Going from DOE to Nuclear Power Plant

[Balucero1984]

I was turned down for a job at a one of the Nuclear plants close to where I live and was wondering if gaining all of my experience at a DOE plant hurts me when applying to a power plant job.  I have applied several times and I have all of the quals that they are asking for, and my first thought was that they would rather have someone with experience that without but I may be wrong.  
Also Someone was telling me that to work as a house tech for Plant vogtle you must have a 4 year degree. One more thing does my experience with DOE ( 2yr 4mo qualify me to be a 18.1)
I would appreciate anyones comments on this because I would really like to work at a utility and can seem to find a way in.

[Rennhack]

Read both of these twice:

Acceptable Experience and Training for HP Technicians at Nuclear Power Plants

Zero to ANSI 3.1 in Six Years


Also look here for more info:

NukeWorker Forum > Career Path > Radiation Safety

[Marlin]

I was turned down for a job at a one of the Nuclear plants close to where I live and was wondering if gaining all of my experience at a DOE plant hurts me when applying to a power plant job.  I have applied several times and I have all of the quals that they are asking for, and my first thought was that they would rather have someone with experience that without but I may be wrong.  
Also Someone was telling me that to work as a house tech for Plant vogtle you must have a 4 year degree. One more thing does my experience with DOE ( 2yr 4mo qualify me to be a 18.1)
I would appreciate anyones comments on this because I would really like to work at a utility and can seem to find a way in.

   ANSI standards are vague, there are guide lines to acceptable experience that are generically used but you will find further evaluation more specific to the facility when resumes are reviewed. You may meet the generic qualification but lack experience desired in the specific facility. BWR, PWR, TRU waste processing, hospitals, or labs and accelerators all have different working environments, isotopes of concern and levels or exposure which may not translate well to one another in terms of experience.
   I don't mean to be discouraging but DOE non-reactor experience does not translate well as a Senior Tech in a commercial reactor. That does not mean that you will not be accepted but you will not compete well against a tech with power plant experience.

   If it is what you want keep trying and good luck.

[SCMasterchef]

As a Level III HP Technical Trainer at a commercial nuclear plant I will tell you that if you are looking to go from a DOE site, in SC or GA, a good recommendation would be to at least look at the RP programs being provided at Aiken Technical College or Midland Technical college as a way into these two programs.  Recently the Aiken program was accepted by the training programs at V. C. Summer and, if I am correct, also at Vogtle as an entry way into their HP programs.  However, more and more of the commercial facilities are requiring a 4 year degree in a science field for incoming HPs or navy ELT experience level with a 2 year degree in a science related venue.  The days of being a Junior or Senior HP at a DOE and transitioning into the commercial industry have become a thing of the past.  The other item that needs to be considered is that ALL previous training courses must be documented and have official signatures on them to be accepted by most facilities for waivers and exemptions in training.  ANSI standards generally are not the issue on being hired or not being hired because at most plants even a Contract technician with more than 3 years of experience will be fully ANSI qualified by a particular plant.  ANSI applicability is up to the plant to establish.  As said previously, its up to the Plant.  Now I do not know about plants outside of SC and GA, how this will help.

[fabshop64]

I was site coordinator at Calvert Cliffs for a few years when I got out from the DOE world. Our RPM was hesitant to hire techs with only DOE experience, his reason was not enough experience working in radiation fields or providing job coverage for crews in radiation areas. I did however convince him to let me bring them in through rad waste  for an outage and see how they did, the next outage he was fine with the person and they supported refueling.
It seems like it all depends on expierence level. Not sure if this helps.

[Chimera]

I've worked in both the DoE and NRC worlds.  As a general rule, RP Techs do not transition well when first exposed to the other environment - whether it be DoE to NRC or NRC to DoE.  I repeat -  as a general rule.  While both environments require the same basic skill sets - smears, dose rates and air samples - the working environment is substantially different.  Most DoE sites don't have significant dose rates while most NRC sites do not deal with alpha on a regular basis.  However, a given Tech could successfully make that transition if they bring a good work ethic and are willing to listen and put aside any preconceptions.  The biggest challenge is learning the new environment so they can anticipate rather than react to problems that might arise.

[hamsamich]

In general I agree.  I've worked both and you don't realize how different even the mindset is for both jobs, and there are plenty of other differences.  3 techs for one job or one tech for 3 jobs for just one example.  And both DOE and PP are harder and easier in their own ways.  I could go on for hours.  I prefer one when I've done the other too long.  No real favorites so far.

[Balucero1984]

I already graduated the Aiken tech program. I have heard from several people that I have worked with that the best way to probably get in is to work some outages, and I heard the transition is a lot different from DOE to NRC. But that's for everyones input I will just keep applying and see what happens

[Balucero1984]

Sorry,  but I meant thanks for your input.