Job Responsibilities
Major job responsibilities as an engineer within Nuclear Safety
Analysis include the following, with the approximate amount of
time for each activity varying depending on the time of year and
emergent issues:
*Performance of system transient analysis and accident analysis
to support nuclear unit operation
*Performance of core thermal hydraulic analysis
*Preparation of the Reload Safety Analysis Checklist and Reload
Safety Evaluation for each reload core
*Performance of Loss-of-Coolant Accident Analyses
*Development of safety analysis models and calculational
techniques
*Development of containment and subcompartment analytical methods
and calculational support as required
*Development and implementation of the reactor vessel capsule
surveillance program as required to support nuclear unit
operation
*Development and implementation of the Reactor Power Calorimetric
Program for each site-unit
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Job Requirements
A 4-year, undergraduate degree is required. Nuclear engineering
is preferred, but mechanical engineers are also eligible. Because
nuclear engineering programs are generally very small, there is
never a problem getting into a class you want. In addition, our
interaction with our professors in college was very close. With
anywhere for 4 to 20 students per year in the major at a college
with over 50,000 students total, we obviously are at an advantage
with regards to having personal interaction with faculty. The
grading is fair, and the workload is heavy. Though I loved my
classmates, I was never happier than when I took my last 3 hour
final.
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Uppers
The uppers for being a nuclear safety analysis engineer are that the work is
interesting, dynamic, and important. Things are constantly changing, and there is
always something new to learn. In addition, you are partially responsible for
ensuring the safe operation of the reactors. I can't speak for nuclear engineers,
in general, though, as most utilities do not retain inhouse safety analysis
capability; rather, they have their fuel vendors perform the analysis.
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Downers
The worst parts are the downtime, the time spent at the plants,
and the paperwork. Sometimes as an entry-level engineer, the
workload is low and there isn't much to do. Also, going to the
plants is not fun at all, in my opinion. They're boring and
impersonal, but my opinion may be in the minority. Luckily, trips
to the plants are rare for us. The worst part, by far, is the
paperwork. The running of the codes and the analysis doesn't
bother me, but having to craft reports complete with tables of
contents, references, and countless pages of typing does suck
quite a bit. It's the most annoying part, by far.
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Lifestyle
The lifestyle is very laid-back here. We work the "Nuclear 9's," where we work
44 hours one week and 36 the next. This means that we work 9 hours
Monday-Thursday and 8 hours on Friday, and the following week we work 9 hours
Monday-Thursday and are off Friday. Effectively, we work 80 hours over 2 weeks,
but we have a 3-day weekend every other week!
I've traveled out of state for training only once, and I was flown out there,
put up in a hotel, and given a rental car. There is a lot of company training at
the plants for new engineers, though -- on the order or 3-4 months worth.
We have a number of potlucks and lunches throughout the year, and in the summer,
we are given passes to Busch Gardens that include parking and lunch.
The diversity is what you'd expect: mostly older, white males. There are a
number of females and minorities here, though, and everyone is extremely kind and
accepting. Many of the foreign-born employees cook foods that are native to their
country for our potlucks. The Indian and Ethiopian dishes are among my favorites.
The dress code is business casual and not all that strict at all. Some wear
Hawaiian shirts once a week and many men wear ear rings.
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Compensation
I was hired with a base salary of $53,196 with a target profit
sharing bonus of 10% per year. I was flown up and given a hotel
room and a rental car for a week 2 months before I started work
to find a place to live. Once I finally moved, the company paid
for movers who moved everything including my car. I was flown up
and put in a hotel and given a rental car while I waited for the
movers to arrive. One year later, I had received two raises and
currently make $58,369 per year with the same 10% target bonus.
As for benefits, we receive 11 paid holidays per year, 80 hours
of vacation to start, 1 personal holiday, 40 hours of dependent
care, 180 hours of 100% pay sick time, 880 (yes, 880!!) hours of
70% pay sick time, a 401(k) with the company matching 50% up to
6% of your contributions, free life insurance of 1x your salary,
four medical health insurance plans to choose from, dental
insurance, vision insurance, pension, special savings accounts
where the company puts money away for you with no requirements of
you, access to LifeCare (gets me 19% off my Verizon bill!),
outage incentives (we get half-days off when a reload goes well),
etc, etc.
The benefits and pay progression are amazing, no doubt about it.
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Advice to Jobseekers
If you're looking for excitement and fun in a field, you probably
won't find it here. However, if you genuinely like engineering
and want to be making close to $60k before you're 24, this job is
for you. The people are genuinely amazing, and I wouldn't want to
work with anybody else in this field. If you can enjoy the work,
you'll be set for life. People tend to stay until they retire.
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