The future of Nuclear Power by Tony Green

As an Ex-Navy Nuke I observed first-hand the efficiency of nuclear power. Prior to advent of nuclear power ships and submarines were powered by diesel generators and batteries. The maneuverability of the ship was affected by limited battery power and by having to use the diesel generator while the batteries charged. The nuclear reactor, which provides electricity and propulsion, gave ship the ability to have an unlimited source of power. This enables the time a ship can be at sea to be limited only by the food it had the ability to carry or have access to.
During the early 1970’s the nuclear option was examined for civilian’s plants. Hundreds of nuclear power plants constructed around the country and around the world. The benefits were nuclear energy plants produce electricity through the fission of uranium, not the burning of fuels. This reduced the use of fossil fuels. In addition, the use of nuclear power reduced the amount of harmful emissions to the air.
As a result the general public had no problem with the construction of nuclear power plants. However, public opinion has changed drastically after the accidents at Chernobyl, in the Soviet Union and Three Mile Island, near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
At Three Mile Island a meltdown almost occurred due a failure of to the plant's main feed-water pumps and other numerous operator errors. At Chernobyl, the workers were performing an experiment with the reactor's safety systems during which the computer-controlled safety systems were disabled which resulted in a large explosion of the reactor spreading radioactivity all across Europe.

In the time since these accidents many people have begun to forget these incidents that together successfully clouded the public view of Nuclear Power. With the absence of other alternative power sources, lowering gas reserves, and the commercialization of green solutions may be years off the public may be ready examine other options as there are overwhelming power needs that will need to be filled. Nuclear Power can be that option. It can be operated safety and efficiently as the United States Navy has shown. Clearly Nuclear Power will emerge as a viable option to solve the power needs of an industrial society. America and the world will not only observe that utilizing Nuclear Power makes too much sense not to but there may not be other viable alternatives.

Photo courtesy of http://www.freefoto.com/

Tea with my failure(By Tony Green)

Recently I had yet another sales interview on my quest to enter technical sales. Why at this point of my career? Quite simply, I am a people person and most sales positions can pay the money I want.
During this quest I have interviewed with some people who told me that I had no previous sales experience. Sales are about overcoming objections and in my estimation, if I could not overcome the interviews objection then I did not deserve to be in sales.
When the interviewer pointed to my lack of sales experience I tried to sell him about some of my pre and post application support and account manager experience. After a good dialog we agreed these were sales related but not exactly sales.
I told him I dabbled in sales and was looking for the opportunity to fully immerse myself. In an attempt to persuade him I told him I was ready to take the plunge.
Unfortunately, he not looking for a dabbler, he was looking for tea, in other words an experienced sales person whom we agreed I was not. In the end, even though, I made a good accounting of myself I was not what this company was looking for. Therefore the question was since I have been identified as dabbling in sales, and the goal was to fully enter the sales profession did I want sugar or lemon with my tea (failure)?
As I thought about it I was temporary glum but I could only be sad for a short time. In true sales fashion toward my quest to get into sales I had get mentally ready for the next interview. Tea anyone?

No thank you (by Tony Green)

Occasionally while I am working the topic of military service comes up. Generally, once you tell someone your served in the military you get the comment “interesting” or “Wow” or ”Where were you stationed?”
But once in a while I get heartfelt “Thank you for your service”. Every time I hear it I am slightly surprised as most people, in my opinion, forget those who sacrifice either their time during times of peace or their lives in times of war for their security.
On any given holiday, there are always some military personnel on patrol somewhere in the world. Of course, on a few holidays it was me.
Although being away from loved ones came with the job being away from loved ones is always difficult on the service members and their families. However, if you know that thanks to your effort that your loved ones will be safe from oppression it makes it easier to live with. Even still, I remembered that it was sometimes difficult to see the appreciation and worth of what you were doing.
Therefore, the acknowledgment that a person is even thoughtful enough to realize the price servicemen and servicewomen pay for their freedom makes a big difference in making me realize why I was out there.
So in that case, my reply for thanking me for my military service is thank you for making feel my service was worthwhile is they are the reminder of what and who my military service was all about.

