qualifications

[smoothtoaster]

y'all often talk about finishing your qualifications. what exactly are these? i am completely clueless.

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smoothtoaster

[shayne]

Qualifications are:
- Learning the systems associated with the Nuclear Power Plant.  You should know how it works, its purpose, the different ways it could be operated, locations of all components of the system, draw a basic diagram of the system, and the procedures associated with the system.
- Learning how each system works together.
- Learning how to start up and shutdown all the systems of the Nuclear Power Plant.  This also includes power changes as well as understanding what normal conditions and readings of the equipment should be.
- Learning how to identify the problems and abnormal conditions of the plant.  You will also be required to correct the problems or abnormal conditions.

The process of qualifing involves:
- Knowing where to find information on all the systems.  Technical Manuals, Reactor Plant Manuals, Steam Plant Manuals, Operating Procedures, Casualty Procedures, etc.
- Study the material in all your refereces listed above.
- Get quized by the Staff Operators (Prototype) or your Qualified Peers (Ship/Sub).
- Take writen exams on everything that you learned from Qualifications above.
- Perform Oral board to verify all the information that you should have learned from above.  If you pass you should be "Qualified" pending any upgrading you need.

'A' school and Power school is the classroom part of your training.  At Prototype you will learn how to qualify.  You will be required to apply the knowledge you learned in the classroom to practical use as you operated a nuclear power plant.  Most of your understanding and knowledge of the nuclear power plant will come from how you apply yourself in the qualification process.  If you able to sit down, focus, read through all the manuals, and understand how the whole systems works, you should have no problems.  When you get to your ship or sub, you will be handed a qualification card to learn the power plant.

The qualification process will start over at any new comand that you go to.


In the simplest terms possible, it is a complex machine that you are learning how operate.  Almost like you did when you learned how to drive a car and get your license.

[taterhead]

Some qual cards are of your on choice.  Such as on a surface ship.  You can work on qualifing Surface Warfare.  And on a Carrier...Aviation Warfare. 

Surface Warfare is not voluntary anymore for E5 and above.  To be recommended for First Class, a Sailor must qualify ESWS.  The Air Warfare qual is voluntary, but very helpful for career minded Firsts.

[Wirebiter]

Yeah, and you no longer recieve 2 points towards your final multiple on advancement if you are warfare qualified.

[KAMFRO]

And dont let the name fool you.  The sub qual card is really a lil book of about 10 pages stapled together...extremely easy compared to nuke quals...But the in rate qual card is really a 3 inch binder with double sided pages in it...stuffed full...on a SSBN the required ET quals for a NUB are

BEQ (Basic Engineering Quals)- this is where you learn all systems aft.  Steam generators, NI's, PPI's, SQWLC (Squiggle), Radcon, if it is aft of the water tight door, you need to know it in depth

Shutdown Electrical Operator (SEO)- Plain and simple...this is the SRO's bitch...officially the SEO is supposed to do all planned electric plant shifts, but usually ends up going to get things for the SRO since the SEO is allowed to "make roves of his equipment"

Reactor Technician (RT)- This is the jr RC Div watch, you monitor and log all the instrumentation systems at the actual cabinets.

Control Point Area Watch (CPAW)- Control the access in and out of the Reactor Compartment (RC) when it is open during shutdowns

Aux Electrician Aft (AEA)- This is the junior E div watch, but we are required to qual it.  Pretty much take Salinity and Bearing Temp reading, and assists the EO anyway possible...

Electrical Operator (EO)- This is the guy in manuevering, sits the the far right...he controls the electric plant, shifts power linupes and maintains 450/60

Reactor Operator (RO)- This is the middle guy in manuevering...he controls the temperature of the reactor..not the power...you will understand later...all his instruments are just remote indications of the ones the RT watches

Shutdown Reactor Operator (SRO)- This is the senior in rate qual for both RC and E div.  This is the man when the plantr is shutdown.  He never leaves manuevering...he has control of everything aft when the EDO (engineering duty officer) isnt back there...Its pretty funny to be sitting SRO as a third class and have the  who happens to be a senior cheif ask permission to enter manuevering and you tell him wait, because there is stuff going on like a brief or something and you cant do whatever he needs to do...

Once you qualify those you can do throttleman (TH), Engineering watch supervisor (EWS), pretty much anything you want...EXCEPT Only a Nuke ET can qualify as a Reactor Operator...no other NEC besides 3353 or 3363 can qualify as a RO on a sub...

hope this cleared it up a lil bit

[Fermi2]

Actually uh, the RO does control power and not just temperature, but in the simplified way the Navy teaches Reactor Theory they don't really get into it because they don't have to.

