Top 10 things every new senior should know!

[indoprime]

OK, so you passed the NEU or NUF, or whatever they're calling it these days....

You've endured the mindnumbing monotony of being a junior at access.

Congrats! You've made 18.1! You've been bumped up! You got that 5-6 buck an hour raise! You're feeling pretty dang good about yourself! 

You head into your control point, and you hear these words....goes a little bit like this...

"You have a crew going into the HPCI, (plug in your own room here) they want to breech a valve, take a deconner, a n RO-20, some face shields, and go cover 'em!" 

you think, "oh s***". What do I do?  How am I supposed to cover these guys, I've been frisking and smearing forever...

This brings me to my new post:

TOP 10 things every NEW SENIOR should know!


1) DON'T PANIC.  DO NOT PANIC.  Never let the crew see ya sweat.  If you  have no confidence in YOU, don't expect them to....

2) Just b/c the job's over...doesnt mean that yours is... you probably have surveys to write. So get in the practice of writing up surveys, you'll be doing it a lot.

3) You are in the business of Radiation Protection, not Radiation PRODUCTION! 
If the crew is on a schedule, so what....you're not. If they wanna call up a boss and complain,  help their fingers do the walking.

4) DONT DO BOP if you can help it!  To me, BOP is an acronym for Bustin' Our asses Properly. Forget any semblance of organization here folks, if you're sitting at the BOP control point, you're screwed.

5) If you're confused about your job assignment, or where to go in the plant...ask a more experienced Senior tech who's been there before, or a House tech who should know the plant like the back of their hand.

6) Think about the worker first....it's your job to protect them, even from themselves.

7) You may not remember the work crews you worked with, but they'll remember you. Be nice to them, help them out, make their lives easier, and they will reciprocate tenfold!!!

New Seniors sometimes get stuck with doing old Jr. work sometimes.....it happens. Deal with it.

9) Some plants don't take 18.1s  (VY, ANO, etc...), it becomes an issue of putting in time towards 3.1 as opposed to the pay cut you'll eventually get.

10) Always remember our purpose. We are all about CRAP!!!
Contamination, Radiation, Airborne, and Personnel monitoring.  Recite this mantra before every job.

[Smart People]

Excellent Post!

I'd like to elaborate a little more.

TOP 10 things every NEW SENIOR should know!


1) DON'T PANIC.  DO NOT PANIC.  Never let the crew see ya sweat.  If you  have no confidence in YOU, don't expect them to....

You will usually be the authority figure. Workers are going to look to you for everything, expect you to know everything about anything. They will come to you for rad questions, emergency direction, and splinters in their fingers. Be prepared.

2) Just b/c the job's over...doesnt mean that yours is... you probably have surveys to write. So get in the practice of writing up surveys, you'll be doing it a lot.

The workers don't always understand this, they will want to work till the last minute.

3) You are in the business of Radiation Protection, not Radiation PRODUCTION! 
If the crew is on a schedule, so what....you're not. If they wanna call up a boss and complain,  help their fingers do the walking.

Understand this: It's always RP/HP's fault. get used to it.

4) DONT DO BOP if you can help it!  To me, BOP is an acronym for Bustin' Our asses Properly. Forget any semblance of organization here folks, if you're sitting at the BOP control point, you're screwed.

5) If you're confused about your job assignment, or where to go in the plant...ask a more experienced Senior tech who's been there before, or a House tech who should know the plant like the back of their hand.

6) Think about the worker first....it's your job to protect them, even from themselves.

7) You may not remember the work crews you worked with, but they'll remember you. Be nice to them, help them out, make their lives easier, and they will reciprocate tenfold!!!

New Seniors sometimes get stuck with doing old Jr. work sometimes.....it happens. Deal with it.

OLD Seniors sometimes get stuck with doing old Jr. work sometimes.....it happens. Deal with it.

9) Some plants don't take 18.1s  (VY, ANO, etc...), it becomes an issue of putting in time towards 3.1 as opposed to the pay cut you'll eventually get.

10) Always remember our purpose. We are all about CRAP!!!
Contamination, Radiation, Airborne, and Personnel monitoring.  Recite this mantra before every job.

Thanks for letting me put in my 2 cents.

[Eightmile]

Good points!  I'll add some clarification, as well.

TOP 10 things every NEW SENIOR should know!


1) DON'T PANIC.  DO NOT PANIC.  Never let the crew see ya sweat.  If you  have no confidence in YOU, don't expect them to....

Don't be afraid to ask questions of the crew, though ("What system is that?" "Are YOU familiar with this valve?")  Many of the workers have been doing this for years at any particular plant, and they understand that you might not be familiar with the specific plant terminology or the little valve that always has a stuck flapper.  Asking questions, especially the really good ones, can increase both your confidence and theirs.

2) Just b/c the job's over...doesnt mean that yours is... you probably have surveys to write. So get in the practice of writing up surveys, you'll be doing it a lot.

Don't rush your surveys.  If you (or someone else) can't read what you wrote, it's not worth writing it.  On the other hand, if there's no survey, the work wasn't done!

3) You are in the business of Radiation Protection, not Radiation PRODUCTION! 
If the crew is on a schedule, so what....you're not. If they wanna call up a boss and complain,  help their fingers do the walking.

You've heard it before, and for us it applies... "Lack of planning on your part does not justify an emergency on my part."  Don't let someone's schedule pressure influence the quality of your surveys.  You can't blame anyone but yourself if your survey fails to find and indicate the hotspot in the work area, or if your dose rates aren't indicative of current conditions (i.e., pre and post system draindown.)

4) DONT DO BOP if you can help it!  To me, BOP is an acronym for Bustin' Our asses Properly. Forget any semblance of organization here folks, if you're sitting at the BOP control point, you're screwed.

However, regardless of what slot you fill, don't spend the outage pissing and moaning about it!  Do your job, do it well, with a minimum of fuss, and you'll probably be asked to return (they LIKE happy people!)  You can always put a bug in someone's ear about how you'd love to try Containment, or Refuel, or whatever.  Just don't whine about it.

5) If you're confused about your job assignment, or where to go in the plant...ask a more experienced Senior tech who's been there before, or a House tech who should know the plant like the back of their hand.

Questions are good.  It's better to ask a question than assume you know the answer.

6) Think about the worker first....it's your job to protect them, even from themselves.

And DON'T laugh at their questions.  Everyone was new once!

7) You may not remember the work crews you worked with, but they'll remember you. Be nice to them, help them out, make their lives easier, and they will reciprocate tenfold!!!

Remember, they're usually working (physically) harder than you, and many times they're dressed to the T (doubles and some form of respirator) while you're kicking back in your jammies.  If you can make their job easier, do it!  You never know when the laborer you help out today will be the foreman tomorrow.

New Seniors sometimes get stuck with doing old Jr. work sometimes.....it happens. Deal with it.

9) Some plants don't take 18.1s  (VY, ANO, etc...), it becomes an issue of putting in time towards 3.1 as opposed to the pay cut you'll eventually get.

10) Always remember our purpose. We are all about CRAP!!!
Contamination, Radiation, Airborne, and Personnel monitoring.  Recite this mantra before every job.