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US Navy Nuclear Power School Study Materials

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Re: US Navy Nuclear Power School Study Materials

#31

Post by labrador »

gaius wrote: post #26
jonwachob91 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My understanding is not much as an enlistee (unless you put in 20+ years and bust your ass on your own time), but you will be a nuclear engineer at the end of training if you are an officer. But I do think a fair number of nuclear engineers and operators are veterans. The training is too expensive for most organizations to train individuals, and the ones that can train you don't have the resources that the navy has f…

I guess when you are in a SSBN on patrol, you have plenty of time for study!

It depends. If we were short-handed, we did 6 hours on, 6 off, which didn't allow much extra time for study.

Edit: Submarine

Re: US Navy Nuclear Power School Study Materials

#32

Post by devoply »

nwatson wrote: post #27

I considered the nuclear navy program in 1986/1987 as a college junior, looked like an interesting opportunity. There were 3 tracks (not the official terms): + nuclear operator on a ship or submarine + nuclear school instructor + naval nuclear reactor program manager I qualified for the "naval nuclear reactor program manager" and went to San Diego to tour a nuclear submarine, then a few months later flew to DC. The l…

How did your life work out in the end?

Re: US Navy Nuclear Power School Study Materials

#33

Post by gydfi »

mng2 wrote: post #30
rdtsc wrote: post #13

In general how much does being in the Navy and working on Nuclear Powered vessels help with getting a job as a civilian Nuclear Engineer say at a power plant? I would imagine a full Engineering degree would be required, or is there some fast tracking option specifically geared for ex-Navy operators?

My friend at work is a former Navy Nuke and this came up the other day. He said that he felt a little misled coming out of the service since only a small fraction of his credits were eligible to transfer to a NucE degree program, due to it not being "calculus based". (He is a EE now.) It sounds like one could get into a NucE Tech position fairly readily though.

Hard to imagine a non-calculus based nuclear engineering program.

Re: US Navy Nuclear Power School Study Materials

#34

Post by cocoablazing »

analognoise wrote: post #7

This raises an interesting question - what kinds of textbooks are out there already, produced by the government/military, and available for use? Could they be expanded/adapted, published for free, and put downward pressure on the (ludicrous) price of textbooks in the US?

The NNPP doesn't distribute any high quality theoretical nuclear engineering texts. The good texts they use are targeted towards the specific systems and materials deployed on ships and submarines.

Re: US Navy Nuclear Power School Study Materials

#35

Post by gavanwoolery »

nwatson wrote: post #27

I considered the nuclear navy program in 1986/1987 as a college junior, looked like an interesting opportunity. There were 3 tracks (not the official terms): + nuclear operator on a ship or submarine + nuclear school instructor + naval nuclear reactor program manager I qualified for the "naval nuclear reactor program manager" and went to San Diego to tour a nuclear submarine, then a few months later flew to DC. The l…

Was also a significant fork in my path! I applied to NUPOC program out of college and was accepted, although for whatever reason chose to work in the startup world instead. I still wonder what my life would be like if I had taken that path. For those curious about the process, IIRC it goes something like this (feel free to correct me, its been a long time since then): apply (at the time I applied a 3.5 GPA was required from a 4 year college although for some reason they accepted my much lower GPA). If you accept, you enter at the lowest rank (E1) and go through boot camp as any recruit would. Afterwards, you are put through several years of school (3?) to attain a degree in nuclear engineering. After that you sign on for a 5 year contract aboard a sub or aircraft carrier (the only two nuclear-powered ships in the Navy, as far as I know). During my time, pay started at $80k once you became an officer, and then $120k after four years.

Re: US Navy Nuclear Power School Study Materials

#36

Post by tzury »

All the PDF within the page:

    http://www.navsea.navy.mil/Portals/103/Documents/NNPTC/Math/math_assign.pdf
    http://www.navsea.navy.mil/Portals/103/Documents/NNPTC/Physics/physics_assign.pdf
    http://www.navsea.navy.mil/Portals/103/Documents/NNPTC/Radiation/rf_assign.pdf
    http://www.navsea.navy.mil/Portals/103/Documents/NNPTC/Chemistry/chem_assign.pdf
    http://www.navsea.navy.mil/Portals/103/Documents/NNPTC/Math/math_quest.pdf
    http://www.navsea.navy.mil/Portals/103/Documents/NNPTC/Physics/physics_quest.pdf
    http://www.navsea.navy.mil/Portals/103/Documents/NNPTC/Radiation/rf_quest.pdf
    http://www.navsea.navy.mil/Portals/103/Documents/NNPTC/Chemistry/chem_quest.pdf
    http://www.navsea.navy.mil/Portals/103/Documents/NNPTC/Math/math_sol.pdf
    http://www.navsea.navy.mil/Portals/103/Documents/NNPTC/Physics/physics_sol.pdf
    http://www.navsea.navy.mil/Portals/103/Documents/NNPTC/Radiation/rf_sol.pdf
    http://www.navsea.navy.mil/Portals/103/Documents/NNPTC/Chemistry/chem_sol.pdf
    http://www.navsea.navy.mil/Portals/103/Documents/NNPTC/Math/doe_math_v1.pdf
    http://www.navsea.navy.mil/Portals/103/Documents/NNPTC/Physics/doe_phys.pdf
    http://www.navsea.navy.mil/Portals/103/Documents/NNPTC/Radiation/doe_radiological_training.pdf
    http://www.navsea.navy.mil/Portals/103/Documents/NNPTC/Chemistry/doe_chemistry_v1.pdf
    http://www.navsea.navy.mil/Portals/103/Documents/NNPTC/Math/doe_math_v2.pdf
    http://www.navsea.navy.mil/Portals/103/Documents/NNPTC/Physics/doe_phys_nuc.pdf
    http://www.navsea.navy.mil/Portals/103/Documents/NNPTC/Radiation/doe_reactor_theory_v1.pdf
    http://www.navsea.navy.mil/Portals/103/Documents/NNPTC/Electrical%20Eng/ee_assign.pdf
    http://www.navsea.navy.mil/Portals/103/Documents/NNPTC/Thermo/thermo_assign.pdf
    http://www.navsea.navy.mil/Portals/103/Documents/NNPTC/RD/rd_assign.pdf
    http://www.navsea.navy.mil/Portals/103/Documents/NNPTC/Electrical%20Eng/ee_quest.pdf
    http://www.navsea.navy.mil/Portals/103/Documents/NNPTC/Thermo/thermo_quest.pdf
    http://www.navsea.navy.mil/Portals/103/Documents/NNPTC/RD/rd_quest.pdf
    http://www.navsea.navy.mil/Portals/103/Documents/NNPTC/Electrical%20Eng/ee_sol.pdf
    http://www.navsea.navy.mil/Portals/103/Documents/NNPTC/Thermo/thermo_sol.pdf
    http://www.navsea.navy.mil/Portals/103/Documents/NNPTC/RD/rd_sol.pdf
    http://www.navsea.navy.mil/Portals/103/Documents/NNPTC/Electrical%20Eng/applied_ee_v1.pdf
    http://www.navsea.navy.mil/Portals/103/Documents/NNPTC/Thermo/doe_htff_v1.pdf
    http://www.navsea.navy.mil/Portals/103/Documents/NNPTC/RD/doe_rx_theory_v2.pdf

