Three weeks

[ydoaPs]

until I graduate from NNPTC. I just have the final exams for my second half courses and the comprehensive examination left. I've been even more apathetic than ever, so my grades have been slipping. I am now down to a 3.58 GPA overall.

 

I start NPTU in NY on the 1st of October.

[blike]

Been there a few times, just grit your teeth and push hard until the end!

[ydoaPs]

I took my CMR final today. I got a 3.34 on it.

[swansont]

Ah, West Milton in the fall and winter. Hope you like snow. I thought that was scheduled to be shut down, but obviously not yet. Do you know which reactor you'll be assigned to? There were four when I visited (S3G, S8G, D1G and MARF) but I'm pretty sure D1G went away long ago. MARF was cool because it didn't use control rods — it was tubes that could be filled with water, surrounded by a thermal neutron absorber — so even though we were told not to spend any time learning about that, I did because I found it the most interesting.

[ydoaPs]

I'll be on MARF, but I think they got rid of the no control rod thing. At least one of my instructors said they did.

 

I took RP final yesterday and got 3.48.

 

Now, I just have MTMO and the Comp.

[blike]

An abbreviation key for us nuke-newbs would be nice

[swansont]

From my memory of long ago...

CMR = Chemistry, Materials, Radiological fundamentals

MTMO = Mechanical Theory for Mechanical Operators (since Yourdad is a Machinists Mate; the other guys would take electrical theory — electrical operators would take ETEO and reactor operators would take ETRO)

RP = Reactor Principles

Comp = comprehensive final exam.

 

NNPTC = Naval Nuclear Power Training Command (it was NNPS when I was stationed in Orlando, Naval Nuclear Power School)

NPTU = Naval Prototype Training Unit

 

For the reactor designations, S = submarine, D = Destroyer, G= General Electric and the number is the generation. (You can also have A for Aircraft Carrier and W for Westinghouse) I don't recall what MARF is, so I have to Google: "Modifications and Additions Reactor Facility" and Wiki says that the reactor there is an S7G. It was a research prototype reactor when I visited.

 

All of them, in fact, are/were prototypes; the idea being that you can run the protoype and age it faster (have it generate more energy in a shorter time) so you can empirically test how it behaves before the ship or boat that has that reactor on it gets to that point. It's a whole lot easier and safer to diagnose the problem on land than out at sea. When I visited, the S8G reactor (trident prototype) was being run at full power for a while because the Ohio was catching up to it in EFPH (effective full-power hours), which was kind of boring because the operators weren't doing much, and the S8G control room (maneuvering) was the most spacious so there was actual uncramped room for observers.

[ydoaPs]

I took the MTMO final today, but I don't know my grade yet. I take Comp on tuesday.

 

3.52 on MTMO final

 

I guess I should explain something else. swansont used the term "Machinist Mate" aka MM. It is one of the three types of Navy Nukes. There are MMs, ETs(Electronics Technicians), and EMs(Electrician Mates).

 

The ETs are similar to what Homer Simpson appears to do. They sit in front of a panel and look at gages and switches. They are in charge of the control rods, various instruments, and they control the pumps and valves in the reactor compartment(I'm not going in there to start a pump or open a valve).

The EMs are in charge of the electric componants of my equipment, and they are in charge of the electric plant(they make sure the power gets where it's supposed to and electronics don't blow up).

 

MMs(me) are in charge of all of the mechanical and fluid systems, so basically all of the important stuff. We do maintenance on all of the fluid systems in the reactor compartment when the reactor is shut down, we are in charge of the entire steam plant.

[ydoaPs]

I got a 3.61 on comp