Changing the Career- Entering into Nuke industry

[saku]

First of all, I would like to say "Hello" to everybody. I am a newbie entering into this field. I have few questions & dilemma about the career. I hope some one will help me out.

1) I am on my early 30s and have 7 years of civil engineering experience. I have recently got an offer from Souther Nuclear Plant Vogtle 1 & 2. How are these plants?

2) Currently i work for a government where I have no stress at all. I just have to work 40 hrs a week and have very good work life balance. I have been offered a salary which is 24K more than my current salary. If i include my bonus, it will be $32k more. I will have pension at both places. But at Southern nuclear i will have 5% 401K too which is awesome. Do you think its worth it to change the career from no stress job to nuke field for this amount? I will have to move out of state. How is the stress level at Nuke? Is it really bad? How is the work life balance?

3) It looks like the plant is middle of nowhere. It will be one hour 15 mins commute from Augusta, GA. Is it something practical to do everyday? Right now i only have 30 mins commute.

4) How is the job perspective of this career?

I know i am asking lots of questions. I am extremely sorry for that and like to thanks everyone in advance . I appreciate all of you guys help.

[MMM]

1) No data as I don't work there. Hopefully someone else can weigh in on this.

2) It depends, what department are you looking at, Ops, Engineering, Training, etc.? However, since it sounds like you've applied and received an offer, there must be something missing at your current job. As far as hours, I believe most areas average 40 hours per week (Ops might be more), although operators work shift work with 8-12 hour days (depends on the plant). There is some amount of stress, especially if you're going for an SRO license, but it's manageable. If you end up working on scheduled days off, you will probably get overtime of some sort for it (hourly workers typically get time and a half, salary get straight time).

3) Depending on your contract, you may have to live with in the ERO response time (typically 1 or 2 hours), so you can live fairly close to Augusta or you can live right by the site, it's really up to you. Again, I don't know the area, so I can't be more specific.

4) I'd say it's a good career choice, but that's my opinion.

[Laundry Man]

My observation having been an engineer with a large east coast nuclear utility is 40 hours per week is for dreamers.  First of all when you signed on you agreed to give the company 5 free hours of OT a week.  Didn't quite end there though.  Don't think I ever worked less than 50 and more often than not it was 50+.  Just my 2 cents worth.  Really liked the job though.
LM

[saku]

Thank you very much MMM and Laundry Man...I appreciate you guys time...
The only thing missing at my current job is $. OTher than that everything is good. I am looking for a stable job like my current government job but higher salary & better perspective. When you guys talking about working more than 40 hrs, does that mean its required? In my previous company(not nuclear company) whenever i had a due date then i had to stay longer and finish it. But next day i was able to make up those hours by going home early or at least by going home on time. Is it something similar in this field too? I am trying to see if the extra money, 24k, i am getting is worth it not? I will be paid only for 40 hrs and more than 40 hrs during outage only.

I will be working as a civil engineer. How is the job future and working environment for civil engineer in the plant? Also what kind of stress level i am looking at. I guess it depends on one job description and mine will be more like in design and retrofiting of structural components.

Any suggestions and advice will be highly appreciated. Once again thank you in advance.

[Mounder]

As a civil engineer, I don't see you being overworked at a nuclear power plant. They have deadlines for projects just like any engineering department and there will be an occasional requests to get something done coming up on a date.  That's it.  I also don't expect it will be any more stressful than the government job unless you worked less than 40 and got paid for 40 via "work from home" options.  Engineering departments at NRC and DOE sites typically have intelligent staffs that stay to retirement.  You should like it.
The perks of working at a plant in the middle of nowhere will be mostly the commute. Assuming you're not driving more than an hour, the ride will be traffic-free.  You might have to get to work at 0700 instead of 0830.  The cons are mostly trivial.

[saku]

Thanks Mounder...I appreciate it....It really helped me out....Does anybody know about Plant Vogtle 1 & 2? Once again thank you very much and you all have a great weekend...