I had a good experience at VC Summer last Spring, 2023.
The pay is decent, the location requires some travel from lodging, but the area and drive is easy and attractive.
The plant was clean and decently maintained, though I did see signs of slipage there.
They suffered a massive brain-drain with the failed new construction and now retiring of staff.
Operations was mostly Navy Nukes, while the crafts were people from the area.
It reminded me a lot of Crystal River that way.
The shop I was in had a lot of new hires and so there was a huge gap in age, experience and culture between them and contractors.
The result was a division that wasn't closed easily and so an under utilization of contractors.
Most of the six weeks I was there was getting paid to sit with other contractors in the corner of the shop, not included in the work.
To be fair, the pay and per diem aren't high here and quals amongst contractors was spotty, so unless you know the contractor and they aren't very old, taking them out wasn't always helpful.
For example, I was working with an in-house tech and another contractor tech on the main turbine. The other tech not only didn't know what the proximity sensors we were repairing were, or how they functioned to protect the asset and unit, or how to adjust them, but she didn't even know we were working on a main turbine. No systems fundimentals. What really struck me was that as I explained these things to her she had a look of not caring one bit about it, no real interest. She was happy to be paid to carry tools.
So I could see how in house techs would then just leave contractors behind rather then pulling trainees around. Especially ones making as much or more than they were! I'd be distant too.
That's really on management to supply quality people to the shops and pay people properly.
Maybe in other departments they hire more qualified and capable techs and then train the new hires on how to work with them.
I joked with the in-house people that if they weren't going to put us to work, they should task us to start cleaning and organizing the shop, maybe even wash their trucks in the parking lot, anything but sitting for twelve hours on our phones. A few contractors even pulled out iPads and watched entire movies during the work day while others around them worked. Pretty audacious, but nobody in-house said anything to them. One older contractor who had just finished a difficult job had enough and lost it. He grumbled very out loud about the situation.
That was refreshing and broke-up the boredom.
Overall, it's a a decent place, with decent people working against the odds to keep it clean, safe and functioning.
