So off I went at the end of summer to Penn State with an office in the Sackett Building with two naval graduate students. I struggled with the theory and aspects of design, and by the end of the second of the three terms I was convinced that design was not for me. But what to do? One day I saw this small advertisement on the bulletin board that Westinghouse was looking for people to train and operate reactors in Idaho. YES. That was what I really wanted to do. I applied, interviewed, got the job, and started work in the Prototype Training Section of the Naval Reactor Facility Project in September 1974, leaving any thought of completing advanced degrees behind me.
In May 1976, I transferred to the Naval Reactor Facility in Idaho Falls, Idaho, which then was called the National Reactor Testing Station. There I completed the six-month nuclear power school that covered all the same topics naval personnel went through at their schools. At the end of that, I reported to the S1W prototype, which was the Nautilus prototype, for a six-month Engineering Officer of the Watch qualification (EOOW). Again, I struggled, but with the help of many Westinghouse and naval personnel, I qualified in May 1977. I went on to qualify as a nuclear plant engineer and finally senior shift supervisor in May 1979. I consider this the toughest and most important accomplishment of my career. There is just no other program like it.
In 1980, an opportunity presented itself to move to Emporia, Kan., where I took a job as one of the initial cold senior reactor operator license shift supervisors for the Wolf Creek nuclear power plant, one of the first attempts at a standardized plant design. Also that year, I also married my wife, Gloria, whom I had met on a blind date in Idaho when she was visiting her sister in Idaho Falls.
It was about this time that I joined ANS, and I have remained a member ever since. Some personal milestones during my 39-year career are listed below. I loved my job in the world of nuclear operations. While there were good days and bad days as happens to everyone, I can honestly say there was not ever one day I hated going to work—not even during an Idaho winter or a Kansas ice storm. I encourage all younger engineers to look at operations. Over the years, I saw a lot of transfers into operations get their SRO licenses, and I never heard of one who regretted it.
Mosebey’s milestones
1975: One-week attack submarine USS Greenling SSN 614. I even got to ride on the sail planes as we left New London, Conn. The captain took her to flank speed and that water started coming up the sail fast. Beautiful bow wave.
1980–1981: SRO certification at the Westinghouse Training Center, Zion, Ill.
1981–1984: Coordinated with site personnel to formulate the specific numbers for the Wolf Creek technical specifications.
1983: Participated along with Callaway nuclear power plant operators in helping Westinghouse verify Revision 0 of the new Emergency Response Procedures and Guidelines and participated for several years as the Wolf Creek representative to the Westinghouse Owner Group Operations Subcommittee.
June 19, 1984: Initial SRO license and adopted twin daughters.
1985: Initial fuel load SRO Wolf Creek.
1985: Initial operations representative to the Technical Support Center as part of the Emergency Response Organization. I remained with the ERO my entire time at Wolf Creek, finally culminating in the position of off-site emergency response manager.
1989: Completed first tour as operations superintendent. During this time, we achieved the world record light water PWR record of 487 days on line, which, alas, was beaten the very next month by St. Lucie nuclear power plant.
1989–1993: Moved to training as the designated operations representative. Piloted this position creating job description and other paperwork and it remains today.
1993–1996: Moved to Integrated Plant Scheduling to learn how to be an outage manager.
1996–1999: Second tour as operations superintendent.
1999–2014: Served in system engineering as a nuclear steam supply system supervisor, balance of plant supervisor, and for a year as an engineer in the probabilistic safety assessment group, and finally as daily work control engineering supervisor.
2014: Official retirement, but I have gone back to the plant on contract at various times in operations, design engineering margin management, and maintenance rule a(3) assessments.
We welcome ANS members with long careers in the community to submit their own stories so that the personal history of nuclear power can be captured. For information on submitting your stories, contact nucnews@ans.org.
