Nuclear Power School

Summary of NAVY NF Schools

Emily intends to get through Navy Boot Camp around the beginning of 2010. She has joined the Navy with the intent of becoming a Nuclear Field (NF) Machinist Mate. Here is a short rundown of the schooling she gets in the first year and a half in the Navy.

When she makes it through Boot Camp, Emily will then be ordered to her A-School. After A-School, she will be assigned to Nuclear Power School. Finally, she will be assigned to the Nuclear Power Training Unit.

This post looks at the three enlisted NF schools on her horizon. I interspersed the school descriptions (which I re-wrote for clarity and brevity) with some unedited testimony from "ex-Navy nuc" who posted about his experience on the Internet.

Machinist Mate Nuclear Field A-School
Charleston, SC
(3 months)

This course provides basic knowledge of technical mathematics and a basic understanding of the theory and operation of a steam power plant. Students learn to operate tools, test equipment, and system components; read blueprints; practice rigging techniques; and perform maintenance procedures such as packing a valve or aligning a pump coupling.

Nuke Power School School
Charleston, SC
6 months

This school teaches sailors about a pressurized-water Naval nuclear power plants. Students will learn such exotic technologies as (1) reactor core nuclear principles, (2) thermodynamics, i.e., heat transfer and fluid systems, (3) plant chemistry, and (4) materials, mechanical and electrical systems, and radiological controls. Cool and weird stuff.

TESTIMONY

Ex-Navy Nuc here.

Reactor Operator, no less.
It's a mentally TOUGH program. Nuc Power School in one of the toughest technical schooling programs in the nation, getting mentioned in the same breath with Cal Tech and MIT (though not QUITE as hard as those two!). If your son [daughter] is serious about it, the program will teach him [her] study habits that [s]he never had before, and will not only fill his [her] head with knowledge that has application over a lifetime, but will teach him [her] things about his [her] own ability to achieve.

The program has a HIGH washout rate, but even washouts tend to excel in other programs, and in life.

Essentially, take a BS degree in nuclear physics, add in secondary majors in Electronics, Electricity, and Hydro-Mechanical systems, strip out all the 'soft' sciences and humanities stuff, and cram it into six months. That's school-phase.

Nuclear Power Training Unit
Ballson Spa, NY or Charleston, SC
6 months

This course amounts to a laboratory where students put to practical use the theoretical knowledge they have gained in the first two schools. Students are assigned duties in simulators. An instructor inputs failures, events, and emergencies that require the students to react under pressure. Naturally, the laboratories teach the sailors oral communications skills.

The Nuclear Power Training Unit teaches sailors unique knowledge of how to safely operate a complex Naval nuclear power plant. They learn about practical dangers of nuclear radiation, and how exposure to radiation hurts human beings and organic matter. NF sailors in training work with NF Officers in training. Everyone learns command and communication skills so when they hit the fleet these NF navy personnel can efficiently operate a nuclear watch team in case of a crisis. Enlisted students have to learn to deal with uptight Officers under the watchful eye of the Chief.

After successful completion of the Power Training Unit, selected MM graduates are given additional training as Engineering Laboratory Technicians or Propulsion Plant Operator Welders. Emily is hoping she is assigned for training as the latter.

TESTIMONY

Ex-Navy Nuc here.

Now take all that theoretical knowledge, and put it to the test in a REAL reactor, under the watchful eyes of instructors. That's Prototype-phase.

Not everyone that can hack the school can hack the prototype. Some people simply cannot convert theory to practice, which is why there are two sections to the schooling. I watched the #2 guy in my class (8501) rock-out (fail) of prototype because he couldn’t absorb the material from the technical manuals, and wound up falsifying his point count to avoid remediation. Bad idea! On the other hand, I watched the class anchor (lowest academic scores in school) do quite handily in prototype - not a genius level performance, but quite creditable.

So - Six months or so of school, six months or so of prototype, and if he makes it, it's off to the fleet, where he'll have to learn a whole new reactor design all over, but he'll have the basic know-how, will have done it once before, and will have both longer, and more help in getting qualified.

TESTIMONY about Nucs in the Fleet

Ex-Navy Nuc here.

Nucs work hard and long - we're the first to arrive before sailing, and the last to leave, after hitting port, but it's a prestigious job, one that gets premium enlistment and reenlistment bonuses, and get specialty pay as well.

Nucs have a very high divorce rate - the job is long ,hard, and stressful, above and beyond most jobs in the Nav. Best advice for any young Nuc is "wait - get married AFTER you make 1st Class." Advancement is fast - Nucs are smart, and kick butt on their tests, and they're technically oriented, so do well elsewhere in their duties, typically getting pretty good Evals.

After the Nav, the mental attitudes and skills I learned have landed me a VERY good job doing something almost completely unrelated to nuclear power. The study skills, troubleshooting skills, and willingness to simple buckle down and get the job done are extremely valuable to my employer, and keep a roof over my family's head quite handily.

I loved every second of the job, even when I was cursing it with a fine rage. I miss it, and would go back in a second, if I weren't old, out of shape, and with a family.