The small Nuclear world

[Dran]

I currently work at Pilgrim Station in Plymouth, MA, which as other members in the business may know, is closing next year. I was unsure of what the future held for me, but today I received an official offer to join the ranks at Arkansas Nuclear One in Russleville, AR. No official start date, but it will be after my current plant closes in June. Seems theres quite a few Nukies on here, so maybe one is from that area! Good news for me, will be celebrating tonight for sure!

 

[marshall9779]

Congrats man. I’m a former Navy Nuke and had some commercial experience working for Areva. Thought an old coworker might be working at Arkansas 1 as well but doesn’t look like it. Good luck.


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[Lunchbox]

Congrats! Always great to land on your feet. I have a coworker who spent two years working in a college town in AR and he said it was a lot of fun, good people, and a real sense of freedom. I hear there’s a ton of great shit to do outdoors, too.

 

[BloodWood]

Good for you @Dran, and congratulations!

 

[Jim D]

I'm glad you've got it worked out. The industry as a whole seems to be challenged by cheap natural gas prices. I hope ANO has many years of service ahead!

 

[Tennessee Dave]

Congrats. I've have enjoyed a 42 year career (retired twice but active now) in commercial Nuclear Power with Commonwealth Edison(retired after 22 years), Florida Power and Light (retired after 7 years) and now TVA (still active after 13 years). It's been a very rewarding career. I've been on an INPO accreditation team to evaluate ANO. I remember Russellville, Arkansas well. I remember that the only place one could get a drink was at the Holiday Inn and you had to purchase a lifetime club membership to the bar. Membership dues were $2. Good luck on your new position. My career is coming to an end now but I can say without hesitation that Nuclear has been very good to me.

 

[Dran]

I'm glad you've got it worked out. The industry as a whole seems to be challenged by cheap natural gas prices. I hope ANO has many years of service ahead!

Very true! Everyone is pro earth, yet they support politicians who give fossil fuels tax cuts and government incentives.... Why hasn't nuclear invested in lobbyists?

 

[Jim D]

Very true! Everyone is pro earth, yet they support politicians who give fossil fuels tax cuts and government incentives.... Why hasn't nuclear invested in lobbyists?

Great question. Everyone wants reliable cheap power, then mandate solar and wind power giving them huge credits. It would make sense to me that the credit would be based on capacity factor and emissions. Less emissions with higher megawatts on the grid, better credit.
But what do I know....

 

[Dran]

Congrats. I've have enjoyed a 42 year career (retired twice but active now) in commercial Nuclear Power with Commonwealth Edison(retired after 22 years), Florida Power and Light (retired after 7 years) and now TVA (still active after 13 years). It's been a very rewarding career. I've been on an INPO accreditation team to evaluate ANO. I remember Russellville, Arkansas well. I remember that the only place one could get a drink was at the Holiday Inn and you had to purchase a lifetime club membership to the bar. Membership dues were $2. Good luck on your new position. My career is coming to an end now but I can say without hesitation that Nuclear has been very good to me.

TVA is/was on my radar, but going with ANO, I'm able to stay with Entergy, so the last 3 years matter for more than just experience! Although, their security is in the same international as ours, and i was able to talk to a few guys from there, the benefits seem off the charts...

 

[Dran]

Great question. Everyone wants reliable cheap power, then mandate solar and wind power giving them huge credits. It would make sense to me that the credit would be based on capacity factor and emissions. Less emissions with higher megawatts on the grid, better credit.
But what do I know....

Our state political team was bragging about all the solar/wind that they have added to the grid over the last 20 years, and that electrical customers won't even notice a difference when they flip the switch at Pilgrim, then, seeking both sodes of the story like I always do.... Found an independent article, stating that all the green energy the region has added over the last 20 years equates to about 5-10% of what we crank out... And that's only on a cloudless, breezy day... When does that happen in Massachusetts?

 

[Tennessee Dave]

Very true! Everyone is pro earth, yet they support politicians who give fossil fuels tax cuts and government incentives.... Why hasn't nuclear invested in lobbyists?[/QUOTE]

I've been in the business since the early 70's if you count my Navy Nuclear time. I can tell you that the reason for such poor representation by lobbyists is due to the arrogance of the nuclear industry when it first started commercially. The general assumption was that John Q. Public was not capable of understanding the technology at the time so little to no effort went into educating the public about peaceful use of nuclear energy. Remember this was just a few years after the Cuban missile crisis and we were still in a Cold War with the old Soviet Union. People associated Nuclear energy with bombs and radiation. It didn't help any when the Three Mile Island event happened and the utility spokesman lied to the public on national TV about what the situation was at the plant. A few years later Chernobyl happens with all that went with it. Lies by the Russian government and less than informed reports by the media led to more distrust of the industry. Nuclear energy is safer today than it has ever been. Just remember that more people died in Ted Kennedy's car than have ever died from a commercial nuclear accident in a USA nuclear plant.