Please describe what reactor operator traing is like for the first 9months to a year. Is it hard? Do people drop out? Thanks
http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/operator-licensing.html
About 3 months of GFES.
About 6 months of systems.
Yes it is hard. Yes people get dropped or drop out.
Justin
Quote from: TheHiggs on Oct 11, 2011, 02:41
About 3 months of GFES.
What is a GFES? Is it hard? How many do I have to get right on it? Should I guess on some of the questions?
From what I've read of your posts you don't qualify. Resume (re: education & experience) or physically (re: pacemaker; I don't think you can hold a medical or any company will take the risk of your condition). And, YES it's 10 to the 10th harder than you can imagine (i.e. "traing", sic). ;@)
What is Reactor Operator TRAING? -K
Quote from: HydroDave63 on Oct 11, 2011, 03:40
What is a GFES? Is it hard? How many do I have to get right on it? Should I guess on some of the questions?
Generic Fundamentals Exam given by the NRC.
Quote from: HydroDave63 on Oct 11, 2011, 03:40
What is a GFES? Is it hard? How many do I have to get right on it? Should I guess on some of the questions?
Quote from: Contract SRO on Oct 11, 2011, 03:47
Generic Fundamentals Exam given by the NRC.
Did that make a nice 'WHOOSH' noise as it flew by without you catching it?
Quote from: HydroDave63 on Oct 11, 2011, 03:40
What is a GFES? Is it hard? How many do I have to get right on it? Should I guess on some of the questions?
-5 for forgetting to ask if there was a study guide on line for free that had the actual questions on it.
Quote from: RDTroja on Oct 11, 2011, 04:04
Did that make a nice 'WHOOSH' noise as it flew by without you catching it?
Some days are just like that.....Sorry
My head is physically deconstructing
Quote from: Broadzilla on Oct 11, 2011, 04:56
My head is physically deconstructing
I thnk that is called Bremsstralung 8)
Quote from: HydroDave63 on Oct 11, 2011, 05:51
I thnk that is called Bremsstralung 8)
What is Bremsstralung? Is it hard? How long does it take? Do lots of people drop out? Without knowing anything about my background what are my chances of passing? Tomorrow i have a chance to get a free heat transplant or a job interview, which should I take? Do you have to pass the POSS to get into Bremsstralung, I heard the POSS is hard. I took it and finished 4 questions in each section, 3 of which I guessed, do you think I passed?
To be clear ($1 to Justin), even with a background (or a previous license on like equipment) in commercial nuclear power (i.e. Non-Licensed Operator at that particular plant) it is not an easy task to get your RO License. Though their chances of success should be high. A good number fail to get a license. Also, you would have to qualify for an initial license class. In addition you have to pass on going medical requirements. You continue to have a tough time understanding this industry without actually performing some work at one (i.e. a nuclear plant) in a less lofty position first. You don't have a track record to point to in industrial energy production. So, you will have to start at the bottom. Look for facility jobs & get badged first. Establish a past in the industry & bid on promotions. Peace ($1 to Marssim .. ;) )
Quote from: Broadzilla on Oct 11, 2011, 06:03
What is Bremsstralung? Is it hard? How long does it take? Do lots of people drop out? Without knowing anything about my background what are my chances of passing? Tomorrow i have a chance to get a free heat transplant or a job interview, which should I take? Do you have to pass the POSS to get into Bremsstralung, I heard the POSS is hard. I took it and finished 4 questions in each section, 3 of which I guessed, do you think I passed?
Sounds like your head is "braking" over this test. I can assure you that it is a very hard exam. The dreaded Cherenkov exam from the MRO is what you need to worry about. I saw plenty of it today while unloading the core.
thanks for the positve comments...you guys are the best!
sounds like you guys got alot of hugs as a children
fyi...i already told the hr lady about my pacemaker...she said it shouldnt be an issue.....i was just curious if thats really the case...she said at worse, i would need a doctors letter stating i am in good health...which i am
plus...im just taking the test to take it again next year when i really want a job to get in electrical maintenance......long story short...its complicated why and what i am doing
No we all are successful in a very demanding world and know the worst thing to do is coddle children.
And to be clear I wasn't making fun of your pacemaker, that would be extremely low and classless and I am neither. I was expanding on what another NUB posted.
(http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/technology/sarcasm.jpg)
Quote from: weatherby460 on Oct 11, 2011, 07:32
plus...im just taking the test to take it again next year when i really want a job to get in electrical maintenance......long story short...its complicated why and what i am doing
very relevant to reactor operator training...
