Jr HP Techs

[RRhoads]

Remo's back, I have to agree with Carmella, about the time of the outages. Most place wont even take one with no experience. I have my time in and still can't get paid the right amount. Like CB said it does take somewhere around i figure 6 to 10 years to be a 3.1.... And i have had more than one discussion about this with RPM's at various plants.The Nuke industry is doing nothing that i can see that is going to cure all the problems for jr's. I have now started to see that it is worth more money to be a Sr. Deconner again. Sr. Decon at the plant i am at now get a 3500 dollar bonus, jr hp's get 1500. Someone tell me where in the hell that is fair. Hell i got several thousand hours as a Sr. Deconner and over 6000 hours of hp time, her at this plant hp's do alot of decon work, i should get both bonuses. I was told by a HP
Supervisor that if a tech spent 20 years working in doe and come over to this side of the business all he can give him is 1 year. He is a junior. Doesn't make any difference what he has on his resume. I really don't see a future for this business, heck 70 percent of the plant out there running are on there last leg, do you see any ground breaking. And your not going too!!!! Quote of the day. "I'm tired of all the BUSHIT." Remo

Lemme tell ya something dude....
Sr decon has ALWAYS been paid more than a Jr tech bottom line!
Back in the day, there was NO bonus for Jr Hp or Sr Deconner.
Jr HP pay for me was typically $7hr/$40 a day diem. Sr decon at IP2 in '91 was $7.50 hr/ $50 a day diem...so i've been there done that!
The choice to switch to Jr or stay SR decon is a tough one...but if a jr can hang in there and get the time in the pay-off will be better..I know it was in my case.
Sounds like your just having a bad day/outage.

[remowil55]

RRhoads, i don't know where you worked but i started at IP 3 in 90 and was making 6 and 50. I was making more than a jr there. It was like that for a long time i always worked decon and made 2 to 3 dollars and hour more than a jr hp. Then it for some reason switched. I did my time and now things are starting to go the other way again. And yes i am having both a bad day and a bad outage. I have 16 years in this mess and thinking about giving it up. something has got to change. Remo

[Lorrie Henson]

I'm a Jr Tech.  I was offered my first assignment at Big Rock Point doing D&D.  I had no experience doing HP at all, they just wanted willing bodies.  I was there for a year.  I was told that my time doing D&D would not be totally counted towards becoming a Sr, that it is site specific.  I'm not sure how true all that is, but I later tried to get into an outage that wanted > 12 months experience, and I was turned down.  I then tried at a plant that wanted > 6 months and got in with no problem.  As far as PD goes, I have always gotten the same amount as the Seniors.  For me, I enjoy being a Jr and soak up as much information as I can.  My pay has ranged from $13/hr to $17/hr.  However, I am also a procedure writer....pre-HP work.  I was offered a longer termed position as procedure writer and took it, mainly because of the pay...it's more then double what the average Jr. HP makes.  However, I must honestly say that I miss the HP work and the knowledge that I was gaining.  Sometimes, money isn't everything, but this is the choice that I made and will live with it until the contract runs out 

Lorrie

[SloGlo]

hrhpgal.... eye yam gittin da ideer dat sumbuddy kin git into plant outages w/o kissing up, bendeen over, 'n enny uv dat udder positions recommended on dis post.  yer post isa breth uv phresh air.  eye predick  yule go phar, phar as yinz want. 

[RRhoads]

RRhoads, i don't know where you worked but i started at IP 3 in 90 and was making 6 and 50. I was making more than a jr there. It was like that for a long time i always worked decon and made 2 to 3 dollars and hour more than a jr hp. Then it for some reason switched. I did my time and now things are starting to go the other way again. And yes i am having both a bad day and a bad outage. I have 16 years in this mess and thinking about giving it up. something has got to change. Remo

Well..I know Jrs made 6 & 40 at IP 2,..
I worked at IP 2 on Nites in 91 as a Sr deconner for 7 & 50. My first jr job was OC in 92 for 7 & 40..so for my situation it was always like that for MOST of my jr time..
Sounds like you need to "give it up" for a while & gain some perspective or wait till this outage season is over & chill for a while..
In my case it was a good switch as i am a house tech now & really don't miss all the traveling i did for the last 15 years but i do miss the time off.

[remowil55]

I hear ya RRhoads, i'm getting older and am pretty beat up. I don't heal as fast as i onec did, but the years don't always make you wiser, and the road is always long. My retirement plan is simple. It's called "death"  Remo

[Lorrie Henson]

Sloglo, than you for the kind words, albeit difficult to read

My butt is getting sore from sitting on it all day at my current job.  I wanna swing a meter...whaaaaaa

Think....end of contract...end of contract

[alphadude]

i wonder if slogo can turn it off or has he fused those synapses to a rigid state, (and people complain about us southern folks from the hills-)

[lowlrc]

              Step away from the crack pipe...
    IRM???  Yeah right,let them hold 90% of your overtime as well as you pay ALL the taxes on you your income(self employment) remember Spanky...
    Careful what you ask for....IRM screwed more people then I would like too mention...   

I think I still owe them a pre diem check

[SloGlo]

i wonder if slogo can turn it off or has he fused those synapses to a rigid state, (and people complain about us southern folks from the hills-)

jrhpgal, yinz keep dat good attytyde runeen 'n itill all git good.  keep dune da werk 'n werkeen da resume.  let me no iffen eye kin ever help n@, 'k?

alphadude,  rigid state.... izzat a haid thing?  yu kinky kinda southern hill folk?!

