ELT vs Senior RCT

[GARYGWOODJR]

I am using the information in the study section to prepare for the DOE core exam.  There is a recommended reading list in the section.  Most of those books cost over 100$.  If anybody knows if there are any that are particularly good for helping  prepare for the exam please let me know.  I just dont want to fork out the $$ for something that wont help.

For you ex-Navy ELTs that are doing HP/RCT work, what are some of the major differences I could expect if I get hired as an RCT or Senior RCT.  Unfortunately I was never assigned to and IMA/IMF so most of my experience is the standard operational/maintenance upkeep RADCON.

[Roll Tide]

You sound cheap! I am too, and I found enough study information from this site to pass the NEU (northeast utilities exam) at commercial power plants at this site for free download. If if is as helpful to you as it was me, donate a few bucks.

Otherwise, order the books on the reading list (searching for used may get you lucky on a couple if you take an older edition.) When (if) you get ready for the NRRPT, then pay for the books and also the CD study guide.

http://www.nukeworker.com/study/hp/rct/index.shtml
http://www.nukeworker.com/study/hp/moe/index.shtml
http://www.nukeworker.com/study/hp/neu/condensed_study_guides/index.shtml

A more helpful delivery method for some people to get the information (no downloads), is the site CD.

http://www.nukeworker.com/shop/2003CD.shtml

[SloGlo]

contact the company that you are anticipating working for and they should be able to send you study material for the core exam at the site which you are planning to work.  most sites' core exam are site specific, at least they were when I was doing doe work, so the study quide helps.

[JEBako]

Cheap is good. Sloglo is right. If you contact the site (or the contract companies site coordinator), they can hook you up. True for both DOE and commercil power.

If you can search the web for 10CFR835 (you don't need to buy it), read it. Some (most) of it will seem same-old, but there are some things done differently from 389-0153.

The DOE core shouldn't be a math or physics challenge for an NPS graduate, but some of the area definitions are different enough to trip you up. The parts I review every other year (2 year requal cycle)are the contribution of various natural sources to background radiation and the significant dates. The DOE core exam consists of 6 to 10??? parts, each of which need a score of 80% to pass. Not all sites test all parts.

As far as what to expect when you deal with DOE (or commercial power) vs USN....

On the boat, your salary is fixed by rank and time in, leaking contaminated systems don't exist, every piece of radioactive material is tagged and inventoried, every worker graduated NPS and NPTU.

In the DOE (or commercial)  world, you have defined 8 or 10 hour workdays, overtime pay for anything over 40 hrs/wk$$$. Shockingly high levels and lax control of contamination and radioactive material. Poor training and practice by radiological workers.

That last may seem cynical, but here is an axiom that may help. If it weren't so f_____ u_ I wouldn't have a job. The DOE sites I've been working at for the last 9 years were all shut down at least 5 years before I got there

One of the beauties of being ex-nuc is that you will have a useful insight into the other persons job since you used to do some of them. Use your experience to anticipate problems during the pre-job brief and most of them won't materialize.

[Touche]

More differences from a power plant road tech's view:
1) Contamination is quantified in dpm/100cm2, not uuCi/100cm2 (Initially hard to grasp what level of contamination you really have)
2) USN put large emphasis on contam control...lax on radiation exposure...Civilian has lax contam controls and relatively tight radiation exposure controls
3) Testing in the civilian world is MUCH simpler than the navy.
  a) Other than the info on instruments and units used in the civilian world, you can pass the north east utilities exam straight out of the navy.
  b) Take the NRRPT as soon as you qualify. Even the first part of the CHP Test. A little study in the "fringe" elements of radiation protection, and you should pass no trouble.
4) Power plants are here to make money, at a lot of plants, you will be little more than a speed bump. In the navy, that was not the case.
5) As an ELT, your chemistry background will help very little as a RCT.
6) In the navy, the RCA was small...in the civilian world, the area is HUGE

I am sure there are more differences, but it is 3 a.m. and thought this post was getting long.

[GARYGWOODJR]

Thanks to everyone for the insight.

[moodusjack]

As a former ELT and radcon shift supervisior I found the RCSS work more helpful when I shifted to the outside world of HP.  Probably because RCSS concentrated more on 108 qualifications vis-a-vis radiochemistry.

Anyway, since you are fairly new to the whole thing out here, why don't you learn a little about decommissioning? 

Go to http://www.epa.gov/radiation/marssim/ or http://www.orau.gov/essap/marssim.htm
and download the Multi-Agency Radiation Survey and Site Investigation Manual.  Then try out for an FSS Engineer spot.

[alphadude]

actually the chemistry experience will help- this is another qualification and gives you insight as to why things work the way they do in the ole power plant.

[Phurst]

Drywell....learn the term drywell. It was my biggest surprise. If you are smart leap right into operations and stay away from HP. There are more places to go if you can qualify into RO/SRO than any other field 'cept egenearing'

[wolf459]

BIG differance between ELT and RCT at DOE site is ALPHA. We didn't deal with spent fuel in the navy unless you were on the refuel overhaul crew, I personally have dug SNF slugs out of decomitioned FSBs that were full of dirt for 30 + years. Alpha smears of 145,000 dpm/100cm2 outside doseable mud at about 1R in a thimble sized piece. What fun.

[Austria]

Drywell....learn the term drywell. It was my biggest surprise.

Oh yea.... .....and after that was "Boiler???"...and then the next surprise... "the control rods come out the bottom?..... .......I remember feeling like I didn't know ANYTHING my first outage after the Navy. I think that feeling is what helped me keep learning though.  

[Phurst]

TIPS!? They are the end of something. And what is all this trash and dirt doing lying around? Whew, It's all coming back now. What an exciting and fresh time that was. Thank goodness I had alot of help and decent people willing to help me along. Hey! You! You can't drag that cord across the line!

[SloGlo]

Hey! You! You can't drag that cord across the line!

eye wuzant!  eye wuz draggen da lyne crost da koard.  rilly!

[moodusjack]

The old, "I'm just goin to look" line has burnt many an HP tech.  RHR at ******* ring a bell, anyone?

******* Site name left blank intentionally.