New nuke guy

[Brett_M]

This is my first post. I swore in to the Navy last friday and I chose the nuclear field. This is after I dropped out of college because I failed Math 121 - technical math twice. I can't seem to learn the quadranomials and things like that. Do I even stand a chance in nuke school? May I see a sample of some of the math work they will test me on in the nuke school or are the formulas all top secret?

[Fermi2]

The closest you'll get to integration or derivatives is graphical. Every now and then an instructor will show off his useless knowledge of higher math by deriving an equation but pay no attention to that BS. You just need to know the final product.

One of the funniest things I ever saw in a procedure was at Fermi. M1Ark  might even remember the procedure. On the Air System we had to run a Surveillance that figured the Back leakage through some air valves. There was a 2.5 page discussion of how to correct the flow reading you got with a correction factor based on barometric pressure and local temperature. After all these equations it simply told you if pressure is above this pressure with temp below a certain value multiply your flow reading by this. In 4 sentences they gave you all the correction factors. So basically all you had to do was write down your flow number and multiply it by one of 4 numbers which were given to you.

THEN the best thing was... The procedure then said THIS FLOW METER ISN'T AUTHORIZED FOR USE AT FERMI!! Use this type of meter instead as it requires NO CORRECTION AT ALL!!. DEspite our best attempts to get that gobledygoop removed it never happened because it was in an Engineering procedure and they were afraid an Operator might accidently used the type of meter that wasn't even in stock on site!!

Actually one day some totally useless Math that stuck in my head actually saved me from what was becoming a real bad day. In fact M1Ark and I were on watch at the same time, I was covering for a guy when I was supposed to in a non training week. I was working OT on his shift. It was hotter than hades when the entire Off Gas (condenser vacuum system) system went away because of high temperatures AND due to a temperature switch that didn't appear in any of our procedures because Engineering didn't think it was important, ALSO due to a funny wiring configuration we kept dumping Hydrogen into the system. We ended up recovering from it (was a hairy 20 minutes though). SO, this happened at beginning of shift, post event we were discussing what heros we were when one of the OPerators looks at a gage for the SLC System (emergency boron addition in a BWR) and says, hey wasn't level 69% at Turnover? which of course it was, it was always 69%, M1 says yes it was and the other RO says well now it's 72%. The only way that could happen was a bad gage (which we had hoped) OR adding Demin water to it which was very possible since an NLO had just performed an evolution up there. Turns out it was adding water . The problem is that tank had to be controlled at a very tight concentration band that was based on volume percent. The other issue, it took 16 hours to get a sample, but the shutdown statement in our license was an 8 hour statement. I remembered how to do a volume percent calculation including the corrections. The SM was a very reasonable guy and he felt that was ok until we got the sample. The calc was within .01% of the final sample. The GREAT thing about this whole deal was when we were discussing with the STA how it would be nice to have a back up means of assuring we'd done it all correctly HE had an Advanced Math book about 3000 pages thick in his locker!!! (Damn I miss Cos). Chemistry was a huge help in informing us they had no means to perform a calculation (which I believe M1Ark proved false by looking into Chemistry procedures).

The whole point is you don't need to much more than basic algebra and the ability to use a calculator.

Mike

[Brett_M]

is there any type of calculus in nuke school and how many nomials (binomials or trinomials or quadranomials)?

"The whole point is you don't need to much more than basic algebra and the ability to use a calculator." - Is this the truth?

[Fermi2]

UH the last I checked I was a graduate of Naval Nuclear Power school so of course it's the truth.

Mike

[taterhead]

Oh, If you don't like math...you are in over your head.

I completely, totally, categorically, and unequivocally disagree.
I failed Precalc in high school (I quit going to the class).
I failed college algebra soon thereafter (Dropped it).
I hate math like no other subject.
As I have said before, I failed the Math 1 test in A school.

I averaged somewhere around a 2.7 in Math in Power School, but my final comprehensive average was 3.21.

Broadzilla is right.  You need not be a math whiz, or even like math.  You need to commit yourself early on to passing it, learning exactly what you need to pass.  If you are a memorizer, power school math can be done.  That is how I did it.  I did enough practice problems that I memorized the problem solving technique being taught without actually needing to understand the "whys" or "hows" of the process.

Here's a tip....volunteer to be an MM.   That may ease your pain a little in school.  However, to simply give up before giving it an honest shot is, well, dumb.

Again, do not let past failures dictate how you will perform in your Navy endeavors.  Redefine yourself.

I have a funny story to relate.  I was sitting in my office last week when one of our new JO's held a calculator up to me with some random number.  It was 1.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.  I asked him what this number signified.  He launched into a speech about how amazing this number was...all I heard was blah blah blah.  I must have had the blankest stare on my face.  At the end, I told him that I was a History major, and despised math.  I bet he was wondering how I made it through power school without being a math geek

Good luck.

[taterhead]

You missed the boat on my remarks.

Did you mean that literally or figuratively?

Maybe Navy Nuke Power has gotten to easier.  They must be passing everyone that comes through the doors these days.

Not quite, but I do hear that it is much tougher to get rid of the driftwood once they make it to prototype.

I agreed with your first post more than I disagreed with it.  You are right on in your advice, but I just felt that your initial post had a little bit of a negative tilt, and I didn't want our young lad getting discouraged before he even left for bootcamp.  Just a little pep talk for him...if I could do it, he can definitely do it.  Motivation can aid raw ability.

Thanks for your participation here in the Navy Nuke section.  I wish I had this tool when I joined up....

[Rad Sponge]

I was also poor at abstract NPS subjects such as math and physics 1-2.

All the subjects that were just equations, I did poorly.

The visual subjects, I did wonderfully.

Don't freak over the math, not all nukes are cut from the same cloth.

Case in point, a fellow student with a B.A. in Mathematics did well in Math and Physics, but when the courses favored conceptually driven students, he did poorly. He finished with about a 3.1 GPA and I with a 3.5, but you woundn't of predicted that outcome if you compared our grades after the first quarter.

[Roll Tide]

I wish I had this tool when I joined up....

Yeah, me too. But I don't think Nukeworker could have run on a TRS-80!

All the experiences from recent Navy guys being posted is excellent. I realized in commercial Reactor Theory class the other day that I finished prototype over 20 years ago! Glad some others can field these questions. But at least we got to use calculators when I got to NPS Orlando (wouldn't that program have been fun with slide-rules!)

[Fermi2]

TRS 80. Available at the Navy Exchange for something like 49.99 right? Every nuke had one at least in 1985.

My next calculator was a Ti 30+ Solar Powered and I had it for something like 15 years!

I qualified at Prototype January 4th 1986. It's hard to believe how quickly the time has gone.

Mike

[Bighouz107501]

Not many derivatives? aw bummer. I love derivatives. O well, what about limits? Is that important? Man all this math talk is making me excited 

[Roll Tide]

TRS 80. Available at the Navy Exchange for something like 49.99 right? Every nuke had one at least in 1985.

No, the $1500 computer with a monochrome screen!

To get back to the original question: the math classes use many formula; you learn to manipulate the equations to solve for any of the variables. You will later recognize those same equations when you get into Reactor Physics, and the ability to manipulate them will allow you to complete NPS

After NPS, you can just plug all of the known values in and simplify for the unknown (no more manipulations required) unless you take the ET or ELT routes.