I need to spend time looking into the force sturucture within commercial plant. Am I close in thinking AO(NLO) is like roving watch (say MMUL/MMLL), RO is like sub RO, and SRO is the EOOW? Is the SM like a EOOW but has responsibitity for multiple plants (is SM site or shift mamager)?
Here is a brief summary of some of the jobs in the commercial world. The commercial world is much larger than the Navy plants and lot more complex. Most of the systems are designed to operate from the control room. The plant systems are also designed to operate with very few operators (more automation than the Navy). Safety systems are very complex as a whole and designed to operate automatically independant of other systems or people.
The NLO has many responsibilities, one of which is to be a 'roving watch' (rounds) in the plant. However, if you have rounds, you have more equipment and plant to cover. Usually 1 NLO has the turbine building, another has the reactor building, and another has everything outside those areas. Each area could take 3+ hours to make all the minimum checks and logs. The other NLOs not assigned to rounds will be doing all the testing/surveilences of plant equipment/systems, tagging, or housekeeping tasks. NLO is not a rate specific job like the Navy. One can expect to fill/vent and perform valve line ups on mechanical systems, operate manual valves, pumps, rack breakers, pull fuses, or do checks in the relay room or control room.
The RO (Licenced Operator) does spend most time in the control room operating the entire plant from the control panels. The operate the reactor, all the safety systems, the turbine, electrical side of the plant, and all other Balance of Plant systems, such as feed water, condensate, auxiliary steam as well as HVAC. They also spend time in the plant with NLOs. They also coordinate all the activities in the plant with the control room such as maintenance and testing. Some of the training personnel have RO licenses/certificates also.
SRO is a licence. SRO qualified personnel could have different jobs or positions. The Control Room Supervisor (CRS), the Staff Technical Advisor (STA), the Shift Manager/Site Manager are all SRO qualified. The CRS is the person responsible for all normal plant operations. The Shift Manager is responsible for everything site wide. Usually all these positions work together to make the best decisions on plant operations.
