Nuclear Worker Wages

[uf6man]

I am a Union employee of the only UF6 conversion facility currently operating in the United States.  We are getting ready to renew our contract in June 2007.....we are now being treated as a Nuclear Facilty instead of a Chemical Plant by the NRC.  Can anyone give me an average pay scale for Operators in a Nuclear Plant?  This information would be greatly appreciated by myself and my Union Brothers & Sisters.  Quality Union Work!   

[Rad Sponge]

I am a Union employee of the only UF6 conversion facility currently operating in the United States.  We are getting ready to renew our contract in June 2007.....we are now being treated as a Nuclear Facilty instead of a Chemical Plant by the NRC.  Can anyone give me an average pay scale for Operators in a Nuclear Plant?  This information would be greatly appreciated by myself and my Union Brothers & Sisters.  Quality Union Work!   

Impossible to answer if you are applying a general wage to "Nuclear Operator".

So many variables.

I am going to throw out 25-35 bucks/hr to cover an experienced non-licensed plant operator.

Starting out maybe 22-28 an hour depending on location.

I work at a privately owned plant, so I don't have to factor in paying the union vig, i mean union dues, so I am not sure how a private wage converts into union wages.

[thenuttyneutron]

This is a hard question to answer.  I made about 33% more than my theoretical wage on a 2000hr/year.  The overtime from a long outage and a bonus skews the real wages from what you should make at 2000 hr/year.

[M1Ark]

$30/hr straight time is a good average for being fully qualified non-licensed operator.   +- $3/hr for cost of living.

[Mike McFarlin]

Good wages, good career, who could ask for anything more?

[uf6man]

Thanks for all of the great input on wages......rates are in the area I was expecting.

[Roll Tide]

I am a Union employee of  

The IBEW should provide pay scales to your local (whether you are IBEW or some other union). The negotiating team will need more specific information than a reference Nukeworker posting, but I certainly understand starting here.

[RADBASTARD]

For a 7+ year sr hp tech I think we should be getting about $35hr a fair wage,it's about middle of the road for house tech wages and when we are in outages we are usually covering most of the work.

Oh and yes I use to be a house tech before they start throwing crap at me for saying that.

[Jack U. Loyd]

I've never thrown anything at you !

[Rennhack]

For a 7+ year sr hp tech I think we should be getting about $35hr a fair wage,it's about middle of the road for house tech wages and when we are in outages we are usually covering most of the work.

Oh and yes I use to be a house tech before they start throwing crap at me for saying that.

I agree.  I'd like to see the standard get bumped to $30 ASAP, then to #35 in a few years, so there is no shock to the system.  Honesdtly, $28/hr isn't unreasonable, then $30-32, then $35.

[alphadude]

what you all are talking about is a seniority system-and it don't exist in the freemarket economics that exist-  its taking the best parts of a union system without the other burdens or responsibilities-  good wish but dont hold your breath.. $30 an hour is about the standard rate now anyway. 

a certification system would work- x dollars for NRRPT etc. or OHST and so on

besides who is going to track time- or do the verification?

[Already Gone]

what you all are talking about is a seniority system-and it don't exist in the freemarket economics that exist-  its taking the best parts of a union system without the other burdens or responsibilities-  good wish but dont hold your breath.. $30 an hour is about the standard rate now anyway. 

a certification system would work- x dollars for NRRPT etc. or OHST and so on

besides who is going to track time- or do the verification?

Particularly concerning the $30 rate; what trade is that?  Are you talking about operators, RP, road or house?  Or, are you averaging them all together?

[Rennhack]

Particularly concerning the $30 rate; what trade is that?  Are you talking about operators, RP, road or house?  Or, are you averaging them all together?

He talked about NRRPT... so I would guess HP.

[vikingfan]

current wage rate for RST ( reactor service tech) about 22-30+

[Already Gone]

I don't think that the "standard" rate for contract HP is anywhere near $30.  For house techs, there is no such thing as a standard rate.  It varies widely by geography.

