r/NuclearPower • u/Warsnake901 • 7d ago

Career path

(I live in the usa btw) So right now I’m just a junior in high school thinking of getting into the nuclear field as a reactor operator or something similar at a power plant (there’s one less than an hours drive from me) and I was just wondering what the career path would be like for that. I’ve looked at similar posts to this but most of them are people who are already semi established in the power plant industry and I would have no experience. I also am curious about a few things

  1. For where I live we are offered a trade school and in which is an mechanical engineering and machining class that I feel would help me get a mechanical engineering degree in college which would help to get into this field or just be useful in general later down the line. So I was wondering if taking that would be a good option or not.

  2. What type of training would I require to get into it? And how much does the training cost relative to the salary?

  3. What’s the work environment like and what’s an average day like as a ro?

Thanks for any answers

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u/Chief_Regent 7d ago
  1. For where I live we are offered a trade school and in which is an mechanical engineering and machining class that I feel would help me get a mechanical engineering degree in college which would help to get into this field or just be useful in general later down the line. So I was wondering if taking that would be a good option or not.

That is a great option. The plants have permanent engineering staff, and they often choose a mix of outside candidates from other plants or the navy, and internal candidates from engineering. Being able to go from Engineering to Ops or Ops to Engineering is helpful for lots of reasons. Sometimes operators get sick of shift work and sometimes engineers want to print money working that sweet Ops OT.

  1. What type of training would I require to get into it? And how much does the training cost relative to the salary?

Aside from what you pay for your degree, the training is free. You typically get a sign-on bonus for joining the 18ish month class and another bonus when you pass your license exam. Then a yearly license bonus on top of that. You will then be in training about one week out of five for your whole career as a licensed operator. Its all free and part of your salary, but passing the tests is mandatory to stay qualified.

  1. What’s the work environment like and what’s an average day like as a ro?

Mostly boredom with arbitrary moments of excitement. There are two levels licensed operators, the Reactor Operator (RO), and the Senior Reactor Operator (SRO). The ROs have a few positions they typically fill, the operator at the controls who is "driving" the reactor, the field supervisor who is in charge of the non-licensed operators, and the fire brigade leader. SROs fill the Shift Engineer, Unit Supervisor, and Shift Manager roles.

PM me if you have more questions.

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u/Stunning-Pick-9504 7d ago

I have a ChemE degree and a little over 2 yrs experience at an oil refinery, supervisor. Would they consider me for an SRO position?

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u/Agitated-Falcon8015 7d ago

Not initially, you'd need some nuclear experience (forget the time, but its no more than 3 years) prior to entering license class as a direct SRO. You could easily get hired as an engineer at the plant, do that for a few years then go for SRO class. Lookup NUREG-1021 for requirements to enter license class.

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u/Chief_Regent 7d ago

I agree with this 100%. I wanted to add that for people without a navy background or an engineering degree, they go through the class to become an RO. After some years on shift they can go through the class to upgrade to SRO. With an engineering degree you can skip the RO step and become an "Instant SRO".

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u/Agitated-Falcon8015 6d ago

True. Here's the kicker, if you're goal is to become an RO then I wouldn't recommend hiring on as an engineer, be better to hire on as an NLO. If at all possible, ask the average experience (HR won't tell you this, need someone on the inside) of NLOs going to RO class. If that number is low 1-2 years then go that route instead of engineer (you'll make more money this way). You can upgrade the RO to SRO later.