Re: US Navy Nuclear Power School Study Materials

#37

Post by QuarterReptile »

gydfi wrote: post #33
mng2 wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My friend at work is a former Navy Nuke and this came up the other day. He said that he felt a little misled coming out of the service since only a small fraction of his credits were eligible to transfer to a NucE degree program, due to it not being "calculus based". (He is a EE now.) It sounds like one could get into a NucE Tech position fairly readily though.

Hard to imagine a non-calculus based nuclear engineering program.

It's really not quite right to think of the Navy's program as a nuclear engineering one. With their schools to prepare sailors for the boats, they want to make sure everyone knows why and how all protection systems and procedures work, as well as instilling a respect for the severity of radiation exposure and efficacy of protective measures.

The goal isn't designing plants; someone else already did that. It's knowing enough to know why plants were designed the way they were, as well as being able to safely operate, maintain, and fix the thing.

There is some calculus, but calculus really slows things down when you're trying to work through a lot of material.

Re: US Navy Nuclear Power School Study Materials

#38

Post by nwatson »

devoply wrote: post #32
nwatson wrote: post #27

I considered the nuclear navy program in 1986/1987 as a college junior, looked like an interesting opportunity. There were 3 tracks (not the official terms): + nuclear operator on a ship or submarine + nuclear school instructor + naval nuclear reactor program manager I qualified for the "naval nuclear reactor program manager" and went to San Diego to tour a nuclear submarine, then a few months later flew to DC. The l…

How did your life work out in the end?

Thanks for asking, and I'm not yet at "the end"!

I'll say the first big fork was deciding to forego free EE education at Universidade de Brasília and living a Brazilian life in favor of going to my family's US stomping grounds in Arizona. There were many student strikes in Brazil at the time, I didn't want to spend 8 years on a BSE, and was sure all my family would end up in the US eventually anyway. I didn't want to be so far away.

The second fork was not entering the navy nuclear program.

The next was foundering in grad school with an NSF Fellowship. I'd say social/personal issues got in the way, and though I'd try to blame grad school context, I'd lost my creative drive. My oldest brother had an "in" to early access to the Apple Newton at the time so I headed to Silicon Valley, and we tried to build something on the platform. After several months and seeing the idea/platform wouldn't pan out for our use case, I started working at SV startups.

I did the SV startup thing for 19 years, had some good experiences. My wife wanted to move ... so the next big fork was moving to North Carolina. I continued SV work (almost 3 years at one really really really crappy podunk startup), and recently moved on to a former-startup-division-in-a-large-enterprise-security-company. My current team is awesome and I learn something new every day.

Those are the big professional forks so far ... as for professional future, I don't know. I've got a couple of ideas I'd like to pursue some time. But then there's time with my daughter, relative ease of a near-SV (?) salary in NC, etc.

In all, I can't complain.

Re: US Navy Nuclear Power School Study Materials

#39

Post by QuarterReptile »

jeff487 wrote: post #2

these are actually Department of Energy study materials, not the actual Naval Reactors training materials used in Naval Nuclear Power School.

Both of those are true, but it's worth noting that actual training manuals are also DoE. Naval Reactors occupies a unique space, due to a couple things:

1. the Navy is the only service that didn't get their nuclear 'toys' taken away from them for being irresponsible.

2. Rickover was an incredible pain in the ass to everyone who got in his way for the better part of four decades.

Re: US Navy Nuclear Power School Study Materials

#40

Post by loblollyboy »

lithos wrote: post #24
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #9

What are the pre-requisite knowledge requirements?

Usually something above 90 on the ASVAB, with exceptions for people who score 80s but take a special math and physics test. ASVAB grading isn't a fixed scoring system. If you score s 90 it means you beat 90% of the people who took the test. Which means that 99 is the max score. The question pool is also massive usually starting at Jr High difficulty questions ramping up to college and down to kindergarten depending o…

ASVAB is for enlisted - you don't take that if you are going officer (NUPOC) for NUPOC you need like a 3-3.5 in some kind of stem thing and maybe other stuff like recommendations ... and you need to pass an interview too I believe with an admiral.
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