[Turbo]

PTN just hired 6 house Jr HP I know because I'm one of them.  If more Nukes would look at that as an option it would be a great way to get new blood into to the industry.  Maybe if we do well more plants will start.

[hamsamich]

Holy god the JR HPs I am working with at Cook in Uppers are great.  I have never worked with JR HPs this good!  Go nights upper's junior HPs, yall are good!

[TENN-1]

Ditto for the nightshift Jrs stationed in lower containment at Cook. We have an excellent crew of folks working to earn a living but also trying to learn a craft along the way. It's a very good outage for experience gathering - more to do than ever before. Thanks! Keep up the good work!

[remowil55]

So true for the jr's down in the hole at Cook both days and nights. It is hell down there for sure. Uppers has not been all fun and games though. The worst is yet to come. I have a great bunch of Sr. at the top to have had the pleasure to work with and i Thank You All, hope to see you again down the road somewhere. Remo

[Mike McFarlin]

Holy god the JR HPs I am working with at Cook in Uppers are great.  I have never worked with JR HPs this good!  Go nights upper's junior HPs, yall are good!

Different world, Jimbo.

[Lorrie Henson]

Ok, now you're really making me upset....LOL....see, I turned down the Jr. Tech offer at Cook to do what I'm doing now....Supervising and writing procedures.  Although my husband is a Sr. working at Cook right now and will be getting the lay off soon.  I wish I would have stayed with my first offer, then I would be working with and learning from you too.  Oh well, live and learn....all part of the business, right?

Lorrie

[Brett LaVigne]

I thought I would kick this topic up to the top because I think it is an important one...and I have cabin feaver waiting to go back to work.

As I have mentioned in a couple other posts, I started in the shipyard.  For the first few years or until someone said that you were worthy you are considered a RADCON Monitor I, seniors were RADCON Monitor II.  For all that was screwy about the yard I will give them kudo's on this, Jr. techs were able to do most lower level job coverage and had only to be under the supervision of a Sr. on the jobs that had a higher potential of something going wrong (higher rad levels, higher contam. levels etc.).  We didn't just sit control points or step off pads like in the commercial world (general statement).

I will say that training was a lot more standardized so all Jr. Techs came from the same Mama.  I see very few Jr. techs in the commercial world that are being properly prepaired for the Sr. role.  If commercial plants would recognize this and impliment a slightly different way of doing business on the lower risk jobs (ie. small valve breech, electrical work in contaminated overhead areas etc.) we would all end up with better Sr. HP's and more job opportunities for Jr. HP's.  It would help to replenish the shortage of Sr. Techs now and in the future.

[alphadude]

get a job with a utility-they do that.. if you are renter goooood luck- hmm this almost sounds like you need a apprentice ship program like the unions offer-

[foreverajr]

Jr's don't need an apprenticeship program provided by a union.  To get good training a Jr has to be motivated to learn.  When I first started in the biz, of course I was stuck at the step off pad.  However, any break or downtime that I had was spent following good senior techs around.  I would read ops books at home.  I did whatever I could do to better understand my purpose at the plant.  This may seem extreme, but it paid off.  Before too long, supervisors no longer stuck me at step off pads or control points.

Too many techs don't care about fully understanding their jobs and only see the dollar signs associated with showing up for work.  There are plenty of opportunities for techs to learn if they wanted to.

Just my opinion of course....

[RRhoads]

Jr's don't need an apprenticeship program provided by a union.  To get good training a Jr has to be motivated to learn.  When I first started in the biz, of course I was stuck at the step off pad.  However, any break or downtime that I had was spent following good senior techs around.  I would read ops books at home.  I did whatever I could do to better understand my purpose at the plant.  This may seem extreme, but it paid off.  Before too long, supervisors no longer stuck me at step off pads or control points.

Too many techs don't care about fully understanding their jobs and only see the dollar signs associated with showing up for work.  There are plenty of opportunities for techs to learn if they wanted to.

Just my opinion of course....

A motivated Jr.
Where in the hell do you find one of those anymore??
They have been soo far removed from the loop of having to learn anything, that most of  'em i see now, are hanging out in the break room!
I've offered many times to take 'em in the can & show 'em around or on a job...Zero motivation!
Sorry...it ain't like when i was a Jr.!

[foreverajr]

My point exactly!!  There are plenty of chances to learn, one must be motivated to do so.  Too many of them have $ signs in their eyes and forget the seriousness and importance of their jobs.

[wlrun3@aol.com]

 
   "I've offered many times to take 'em in the can & show 'em around or on a job...Zero motivation!"

   ...tell them about how much pain and sacrifice it took to build these things...about the hopes and dreams of those long gone...they will be the ones that maintain this mess when all the old ones are gone...do they understand it...are they prepared...

[sponge]

I'm really tired of scratching in the dirt trying to find a Jr. job. My daddy doesn't work at any nukes. The people that do get the Jr jobs are all on the friends and family plan, and they could care less about learning anything. This is a field that I'm really interested in and motivated to learn, but getting a job is really hard. That's why I've had to stick to decon for the past couple years. Not to mention Entergy has all but eliminated the 18.1 position, so now it will take even longer to reach 3.1

The only site I've ever seen that hires maybe 20 or 30 Jrs is VY, and that is because they haul the trash and laundry.

[Dave Warren]

Hey sponge, when you get done crying a river, go to WWW.ORNL.GOV and look in the "Careers" section.

They just posted a request for (3) Junior Radiological Technicians.

It's a long-term job with great benefits, and you get to work in Oak Ridge,Tennessee.

Good luck to ya, Dawg.

[Dave Warren]

And Atlantic Group just posted a job for Juniors.....