Mike

[ChiefRocscooter]

I always thought of the Throttleman as controlling power (with a klittle help from the EO)  and my jobs as RO was to keep them in CHECK

BUt hey I guess it really only matters if you worry about whose rod is bigger

Ever wonder why only ET's could be RO's, never thought it made sense that MMCS with 15 years of running the thing could'nt figure out the reactor and how it worked, but I guess there was a reason (maybe not a good one) shrouded in darkness in the past.

like the no-eating aft but you could drink? I heard Rickover himself put that into effect when he went aft and saw an SRO with mouth full and unable to answer the phone (true?? who knows)

Rob

[Fermi2]

I was told years ago any nuke could qualify RO. I believe when the navy decided to thin down the rates that could be nukes they decided to do so along the lines of maintain the equipment you operate.

MMs can qualify as ROs, I'm not sure they'll let them stand the watch now. When I was at A1W I was a qualified RO and stood the A Plant RO quite a few times.

Mike

[KAMFRO]

anyone can qualify RO at a prototype..however on a tirdent only a ET can become an RO..the first line of the qual card actually says NEC 3353/3363

[shayne]

I seem to remember that RO was just about the only watch that required a NEC (3353, 63, 83, or 93).  All other watches didn't require it.  It also had the requirements for EOOW, which the requirement I remember was the previously qualified at NPTU.  The requirements where in one of those administrative manuals for Nuclear Power (Maybe EDM).

[ChiefRocscooter]

I also seem to remever that BCE (batery charging electricain) had an NEC restriction to it also,  but alasss my memory is not what it used to be!

Rob

[KAMFRO]

i think you right about BCE...

[Marlin]

I've been out for a while but I do recall that these requirements changed with the "Needs of The Navy", when nukes were in short supply in the mid to late 70's lines where crossed and restrictions impossed to keep people in needed NEC's or to fill short NEC's.

[Roll Tide]

Ever wonder why only ET's could be RO's, never thought it made sense that MMCS with 15 years of running the thing could'nt figure out the reactor and how it worked, but I guess there was a reason (maybe not a good one) shrouded in darkness in the past.

I was upset that BT's could qualify RO, but not MM!


As far as NEC limits: I tried to qualify ELT based on meeting the requirement for "holding a 33x6 NEC". The CO wouldn't agree that 3376 (Radiological Controls Monitor) would meet the intent.

[KAMFRO]

What is a BT, I dont remember that rating at all.  And in response to the TH or RO controlling Reactor Power, I dont see how any other description of Reactor PRinciples could explain the RO controlling power.  Steam flow goes up, therefore Rx Pwr goes up.  If the RO shims out rods then the Rx will stabilize at a higher temperature, but at the same power, roughly.  I mean if you really want to get in depth, I guess you could say Rx Pwr would go down because if the rods are further out then fewer neutrons become absorbed and therefore Th goes up and and it takes less heat transfer and power to heat the same amount of water up to produce the amount of steam to meet demand, and therefore Tc doesnt get as cold and therefore less reactivity from cold water, which will stabilize the reactor at a lower actual power. 

[ChiefRocscooter]

I do not think I would put rod height in relation to absorbition (which it does affect) but would be more interested in the thermalization effect that the ro can control by varring rod height.  Remeber of we we using generation to gereration neutron flux level to base what we call power then we need to accunt for the fact that at higher TAVG we have less thermilization thus greater neuton esacape for fast neutrons which I always thought of as greater impact on life cyle as rod only absorbed thermals but lower temp created more thermals which would result in supercritical until new higher temp, and thus lower thermalization level was reached.
Like I said rodsize matters  but is not hte whoole picture
Also we could get into the whole heat loss at higher temps as well which would mean higher power level in core to be generating increased power but that would be in the weeds for samll navy plants (maybe not when talking about 1000MW plants though).

Rob

[ChiefRocscooter]

Someday I must learn to typpppe

[KAMFRO]

are we nuking this out???

[Fermi2]

Get a GP REactor Theory Text then operate a real reactor for a few years. The Navy taught you a certain way because they wanted to keep it simple. In real life that's not the way it works.

Mike

[KAMFRO]

any RO who understood the principles of the reactor can figure it out off of any pressurized water reactor.  And I will agree both steam flow and rod height will affect reactor power.  However, to say just because the Navy teaches one way is one thing.  To make the jump to the reactors operating differently because of this is too much.  I say again a Pressurized water reactor will operate the same.  Same basic principles, depending on how the systems are put together will affect how the pressure changes and how the temperature changes, ie S5W to S8G, but basic principles are still the same.

[PWHoppe]

Hmmm...are drifting off topic here

[KAMFRO]

I would have to agree...we do seem to be nuking this out and bringing everything off topic...Back to the topic..EDM or EDOM prohibit qual of a non ET as a Reactor Operator on a sea going command.

[ChiefRocscooter]

Ok back on topic.  In any job you must prove to the people ypu work for that you can do the job they assign you to.  I would assume that to be the fry guy at McD's you have to showw you can fry'em uip add salt and put them in little paper bags.  Well the navy is lot like McD's we want to see you prove you know what you are doing (or are at least understand) before we give you the keys and say take her for a spin.

How that simple and on point 

Rob
ok maybe to simple

[KAMFRO]

Eh thats all reactor control is...shim em in shim em out... Throw some salt on it and keep it NOP NOT