Greetings from Wyoming. Need advice on... well, everything.

[Jeremy54]

I am a current College student(majoring in Engineering Sciences) and I have grown a fascination with Nuclear reactors/facilities and how they actually work. I'm from a state that our main supply for energy is Coal, Oil and Wind so I am no where near a Nuclear facility within 100 miles. Does anyone have any advice of how to begin working towards a Nuclear Technician degree or Nuclear Engineer degree if a Facility is really no where near my location. My school offers a BSA degree in Chemical engineering(and an associates in Electrical Technician) but unaware if this degree(s) will Transfer into a nuclear Facility very well. I've also seen these "Security clearance" tags and unaware how to obtain higher clearance... so... in a nutshell, how does one get a chance to work in a Nuclear power plant without one being near a plant location. Thank you!  

[HydroDave63]

Degree:

http://energy.bismarckstate.edu/programs/nupt/

Most nuclear utilities sponsor the program through EPCE, and it is NEI approved.

Clearance: IF you need one, THEN the company will do its work and grant access. It isn't something you can do beforehand by mail order.

[Jeremy54]

About the Clearance: , wouldn't that be something if I could just print clearance off my printer... but I didn't know if you needed to take special courses to grant further clearance, like extra safety courses or medical courses to be granted more access.

Also after reading more about work at a plant, I never knew the power plants go on "outages" that can last up to a year, I know our local coal power plant has had outages but not nearly for a year, i think the max it went was 2 weeks? and I think that was mostly just systems upgrades and not so much it "Shutting off"

[HydroDave63]

Also after reading more about work at a plant, I never knew the power plants go on "outages" that can last up to a year, I know our local coal power plant has had outages but not nearly for a year, i think the max it went was 2 weeks? and I think that was mostly just systems upgrades and not so much it "Shutting off"

Just don't take any of those shiny things home with the yellow and magenta sticker on the housing....

http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/event-status/event/2012/20120530en.html

[retired nuke]

Also after reading more about work at a plant, I never knew the power plants go on "outages" that can last up to a year, I know our local coal power plant has had outages but not nearly for a year, i think the max it went was 2 weeks? and I think that was mostly just systems upgrades and not so much it "Shutting off"

Those long nuclear outages are generally a thing of the past... most now are less than 4 weeks, some less than 3 weeks, very few longer than 6 weeks.

Most of the longer ones are staffed by folks that have already worked at that plant, and are well known to the Utility.

[Jeremy54]

Do you guys have any books you recommend to read that you have read or are reading that is a good "introduction" into this utility?

[Ksheed]

Do you guys have any books you recommend to read that you have read or are reading that is a good "introduction" into this utility?

http://nuclearpowervillainorvictim.engr.wisc.edu/

This one is free and you can download it to your computer.

[Jeremy54]

^Nice, thank you, I'll have to read it tonight.

[UncaBuffalo]

I am a current College student(majoring in Engineering Sciences)...My school offers a BSA degree in Chemical engineering(and an associates in Electrical Technician) but unaware if this degree(s) will Transfer into a nuclear Facility very well.

If you like the school you are at, I'd keep going to it.  Either degree you mention will offer an 'in' if you still want to do nuclear after you finish school, BUT have the added advantage of not locking you to an industry with a VERY cyclical hiring history.  There are currently a TON of schools churning out graduates in nuclear related fields, so you may find a LOT of competition for very few jobs...and be glad you can go straight to work in another industry.  You can always think about transferring over to nuclear after you have a few years work experience under your belt.

[Jeremy54]

If you like the school you are at, I'd keep going to it.  Either degree you mention will offer an 'in' if you still want to do nuclear after you finish school, BUT have the added advantage of not locking you to an industry with a VERY cyclical hiring history.  There are currently a TON of schools churning out graduates in nuclear related fields, so you may find a LOT of competition for very few jobs...and be glad you can go straight to work in another industry.  You can always think about transferring over to nuclear after you have a few years work experience under your belt.

That's very true, I may just look into either chemical or electrical engineering because if I don't find a plant to work for their are always arms manufacturing plants needing people good with polymer and metal knowledge.

[Dstealth]

Greetings back!  I am from Wyoming and I actually went to UW for 2 years.  However; I then joined the Navy to become familiar with Nuclear Power...  Please understand that I am currently looking into getting into the commercial Nuclear Field and I am not in it yet.  With that being said I wanted to share a link that I found about 3 weeks ago.  This is a link to the University of Utah in which offers a Bachelors/Master Degree in Nuclear Engineering.  It would take very little cost to move from UW to Utah. 

Hope this helps...

http://www.nuclear.utah.edu/pdf/SRO_2009.pdf