Navy to expand nuclear training school in Goose Creek

[Marlin]

GOOSE CREEK -- The nuclear power training school -- one of the lowest-profile operations at the Naval Weapons Station -- is in line to get a major improvement.

The closely guarded facility, which teaches sailors about nuclear propulsion and how to operate nuclear reactors, will get:
•An expanded operations area to handle twice as many students.
•New training submarines with reactors twice as strong.
•Security improvements.


http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2012/feb/16/navy-to-expand-nuclear-training/

[irmechanic]

good, we're starting to get a little crowded over here...

[HydroDave63]

Nothing that some Ac boards can't fix

[Starkist]

Nothing that some Ac boards can't fix

Oh god you're evil hahaha

[playswithairplanes]

I read a couple months back that they would be replacing Sammy and Danny with the La Jolla and San Fran. Sad to see my first boat Sam Rayburn finally heading out. She had a long career.

[shocker]

In the interim, it would handle 2,800 while the operations are refueled at the New York school, according to the draft environmental assessment.

HAHAHA. This had me rolling.

[greenbean]

I'll be starting as an instructor at Goose Creek this summer. It looks like I'll be teaching a few more lessons over the next 4 years :-). I wonder if they will just increase the class size or have more class times. Does anyone know if the classrooms are already packed?

[irmechanic]

the classes aren't that packed, but there are a lot of people on grad hold and indoc

[DadofMM-ELT]

As a relatively current data point, son of DadofFutureNuke was on grad hold in Charleston for 6 months before going to prototype in NY. (Where's he's now 9.4% ahead of the curve and about to go "on crew" whatever that actually means.)

Based on his experience: do not neglect PT while on grad hold.

[greenbean]

Are there any current Nuclear Power Instructors on this site? I had some other questions about moving to base and what these new changes will mean over the next few years.

[MattNUKE75]

Yeah this is really interesting. Could it signify a new need for Naval instructors? Maybe they'll start accepting more people again 

[Captain America]

GOOSE CREEK -- The nuclear power training school -- one of the lowest-profile operations at the Naval Weapons Station -- is in line to get a major improvement.

The closely guarded facility, which teaches sailors about nuclear propulsion and how to operate nuclear reactors, will get:
•An expanded operations area to handle twice as many students.
•New training submarines with reactors twice as strong.
•Security improvements.


http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2012/feb/16/navy-to-expand-nuclear-training/

This might ("the first all female submarine force") have a little something to do with it too.

[eaton1981]

Expansions are coming. Of this magnitude, not a chance.

The current bottleneck (which will be THE bottleneck for years to come) lies in the massive backlog of enlisted students in the pipeline the became excessive in 2009. This is why there are so many students on grad hold at NNPTC...not enough room for them to stand their U/Is.

NNPTC has been doing a pretty decent job of getting students TO the prototypes, but actually getting them all qualified is a long hurdle to still get over. With that said, the prototypes' staff (both civilian and navy) have been working pretty damn hard to get them through.

Female sub officers has nothing to do with the expansions.

[eaton1981]

Just realized you were being sarcastic about female officers on subs being the cause, Captain.

For you who said you're moving to the area, if you're going to be an NNPTC (NFAS or NPS) instructor, these "expansions" won't affect you. They're solely NPTU expansions. There will be things like new buildings (2 maybe?) and the La Jolla and San Fran coming in to replace the Sam Rayburn and Daniel Webster. As far as these expansion boosting the local economy...that's stretching things way too far. There will be some boost, but not much. I can't envision more than a few hundred people coming in to do work on these construction projects.

NPTU Ballston Spa has already seen some of these same types of expansions (renovating old training buildings with new PCs, putting in a brand new building, etc).

There will be next to no impact on the current situation at NNPTC, aside from possibly (but most likely not) alleviating the "grad hold" group sitting around for months at a time once they pass their comp.

Projecting numbers of >2000 students for the 2 plants to carry per year is laughable, unless they do a revision where students don't need to do as much work to qualify. I understand how they come up with the numbers, but under current standards, 2 plants cannot put out 1000 qualified operators per year, imho.

[HydroDave63]

More Ac boards, fewer waivers. Where there's a whip, there's a way! 

[eaton1981]

I've seen some in recent years FAIL their acboards and get retained in the program. Sigh.

On one hand, I understand where the oral board member is coming from at least from a "human" standpoint. He knows that if he recommends disenrollment, then the kid's nuke career is dead before it even started.

On the other hand, if he can't grasp the fundamentals well enough to pass his acboard, what chances does he have in the fleet?

[Gamecock]

I've seen some in recent years FAIL their acboards and get retained in the program. Sigh.

This has been going on for more years then "recent". When I was a division director there back in 2004, I sat several boards where I (and other board members) failed the student, only to have the senior member (i.e., the CO, who had 51% of the vote) grade the board as "pass". 

Was quite disheartening.

[HydroDave63]

As always, I blame "Laurel and Hardy"