There are folks that I used to work with that have been on "temporary" jobs for over 5 years. No job is permanent anymore. We are a transient society, with changing goals, jobs, locations.
As much as I hate the debt load the nation is carrying, I am glad that the DOE work is opening up a bit. Maybe some of my old roadie pals can get a bit of a rest for a year or two before they go back to outages...
I enjoyed the heck out of RFETS, and never looked at it as permanent. I expect that any roadies that go to SRS and Oak Ridge will pretty much do the same. They may change their minds depending upon the opportunities that present themselves.
Something might shake out regarding outage wages, but if not, the industry will manage. RPs are not critical to actual work, just to meeting dose and contamination milestones.