1. ) Hard
2.) Yes
3.) Yes
Let's assume you're past GFES, which some plants count as part of License Class, and some do not. Counting it not, Systems is the first part of Reactor Operator License Class, which will have not only Reactor Operators, but also Senior Reactor Operators. Yes, they are in the same classroom, and take the same exams. (Until the very end)
Our last class had exams every other week, while the class before had exams every week. 80% was a minimal passing score, but anything below an 85%, or two standard deviations out from the pack, and you were in a remedial program. There's a lot of classtime, not so much self study time. A lot of classes run right next to each other.. So, you may have 4 hours of Power Block AC, followed after lunch by 4 hours of Reactor Coolant System. When do you study for exams, you may be wondering? You might think that you'll just pick up what you need to know while sitting in class, and indeed, there are occasional individuals who do learn that way. But the other 95% of us spent nights and weekends reading through lesson plans, the USAR, tech specs, system drawings and prints, and taking field trips to the plant to walk things down. There is occasional time when you'll visit the simulator, so you can see how things work on the boards, and start to become accustomed to component locations on the boards. Systems at my plant runs about 13 weeks. There is a final at the end.
Students rarely quit license class.. but they do leave. You get to the end of systems with your 81% average, and it might be time to cull you from the herd, depending upon site needs.
After systems, normal ops, which is a 3 or 4 week period where you learn more about... Normal ops. Lots of control board time in the simulator, running GENs to take the plant up and down, and this culminates with a reward of performing a simulated startup, from pulling rods to power reaching the power range. This is a graded exercise, and counts as a reactivity manipulation, of which you'll need about 5 on your qual card. Once you get through normal ops, the class might split into two sections. One will remain in class, while the other joins a crew on shift with their new qual card. Stand watches, take logs, get check outs, perform evolutions, and learn about what happens in the plant. The other half of the class will remain in the classroom, and begin Off Normal Procedures (name may vary). Because requal owns the simulator during the day, guess when you get to practice? Right! From 4-8, or 8-12, or even 12-4 AM. So, during this period, you'll sit through several hours of lecture, then head to the simulator to reinforce the lessons learned. After a month or so, you'll switch, head to the plant, and the other group will come back for classroom/Sim phase. You can kill the first year getting through Systems, Normal Ops, and Abnormal Ops. You may have an outage in there.. We stopped class and participated in the outage my class.. Last class, we taught straight through the outage. (Less $$$)
Along the way, there may be oral boards, mini audits, simulator evaluations, and lots and lots of tests. You'll learn to hate those tests, as they can be pretty stressful.
We had an analogy for how difficult it was in systems, how much info,and how fast its presented. Imagine you're driving through a town. You go on the main street past 15 side streets, and then, once on the other side of town, I ask you... 3rd street, 5th house from the corner, left side.. What was the house number? It's difficult, somefolks who have never failed at anything they've tried don't make it through.
Hope that gives you a flavor of a year of class.
Cool sign me up
Wait I do not want to sit at a panel again... Ill just sit at my desk 8)
I've never been through license class.. but at my plant they just finished up a mixed class of RO's and SRO's. The class began with 14 students, and they spit out 6 licensed individuals on the other side (just to give you an idea of the difficulty). From what I've heard.. the biggest hang-ups are the tech-spec and I&C modules.
im in NLO training and im about to fail out only 2 months into it!! its very hard!!
Quote from: ski2313 on Oct 12, 2011, 03:58
I've never been through license class.. but at my plant they just finished up a mixed class of RO's and SRO's. The class began with 14 students, and they spit out 6 licensed individuals on the other side (just to give you an idea of the difficulty). From what I've heard.. the biggest hang-ups are the tech-spec and I&C modules.
Quote from: hungryg on Oct 19, 2011, 05:18
im in NLO training and im about to fail out only 2 months into it!! its very hard!!
Thermal non-leakage probability approaching equilibrium?
something like that
Quote from: hungryg on Oct 19, 2011, 05:18
im in NLO training and im about to fail out only 2 months into it!! its very hard!!
Sorry to hear that. What is your background, if I may ask?
Justin
All work and no play makes Paulie a dull boy.....
How the HECK does one fail out of NLO training in two months??
Wow, 2 months? Seriously?
I bet'cha it was an unofficial GFES program. Some of the utilities are using their GFES training for fund'ies. They (students) don't take the actual GFES exam but a put together (by their company training center) GFES test from past exams. I can think of two utilities that do this in their NLO/SO/AUO programs. And, of course its the first two to three months of non-licensed training. YMWV ... I am just spit-ball-in here.
Oh yeah good call. I remember talking to someone in NLO training that had to study the same GFES bank that license candidates study.
Quote from: Broadzilla on Oct 20, 2011, 10:41
How the HECK does one fail out of NLO training in two months??
we had 3 fail out at RBS within 2 months. Purely academic, and they were there for hours a day studying, came in on weekends. They just didnt "have it" upstairs.
I blame the parents...that is, the utility. Start raising the minimum POSS score for interview and quit worrying about quotas, fail rate should come down. >:(
[/1MC]
Quote from: HydroDave63 on Oct 21, 2011, 07:56
I blame the parents...that is, the utility. Start raising the minimum POSS score for interview and quit worrying about quotas, fail rate should come down. >:(
[/1MC]
but then hiring rate would come down :p
6 of one, half dozen of the other if you ask me... except one way is much cheaper.... ;)
Ok that was taken somewhat incorrectly. While I do find it hard to believe someone can fail out in 2 months it bothers me that from what I can see no one has done a analysis as to why. Face it, a lot of time and money was invested in the person up to this point. What can be done to recover them as that is the only way to recover your investment.