After my Professional Certified Marketer Certification by Tony Green

It has been a year since I passed my Professional Certified Marketer (P.C.M.) exam, therefore being certified to call myself a marketer. In the context of marketing what does the designation of a Professional Certified Marketer mean? If the words were to be dissected into their individual words you would have the words Professional, Certified, and Marketing. As for the meaning of professional and certified the definitions are straight forward. The definition of marketing is another matter. There are a plethora of definitions for marketing varying in their complexity and length.
The latest American Marketing Association definition of marketing reads “Marketing is the activity, conducted by organizations and individuals, that operates through a set of institutions for processes of creating , communicating, delivering, and exchanging marketing offering that have value to customers, clients, marketers and society at large”.
Internet Marketer Ben Hart defines marketing in his e-book Automatic Marketing as “Marketing is the process of putting bait in the water to attract leads and then putting these leads into a sifting and sorting system that will allow you to identify your most likely customers”.
Cynthia Holliday of Upright Marketing defines marketing as, “Getting the right product to the right customer at a profit to the business”.
In my view, the definition of marketing is a realization selling anything does not just happen on its own but needs a process to enable success for both parties involved. On one side is the seller your company or your employer and on the other side is the buyer who is your client or your customer. Marketing in my view is about that process on how the supply of one meets with the demand of the other. My certification has helped me to polish my tools to achieve a smooth process which in the long term ensures success for both parties. Who could argue with a win-win situation for both parties? It seems to me that one should not need to be certified to come to that common sense conclusion. In hindsight if that is what being certified means to me then perhaps I have been a marketer all along.

The path from Ex-Navy Nuke to an engineer by Tony Green

I have viewed a few blogs, on MySpace.com among other places that discusses the preparation that being an Ex-Nuke gives you before attempting to make it through an undergraduate engineering curriculum.
I think I have an interesting background to speak on this topic as I completed an engineering degree prior to participating in the Navy Nuclear program. If you are wondering why the hell I did the Nuke thing as an enlisted person after college you have a legitimate question. However, that will be the topic of another blog at some point in the future. What will say is that going through nuclear pipeline gives a wonderful background to aid any potential engineering student.
Normally most professional engineers have a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree and years of practical on-hands experience. The classroom training gives you the tools to enable you to begin learning your engineering craft while you’re on hands experience actually allows to become the trusted engineer capable of analyzing and solving real world problems.
Most of the engineering curriculum is theoretical as engineers are the ones who are trusted to designing equipment. The folks who designed many of the reactor systems that a nuke stands watch on were engineers. It is difficult to make the best design if there is not a decent level of understanding of the meaning of the theory. Nuclear training allows obtaining the on hands experience to attain that understanding. And as we all know the operators are the ones who ran the plant under the guidance of their nuclear-trained chiefs and officers.
Going aft in any nuclear powered vessel in the engine room will yield many on hand applications of these engineering principles. For example, reactor plant fresh water heat exchanger (RFPW) cools the coolant purification loop, the reactor coolant pumps and other loads. Essentially this is a shell and tube heat exchanger covered in heat transfer classes. The operator on watch is concerns that temperature that the RPFW remain within spec while the heat loads fluctuate. Another example is the process from where steam leaves the Steam Generator and goes through the Main Steam stops to the motor generators and turbine generators and exhausted steam that is created is condensed and sent back to the condensate pumps and the main feed pumps before returning the Steam Generator to start the process again. This process is covered as the Carnot cycle which covered thermodynamics courses.
Most Navy ships use an evaporator to distill sea water into drinking and potable water. The underlying principles that govern the process, distillation are covered in classes on mass transfer. The operator on watch is concerned that the water that is created is clean and the concentrated salt, the brine, goes back to the sea.
In my view, regardless of which came first, being nuclear trained or getting an engineering degree success comes down to on how you use all of your engineering training to make the best future for yourself. After going through all the rigors that are associated with being a nuke, all while serving our country; you certainly deserve it regardless of the choice you make for your college studies after leaving the Nuclear Navy.