[alphadude]

we price the bids we do at the current $30/hr  (approximately) rate, and guess what so do all the other contractors ... sooo if joe blow is getting $28 an hour and Joe know is getting $32 an hour guess what the rate is  about $30 an hour.   its called enticement pay ... so average things out and it turns out $30 an hour is about the going rate for techs.. at CY it averages out about that wheather the techs knew it or not.. some were getting $35 an hour and some were getting $25 an hour..  hanford rate is $30, INEL is $30, if you are getting less somebody got more..

(we have about 200 techs working right now)

[Halcyon Daze]

we price the bids we do at the current $30/hr  (approximately) rate, and guess what so do all the other contractors ... sooo if joe blow is getting $28 an hour and Joe know is getting $32 an hour guess what the rate is  about $30 an hour.   its called enticement pay ... so average things out and it turns out $30 an hour is about the going rate for techs.. at CY it averages out about that wheather the techs knew it or not.. some were getting $35 an hour and some were getting $25 an hour..  hanford rate is $30, INEL is $30, if you are getting less somebody got more..

is this an hourly rate plus per diem, including per diem, no diem?

[alphadude]

hourly diem is handled another way

[SloGlo]

hourly diem shud be handled with sumbuddy else's hands!  stay away, stay away, stay away!

[shovelheadred]

..this 30$/hr, is not in the same commercial power industry I returned to in 2005...nowhere have I heard of an RP renta tech making that,,,but I havent been everywhere..but in the last 3 years I have worked 8 plants and their pay is no where near 30/hr......are we comparing apples and oranges here or what?....that was the main reason I havent worked in the RP business since the 90's....low wages..even lower per diem...no rental cars, no travel...and always a bunch of %^$#&* whining and crying about what the other guy makes.....it is alot easier to make money in this business than as an RP, and with the new construction, it will be a longer term deal,,,,,all the other crafts I work with, and they are union, make alot more than RP's do,,,so my opinion...leave it behind...take some courses, while you are off,,,and be billable with more than one hard hat,,,because the grass is sweeter on this side of the fence...red

[Halcyon Daze]

is this an hourly rate plus per diem, including per diem, no diem?

Sorry, I guess I wasn't clear.
Is that rate for people who get per diem, for people who don't get per diem, or is it including an hourly per diem equivilent? Even I understand there is no such thing as "hourly per diem" since "per diem" means "by the day."

[USMCRADCON]

Not entirely true either...For the last year I billed for diem @ $15 per hour for 1st 40 hours worked per week

[DAVIDMCCRAY]

perhaps we should check out this nelsonnuclear.com he has a idea,   a vision,  a plan ...although not new, and it has been tried before. maybe it can work this time....i for one agree with his thinking...and BY GOD......   what could it hurt.

[ruth13]

I did check it out, but the website is basically very incomplete. I did not get any usable information from it, other than a way to submit my resume. Before a website is promoted it should at the very least have complete pages of information. I realize websites are "live" information, and change continually, but to have so many links that lead to blank pages is not very professional, nor does it lead to a positive impression of the organization - IMHO.

[Already Gone]

..this 30$/hr, is not in the same commercial power industry I returned to in 2005...nowhere have I heard of an RP renta tech making that,,,but I havent been everywhere..but in the last 3 years I have worked 8 plants and their pay is no where near 30/hr......are we comparing apples and oranges here or what?....that was the main reason I havent worked in the RP business since the 90's....low wages..even lower per diem...no rental cars, no travel...and always a bunch of %^$#&* whining and crying about what the other guy makes.....it is alot easier to make money in this business than as an RP, and with the new construction, it will be a longer term deal,,,,,all the other crafts I work with, and they are union, make alot more than RP's do,,,so my opinion...leave it behind...take some courses, while you are off,,,and be billable with more than one hard hat,,,because the grass is sweeter on this side of the fence...red

I think we are comparing $30/he DOE techs who work 40's without per diem at a very few select jobs vs. the rest of the rent-a-tech world who are hovering at around the $24/hr & $90/day range with about 22 - 26 weeks of work per year most of which are at 72 hrs per week.  It seems to balance out to about $60k per year either way. In a good year.

Stay where you are.  You're doing fine, and it gets better.