A story. When I was at Fermi a bunch of licensed operators, including myself, campaigned to get responsible nuclear experience to be defined to allow our Fire Ops guys and Deconners to be allowed to bid the job of NLO. Our reasons were simple, while that might not have the huge technical resume of a Navy guy they all knew how to read RWPS, understood our standards for procedure use, they could use commercial procedures, they knew how to get things done and from a practical aspect they'd be light years ahead of the Navy guys. Plus we all knew they were damn hard workers. I couldn't see why we were cutting out people who in many cases were ou go to guys. It seemed insane to me and others that many of the deconners, who helped me move nearly 1.5 million gallons of lake water out of the plant WITHOUT a radwaste system could not be qualified to be NLOs. One of the best SMs I ever worked with, a guy named Kevin bit the bullet and made or definition match our needs. At the time Fermi was not giving the POSS due to a lawsuit. And face it, if a guy worked hard for you at 11 dollars an hour just think at what he'll do for 35 dollars an hour.
I believe we hired something like 12 deconners and fire ops guys along with a few Navy nukes. Navy nukes make excellent teachers.
So within 8 weeks we thought we made a mistake. The non traditional candidates were miring in a quagmire of failed scores and the Navy guys were passing but barely. There was some thought of just sending . The non traditional guys back to their old jobs. I was working over at training on a temporary assignment at the time so I asked if I and an industrial technologist could interview everyone and see if we could figure it out. We talked to the Navy nukes
and being Navy Nukes they were spending an inordinate amount of time helping their new buds. We asked with what? The answers were algebra and basic chemistry. Now we had a starting point.
Then we started reviewing the records of the non traditional candidates. Many hadn't had a math or science course in 18 to 20 years and we all know those are topics that are difficult to dust off in your 30s and 40s. After interviewing them and convincing them we were trying to save their jobs we found out that was exactly the problem. The solution was to let the Navy guys go to the plant for about 6 to 8 weeks while we did a slower theory basics course tailor made to the guys that stayed in class. Grades improved, we then integrated the Navy guys back int the class for the more advanced topics and everyone passed.
The Fire Ops and deconners were among the best operators we had at that facility when I left. I had 4 on my shift and they were literally studs and I had an uncommonly good group of NLOs (something I have been blessed with on every shift that I have had the privilege of running)
See my point though? I hate seeing what seems to be giving up on a person when in fact with some analysis most can be saved.
Mike,
An RP Tech or two swapped also.
LM
sorry about the delayed response, been busy studying. after 2 months i failed two tests in a row, each by one question. So instead of actually studying for one test, i end up studying for 2(my remidiation exam plus the next exam). It isnt that I dont know the info, I just dont test well. My backround is as an electrician for the past ten years. I have worked in a few different power houses as a contractor. My last test I passed. I just need to get my avg above 80%. im in the high 70's right now. The tests are on power plant fundamentals. The exams are based on GFE's and are worded like them. Needless to say, they are tricky. The good news is that I, along with the other 9 NLO's, are getting the gist of things. We have two ex navy guys so we ask them questions that the instructors weren't exactly able to make clear. Im going to get through this training and i will be an RO one day.
Uh GFES isn't exactly worded in a tricky fashion. I have taken every GFES given since 2005 or so.
Quote from: Broadzilla on Nov 05, 2011, 10:43
Uh GFES isn't exactly worded in a tricky fashion. I have taken every GFES given since 2005 or so.
I agree with Mike. It is worded to try and ensure you actually understand the material.
Quote from: jams723 on Nov 05, 2011, 02:11
I agree with Mike. It is worded to try and ensure you actually understand the material.
Not to mention the fact that they make the bank available. If nothing else, read it a few times and pick up the patterns.
Quote from: Creeker on Oct 12, 2011, 01:08
We had an analogy for how difficult it was in systems, how much info,and how fast its presented. Imagine you're driving through a town. You go on the main street past 15 side streets, and then, once on the other side of town, I ask you... 3rd street, 5th house from the corner, left side.. What was the house number? It's difficult, somefolks who have never failed at anything they've tried don't make it through.
Hope that gives you a flavor of a year of class.
I am in quals as a Aux. systems operator at Knolls labs, was a carpenter for 21 years, had about 4 years off and on in nuclear plants, during refuel outages as a carpenter, They would like me to qualify in 6 months although the avg. here is about 8 months, I am 3 months into it, they do not really teach here, rather its about 90% self study and the rest is "run time" and check outs. I am told thats how the Navy does it. Most frustrating thing is that the 35 year old system manuals frequently are incorrect, either the system never worked as designed or was revised, and i am expected to learn the book as well as the system, both right and wrong info. I hear things will get better in a month or so when i start to take watches and get hands on exp. I wonder if its easier for a young kid to learn new matereal than an older guy with a wife , kids, mortgage, etc goin on. This is a great opportunity I have been given, some days i do not feel as smart as I thought I was.