Post: #1

So I heard recently on a news website, that nuclear operators are payed anywhere from around 79,000$ toward up to 180,000$, you only need a highschool degree and the rest can be taken care of through extensive training or some classes without any college requirement. Does anyone have any experience or perquisite knowledge about this sort of job?

Post: #2

you mean cleaning up nuclear messes in Japan?

Post: #3

(12-20-2012 08:38 PM)Sebastian Wrote:  you mean cleaning up nuclear messes in Japan?

No working in a nuclear operating room with all the numbers, boards, walls with little screens with numbers, letters etc etc etc not actually doing the exact hard work but just making sure everything is going properly on the sideline.

Post: #4

(12-20-2012 08:43 PM)HollowEarth Wrote:  

(12-20-2012 08:38 PM)Sebastian Wrote:  you mean cleaning up nuclear messes in Japan?

No working in a nuclear operating room with all the numbers, boards, walls with little screens with numbers, letters etc etc etc not actually doing the exact hard work but just making sure everything is going properly on the sideline.

You know. Like Homer Simpson.

Post: #5

A friend did Nuclear Ops for awhile. One day some shit went down with the reactor, and he got trapped while trying to get some readings. Before they could get him out he gained like 800 lbs, turned green, started screaming, and busted through the wall. No one has ever seen him since.

Post: #6

I can tell you about 30 ways to make equivalent money doing non hazardess (to your health) jobs. Don't be an idiot.

Post: #7

(12-20-2012 09:03 PM)presidentcarter Wrote:  I can tell you about 30 ways to make equivalent money doing non hazardess (to your health) jobs. Don't be an idiot.

Data sheets or GTFO

Post: #8

Plants in the USA are old and dodgy. If this was in Europe or Asia with newer tech or better safety measures then why not. Taking this type of job accidents are rare but DO happen. Once every 5-10 years some shit will go on that internally will put everybody on high alert if you accept that then look into it. But I would not even think about it stateside. Every Plant in America is coming to the end of their recommended life cycle in the next 25 years and Govt has no plan to take care of it.

Post: #9

(12-20-2012 08:56 PM)Aliblahba Wrote:  A friend did Nuclear Ops for awhile. One day some shit went down with the reactor, and he got trapped while trying to get some readings. Before they could get him out he gained like 800 lbs, turned green, started screaming, and busted through the wall. No one has ever seen him since.

Thats incredible

Post: #10

I've never worked in a nuclear power plant but I am registered with the Canadian government as a "Nuclear Energy Worker" because I am often exposed to radiation at work and have to wear a dosimeter and a TLD badge, which my company sends to the government every two weeks to monitor the amount of radiation my body absorbs. I work with Iridium-192 and Cobalt-60, both as encapsulated radioactive isotopes, I also sometimes work with industrial X-ray tubes, at work I usually absorb between 0.15-0.3 Msv of radiation per week.

Although radiation can be very dangerous, it can be safe and rules and regulations that are in place for worker safety ensure that you won't be exposed to amounts that will be outside of safe limits. Its like any other job, especially in the energy sector, you can get hurt but if you follow the safety rules, you should be okay.

Radiation is all around us everyday, we are constantly absorbing it, if you fly across the USA you absorb about the equivalent of a chest x-ray. Some cities have very high levels of naturally occurring radiations, there's a city in Iran where the residents absorb 260 mSv each year just by living there, I can only absorb up to 50 mSv at work in a year. (http://www.probeinternational.org/Ramsar.pdf)

Here's some more info on radiation: http://www.nrc.gov/about-nrc/radiation/r...o/faq.html

Its not as scary as some people make it out to be, do some more research and if you're comfortable with it and have a job offer, I say go for it.

Post: #11

(12-20-2012 11:06 PM)Cr33pin Wrote:  

(12-20-2012 08:56 PM)Aliblahba Wrote:  A friend did Nuclear Ops for awhile...

Thats incredible

Yeah, sounds like he was really having a banner year.

Listen to Scotian, though; nuke stuff is feared way beyond its actual danger. Yes, if something goes really wrong, it's horrific. But there's so much monitoring and safety measures that driving to work is much more hazardous.

The public terror of nuclear energy is one reason for the energy crisis; agreed that America's nuke infrastructure is aging, but making new reactors is politically difficult, and it's a pity because modern reactor design (pebble bed, thorium salt) is really very safe indeed.

Post: #12

(12-21-2012 02:52 AM)Stitch Wrote:  

(12-20-2012 11:06 PM)Cr33pin Wrote:  

(12-20-2012 08:56 PM)Aliblahba Wrote:  A friend did Nuclear Ops for awhile...

Thats incredible

Yeah, sounds like he was really having a banner year.

Since then I guess he would have just been having an incredible sulk...

Post: #13

(12-21-2012 02:52 AM)Stitch Wrote:  

(12-20-2012 11:06 PM)Cr33pin Wrote:  

(12-20-2012 08:56 PM)Aliblahba Wrote:  A friend did Nuclear Ops for awhile...

