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OPERATOR TRAINING

May 3, 2009 12:36 am

By RUSTY DENNEN

If Dominion power ever builds a third nuclear reactor at North Anna Power Station, it will need specially trained technicians to operate it.

Not so long ago, Dominion and other utilities turned to U.S. Navy veterans with experience on nuclear submarines and ships to fill those high-paying jobs. But now the company is reaping the rewards of an innovative training program that targets promising local high school graduates.

"If we do build Unit 3, we'll need reactor operators ready to roll," said Dominion spokesman Richard Zuercher. The North Anna plant sits on Lake Anna's Louisa County shore near Mineral.

"We're looking for someone who may not want to go to college, but is strong in math and science," he said.

Dominion began its Nuclear Foundations classes at North Anna in 2000.

Twenty high school graduates from around the region started; 12 are currently operators at the station. Of those 12, four have received their reactor operator licenses from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Fourteen are still working for Dominion.

Since that time, there have been three classes totaling about 50 students in what is now called the Nuclear Control Room Operator Development Program.

"The whole objective is to find a new source of operators" outside the Navy, said Christopher McClain, manager of nuclear training at North Anna. As the military increases bonuses and incentives for its nuclear-trained sailors to stay in, and as the competition for others among utilities increases, he says the company needed to change its focus.

"We wanted the ability to hire within our own community," McClain said. In the 1980s, Dominion--then Virginia Power--tried unpaid student internships, but wasn't getting enough applicants.

Students take a test to qualify. If they're accepted, they take refresher courses in advanced math, nuclear physics, thermodynamics and chemistry, and begin shift work as trainees.

After completing a seven-step, 39-month program, they become non-licensed operators, "our eyes and ears in the plant," McClain said.

Next is an 18-month program, an in-house test and an exam by the NRC for them to become licensed reactor operators and senior reactor operators, the top job in the control room. Dominion offers financial help for students who eventually want to earn college degrees.

Though Dominion continues to try to attract women and minorities, most of those in the program are white men.

SIBLING EFFORT

Susan Lowe, 27, and her brother, Ted Webner, 35--both Louisa County High School graduates--started the Foundations class together in 2001, and are on track to earn their reactor operator licenses in June 2010. Their father, John Webner, was a spillway operator at the plant. Susan's husband, David, works in operations.

Susan was working in The Free Lance-Star's classifieds department when she saw an ad for the training program. Ted was working for Spotsylvania County schools and heard about it from his dad.

"Ted was very much more mechanical-minded," Susan said of her brother in a recent interview at the plant.

"But she gets more concepts on the technical side," Ted said. They work on different shifts but often sit together in training.

Family gatherings are always interesting "because we're still talking shop," Ted said with a smile.

"And somebody else knows what you're going through," Susan added.

The schedule is rigorous, with frequent tests and checkouts.

"It requires a lot of extra time, but I think wherever you want to go, this opens a lot of doors," she said.

"At the plant, you're training for what you want to do. It's not like college where you don't know what you want to do."

Ted, who is married with three children, said: "My wife is a stay-at-home mom. Without a college degree I am able to support my family on a single income."

Dominion nuclear workers, on average, earn about $75,000 annually, and control room operators receive bonuses for completing testing milestones. The average yearly wage for Virginians in 2007 was $45,899.

Brian Scott, 41, of Richmond, a senior reactor operator and shift supervisor at North Anna, is a product of the training program.

"A guy was going around to high schools" when he was a senior at a school in Bristol, he recalled. He took a test and was accepted.

"If I had not done that, I would have gone to college for an engineering degree."

As a shift manager, he observes the control-room shifts and reports directly to Dominion's chief nuclear officer in Richmond.

HANDS-ON INSTRUCTION

The training building at North Anna sits on a road near the massive concrete domes that encase the plant's two reactors. All training for plant systems--electrical, mechanical, chemical and nuclear, for example--is done there.

Dominion spends about $30 million a year on training.

In the mechanical lab, pumps, valves and control systems are simulated for hands-on experience.

"We do just-in-time training. We walk them through a job before they go out and do it," McClain said. Plus, learning with mock-ups reduces workers' radiation exposure.

Reactor operators train in a control room simulator where teams work in shifts. Each operator spends 232 hours a year in training.

More operators will be needed within the next decade if Unit 3 is built. Dominion's application is pending before the NRC. If that goes forward, the unit could be online by 2017.

Meanwhile, if there's a problem at North Anna, McClain said, "All of these folks are extremely smart and flexible and can adapt to a situation--what we're training them to do."

Rusty Dennen: 540/374-5431
Email: rdennen@freelancestar.com