Thoughts? Do many people my age do this?
No, but the age limit for sub officer or SWO nuke is 29 without prior service, so that is why. That means you have to commission by the time you turn 29, now back that up by a 9 mo to a year to get your app processed and you can see how this can be a bit sticky for you...
Is there a better way to get into the field than going through the Navy? Am I an idiot for even considering this? I'm happy to hear anything you have to say on the matter.
There probably is a better way to get into civilian power plant ops than going through the Navy, but you'll have to search other forum topics for that answer. Bear in mind that if you go into subs (which if you are male is probably going to be your only option in NUPOC), the community expects you to be an Navy officer first, and will be trained as if you would one day be the CO of a ship. You will get about a year to two of propulsion plant supervisory experience, but after that you will be expected to focus on tactical stuff.
Follow up question: I understand that a large portion of the people who get accepted into the program end up washing out of OCS. What happens then? Are you released from serving in the Navy? Do they just drop you down to E6 and still put you through nuke school and then stick you on a sub? What is it that has people washing out anyway?
Few people attrite from OCS for good. There are people who take a little longer to graduate through either medical or academic reasons, but the vast majority will eventually graduate. The most common way for people to drop out are either medical issues not identified prior to OCS (most common for aviation, since their flight physical occurs after reporting for OCS) or to voluntarily quit (called a drop on request or DOR).
To answer your question directly: Your contract will state that if you fail to commission because of your own doing (e.g. DOR or fail out due to repeated academic/inspection failures), you will owe two years as enlisted as an undesignated seaman. You would go to boot camp and start over as an E-1.
If you drop out because of an issue that isn't your fault (e.g., you blow out your knee and are no longer PQ, you have kids and your spouse croaks while you're at OCS), you just get administratively separated and that's it.