NukeWorker Forum
Career Path => Navy Nuke => Navy:Getting Out => Topic started by: sparta733 on Jun 23, 2006, 09:37
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hi all~
i was wondering what are the difficulties faced by an ex nuc mm who never stood watch in the "box" as far as making the transition to the civilian nuc world? thanks
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Standing watch in the "box" gives you no advantage whatsoever in the commercial world.
Mike
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you made my day lol
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so where can i find information on the "jist" of what a NLO does and what employers look for?
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Use the search box (one on every page) and search the site for NLO, EO, non-licensed operator, and entry level jobs. This is a popular subject with lots of discussion on the site. The Career:NRC, and Navy:Getting Out forums have a lot on this also.
By the way, Welcome to Nukeworker!
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sparta,
Shayne was an excellent NLO. He can give you some insight as to what the job actually entails, at least at Fermi. I was an NLO. M1Ark was an NLO. Roll Tide was an NLO, an RO, and is now an NLO.
Its a great job, very physical at times but under most cases you'll get a bit of butt time.
I don't have time to get into the job itself but here is what I look for when I interview new hires. Not in any order
1: Ability to understand right from wrong. And corect what is wrong
2: Individual initiative.
3: Honesty
4: Ability to learn from mistakes.
5: A certain level of intelligence or at least a willingness to learn. I usually take for granted people in this industry are intelligent so willingness to learn is very important to me.
6: Willingness to look outside their own jobs to try to better the department.
Mike
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i was wondering what are the difficulties faced by an ex nuc mm who never stood watch in the "box" as far as making the transition to the civilian nuc world? thanks
I would say it could be an advantage. Operating a test source isn't really that equivalent. When you are dealing with 2000-3000+ MW (thermal) in a commercial reactor, it isn't like the boat.
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It has been my experience that not having "Box" time will not hold you back. There are a number of differenes between the ol Navy way and the Commercial field. But these will not hold you back. The commercial field is really more laid back, but with the same knee jerk reactions happen, and with some greater magnitude.
Welcome to the civy life..... and thanks for you service been there, done that and still wanna thank you...
ET1(SS).......
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Standing watch in the "box" gives you no advantage whatsoever in the commercial world.
Mike
Second that motion!
MM1
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The only benefit that I was able to discern is that the box staff usually had better boredom management tools.
The MMs were usually finding new and unusual ways of causing trouble. My name appeared on that list most of the time.
;D
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MAN my boredom got me into trouble BIG Time at A1W. Reactor Aux Upper Level was NOT the place to put a guy alone!
Mike
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The only benefit that I was able to discern is that the box staff usually had better boredom management tools.
The MMs were usually finding new and unusual ways of causing trouble. My name appeared on that list most of the time.
;D
No no.... They weren't unusual, they were creative. 8)
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First qualifier, I do not yet jknow enough about civ world to have relevant comments about what is or is not important skill learned from box time.
OK now.... I would think that the one thing box time gave me was much more exposure to the intergrated operations that go on during ops most especially casualty ops. Not saying space watch stander did not know what was going on plant wide, more like when you are MMUL you focus on that during casualty with some concern for what LL is doing, but AMR??? you just leave them to thier tasks while you do yours. In the box yiou have a dozen things happening at once and you are supposed to track them (guide as case may be) all. Pure osmotic pressure means that at some point you begin to feel/learn the intergration of plant and systems with more of an automatic sense. Becomes the old trained that way so I react that way thing. IMHO an experienced box watchstander, not just qualified but one who has sat a couple of ORSE cycles with all the prep drills ect.., can sit at an oral board a do a better job of discusing plant response and integratino type questions than your typical space watchstander. Of course there are exceptions to this as some guys just get it and do not need box time to get feel of plant at large. Yiou might ask what about ERS and EWS?? well I thnk of them as extensions of the box and it is at that point where space guys begin to become more aware(I do not think aware is right word here but not sure what is) of the plant as a whole with primary/secondary and all other concerns they face in spaces.
Like I said, what do I know, just trying to put a bx guy perspective on it. I know standing AMR2UL did not give me as much understanding of ER watches as I got once I went on the board as RO would think the oppsite was true as well.
Rob
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Rob makes good points, and there is some advantage in "box time" when preparing to license on a commercial nuke. But the original question was for transitioning to the commercial world; few transition from box to control room.
So the answer still stands that the box does not prepare for AUO as well as ER / AMR watches. The "big picture" aspect highlights are not emphasized in most AUO programs.