Thats incredible

Yeah, sounds like he was really having a banner year.

Listen to Scotian, though; nuke stuff is feared way beyond its actual danger. Yes, if something goes really wrong, it's horrific. But there's so much monitoring and safety measures that driving to work is much more hazardous.

The public terror of nuclear energy is one reason for the energy crisis; agreed that America's nuke infrastructure is aging, but making new reactors is politically difficult, and it's a pity because modern reactor design (pebble bed, thorium salt) is really very safe indeed.

The new tech is safe and top notch. I agree if a more open and rational discussion could be had on nuclear energy it would solve a lot of issues. It's the fear and obscene barriers that have made then impractical to build in the USA. This barriers have also made the remediation of older plants obscene in costs as well, just like with infrastructure like roads it's all patchwork like Shiite tar-fill to keep things going until it completely gives out and obscene costs are used to replace it. A funded long term program put in place in the 80s would of been able to fund the projects we need 10 years from now.
Imagine all the jobs it would create too!

Post: #14

Met a guy who does this in Florida last year. Said they pay him $120,000 to sit in the control room and make sure the warning lights don't flash on. He did have a college degree in engineering, but was definitely not a scientist. Said he watched a lot of Netflix.

Post: #15

Scotian, have you heard of hormesis? It's the theory that exposure to certain amounts of radiation actually prevents cancer. If you listen to the MSM any radiation is bad and you're going to grow a third arm but scientists have studied people living on the outskirts of chernobyl and places like that and they are surprisingly cancer free.

Post: #16

(12-21-2012 09:40 PM)Fisto Wrote:  Scotian, have you heard of hormesis? It's the theory that exposure to certain amounts of radiation actually prevents cancer. If you listen to the MSM any radiation is bad and you're going to grow a third arm but scientists have studied people living on the outskirts of chernobyl and places like that and they are surprisingly cancer free.

Yes I've heard tell of that, Anne Coulter caught some heat when suggested the same after the Japanese nuclear incident.

I'm no nuclear expert, I just have to know about radiation safety for my job but I think that nuclear energy gets a pretty bad rep even though it is a relatively safe (if not built in earth quake zones) and clean energy option. France gets something like 75% of its electrical energy from nuke plants, while the USA produces mostly from fossil fuels, primarily coal.

Post: #17

How many jobs like that are available? I am sure he just made it look easy in getting his job to brag about it.

I know a guy who does a similar thing. he monitors a server. If something pops up, he fixes it. Most of the time, he is just sitting and watching netflix. The pay is half of that guys amount but there are tons of job like that. [/i]

(12-21-2012 09:41 AM)Wool Suit Wrote:  Met a guy who does this in Florida last year. Said they pay him $120,000 to sit in the control room and make sure the warning lights don't flash on. He did have a college degree in engineering, but was definitely not a scientist. Said he watched a lot of Netflix.

Post: #18

There are only a few nuclear training programs in the U.S. Many of the nuclear professionals in the U.S. come from the U.S. Navy (they have arguably the best Nuclear Power School in the U.S.).

Post: #19

(12-22-2012 08:37 AM)Smitty Wrote:  There are only a few nuclear training programs in the U.S. Many of the nuclear professionals in the U.S. come from the U.S. Navy (they have arguably the best Nuclear Power School in the U.S.).

I've worked with 3 nuke mech's from the Navy. They were on a whole different level. None of them had any desire to enter the field outside the military. They said the civilian sector allowed for 10x the radiation exposure than the military did.

Basically those guys would have immediately been sent in to clean, until reaching certain exposure limits, then pulled out to do something else. "Radiation sponges" as they called it. Something to think about.

Post: #20

Okay, this is my first post, but I have a mad amount of perspective on the issue. I've been a LANtech on a nuclear boat (688) for the last 4 years, and while I'm not a nuke (I failed out of nuke school), I'm really good friends with some of them.

You've got a couple options:

One: You need an asswhack of experience as a navy nuke who is qualified two or more of the following: EDPO/RO/EO/EWS/ERS, of which EDPO/EWS/ERS all mean you've been in the navy at least 4-5 years, if not MUCH longer. Note, these are all enlisted-side qualifications, and hearing from the friends I have that got out, translate to 80-90k a year starting off, working shift-work (12+ hour days), and can go as high as 200k once you have experience and the requisite civilian-equivalent qualifications.

Two: Go to school for whatever you feel like engineering-wise, and enter the officer nuclear pipeline, which is roughly the same story except you start off management-side with accordingly higher pay. I'm telling you right now, this SUCKS. Job satisfaction among 75% of these guys is below zero, with 6 month deployments, getting hazed like crazy by the senior officers, and 18 hour days even when you're in port. Don't do it. Just don't.

Three: Go to school for nuclear engineering or something similar and hope you get a job in the industry, which is competitive as shit because of the aforementioned navy guys flooding the market.

I can provide waaaaaay more info on demand, but it's pointless. This is not the route to go if you like your free time and living an international playboy lifestyle.