Training

[tselby]

lets talk about training ~~

How is the LOI training dept at your faililty?
do they help the people who request it?
how do they deal with the people who are borderline in LOI?
do they bend over backwards to help people make it through the program?
which facilities in your opiniong have good training depts?
which ones have bad training departments where you wouldnt want to work at?
what are the positives and negatives about your particular situation?
what would make your training department better?
Are there enough instructors to go around and no be overloaded where you are?

General topic on Licensed Operator Training and the Departments that train them?

[Fermi2]

All subjective.

Who cares?

[tselby]

thats my point voice your subjections.................. ..........

[JustinHEMI05]

lets talk about training ~~

How is the LOI training dept at your faililty?
do they help the people who request it?
how do they deal with the people who are borderline in LOI?
do they bend over backwards to help people make it through the program?
which facilities in your opiniong have good training depts?
which ones have bad training departments where you wouldnt want to work at?
what are the positives and negatives about your particular situation?
what would make your training department better?
Are there enough instructors to go around and no be overloaded where you are?

General topic on Licensed Operator Training and the Departments that train them?

I earned a license at Peach Bottom, and will be earning one at Beaver Valley. Since I haven't yet begun training at Beaver Valley, I can only comment on Peach Bottom's program. There is one aspect of Beaver Valley's program I know I am not going to like off the bat, surrounding their GFES process, but I won't comment on that until I actually go through their GFES process, starting in December.

How is the LOI training dept at your faililty?
Overall, I enjoyed the department at PB. They examine the hell out of you so you are ready for that written at the end of the program. We started having NRC level exams practically weekly many months out. Just before the audit and NRC exam, we had several "full scale" comprehensive exams, which I found to be very useful.

On top of that, and most importantly, the same team that wrote our NRC exam also wrote our audit and comps. This was good so that we could get a feel for the style of questions that were going to be ask. For anyone that has been or is going through the program, there is an art to taking these tests and the style of questions plays a pretty decent role in all of this. I have some peers that didn't see questions from a particular exam team until the NRC exam, and that hurt a few people. In my opinion, it shouldn't be enough to cause a failure if you actually know the material, but it could cause your grade to be lower than expected.

At PB, the then lead instructor,  now ops training manager, was very very passionate about training. This caused his lectures to sometimes run long, and he was sometimes long winded, but you learned a lot from him and his passion for the program was infectious, at least for me. If the people training me aren't really interested, then I am not going to be very interested. He made learning TRIPs (EOPs) fun for me.

There are few instructors there that aren't that interested, and it comes through in their classes. Some rely heavily on power point and just click through the slides and a 4 hour lecture is cut down to 1.

Still others really don't belong in the simulator, as I found in one session near the beginning of our TRIP training in the simulator.

Overall though, the instructors were competent and knew what they were talking about. This was especially true in requal. PB has some VERY intense requal instructors, and I LOVED going over for training. They were some very bright individuals and they were fun to learn from. The lead instructor in requal is also very good at his job, and I enjoyed working with him. I honestly miss the training department the most about PB.

Peach Bottom has a 100% pass rate for the last several classes, with maybe 1 or 2 drops along the way. Pretty good stats compared to everyone else, so they must be doing something right.

[c-zar]

I am interested in what level must be obtained in the exams. Is the pass mark a 70% or maby a 60% and what happens when the candidate does not obtain the pass mark. Is he/she removed from the program or is there remedial trained provided?

[JustinHEMI05]

70? 60? Thanks, I needed a laugh.

The NRC minimum standard is 80%.

However, most utilities set the bar higher for "margin." The 2 utilities I worked for, require you to maintain an 85% or above. If you don't pass the audit exam with 85% or above, you won't go to the NRC exam. Also, to stay off the radar, you need to maintain 90% or above. That is for initial licensing.

For continuing training, the minimum again is 80%. However, most utilities expect more than the minimum, and their bonus structure often reflects that. For example, at my current utility you only get 1/2 the requal bonus if you get less than 90%. To get the full bonus, you need to have above 90%. Less than 95%, and your peers are giving you crap for being stupid.

If you fail, you will usually get another chance (except on the final NRC exam, depending on how bad the failure is). A lot of things go into determining your upgrade program and whether or not you continue in the program. One exam failure though in the course, won't get you dropped.

No, 70% may get you a physicians license, but it won't get you an operators license.

Hope that helps.

[chamberd]

bonus structured from test scores you NEED a good instructor that is active not a slide show.  I'd take long winded any day over bueller... bueller...