After completing my tour of service with the nuclear Navy, I embarked on an odyssey of commercial nuclear endeavors. The beginning of this trek began with a short term job during an outage at Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Plant in Maryland. I was on the night shift (7 days, 12 hours) responsible for cleaning the refueling pool after the reactor head was installed. Not a glamorous job, but it paid the bills.
Next on my search for 'nuclear truth', came an encounter with the government again as I went to work for the Tennessee Valley Authority at the Bellefonte Nuclear Plant in the construction of the facility. I spent 2 1/2 years here in a vain attempt to complete this project and generate power.
When I left the site, the plant was listed at 98% complete. After my departure, the plant was mothballed and listed at approx. 75% complete. If I had known the impact my leaving was going to have, I would have stayed. : )
From the plush greenery of the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains to the starkness of the Arizona desert. Talk about culture shock. This is where my next stop lead me. Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station managed by Arizona Public Service. Approximately 55 miles west of downtown Phoenix. In the middle of the desert. When it was a 110 degrees in Phoenix, it was easily 120 at PVNGS. When I arrived, I did not think that I would ever enjoy the area. Surprisingly, not only myself, but my entire family came to really like this place. We still miss the Phoenix area.
While at PVNGS, I participated in the start-up of 2 of the 3 units and was working on the third when it was time to move on. My wife got a job with NASA at the Marshall Space Flight Center. While she and the kids moved to Huntsville, Alabama, I went to work at Arkansas Nuclear One for Arkansas Power & Light.
After a few months at Russelville, Arkansas, I moved to Bay City, Texas where I went to work at Houston Power & Light's South Texas Project.
Once again, opportunity knocked, and it was off to Edwin I. Hatch Nuclear Plant near Baxley, Georgia. Employment here again lasted only a few months as the efforts of my wife succeeded in getting me a job with NASA. So in September, 1988, my nuclear career came to a close (temporary?) after approximately 15 years starting in the U.S. Navy.