities in the subsea oilfield are much greater and far superior to the commerical nuclear industry (imho). Better compensation, better career growth, better life-work balance, international travel, etc while also having the benefits of a relatively small, tight-knit community with high barriers to entry that make it hard to commoditize the business (which pushes down compensation). That $3/gal gas we are all putting in our cars is paying for a tremendous amount of growth and development for the oil industry as it rushes to feed the growing world demand for more hydrocarbons. And yes while the commercial nuclear industry is poised for a rebirth perhaps a few years down the road as new plants get built, it pales in opportunity to the amount of investment being made today and in future hydrocarbon production. And opportunities follow the money. Green is good and maybe someday the world will shift away from such heavy reliance on hydrocarbons but the reality today and for the forseeable future is the oil & gas energy business will provide a much larger fraction of energy to the world than comes from nuclear.
A perception among many people is that the oilfield business is a grimy dirty low-tech business. And while true in the past and still popularized in media, the truth is the subsea portion is a complex, challenging high tech business with stringent technical and environmental standards equivalent to or exceeding what you find in nuclear. Whether coming straight out for from the Navy or if someone is already experienced in the commercial nuclear business, there are many cross-over opportunities if you look for them and network in to the subsea segment. It is the nukes ability and training in understanding of systems and their interactions, familiarity with fundamental engineering principles and their application, work planning and project coordination skills, quality focus, strong work ethic, the ability to take initiative and get the job done in a dynamic environment, and critically team work and communication skills that make them successful rather than their particular expertise with matters nuclear. The thing I find the most invigorating change from the nuclear industry is the ability to be much more creative and innovative in coming up with and implementing solutions, rather than being constrained by such a rigid and conformance-biased environment that can too easily stifle the human spirit and turn everyone into drones. I do understand and appreciate that the systematic controls in the nuclear industry has grown out of a real need to not have any more incidents/accidents but it doesn't do much to raise the fun quotient of the job!
As with most of the world, the best opportunities come about when connect up with others who can help you from the inside. While the "apply through HR" can work, you probabilities are generally better when you talk with others that can help guide you through the process. And the NukeWorker forum looks to be a good place to get that communication going. You can also PM me if you want to know more.
Hopefully you can also get some perspectives from other nukes who have made the transition the subsea oilfield segment as well.
