When you get out you will see by Tony Green

I reflect back on occasions to my time as a Navy Nuke. One of the best times during my tour of duty was the final days on the submarine. Your hand is wrapped firmly around SNOT rag. For those not familiar with Navy terms S.N.O.T. means Shortest Nuke on Topeka. The rag is held by the nuke on board who is closest to their E.A.O.S. End of Active Obligated Service date who had not reenlisted. After four long years my E.A.O.S. would soon be a reality.

I was doing final checkout where I had turn go around my boat get a checklist signed off documenting I had spoken with required personnel. I had covered the front of the boat and I was making my way through the back portion.

The Engineering Department Master Chief EMCS Jeffrey Birch(at the time) said to me in effect, “you may be thinking how things are going to be when get back in the civilian world there will be days where you will wish more people operated in military fashion ”. My initial thought was,” Could you sign off my checklist so I can get off of the tin can for last time?”

Once the topside duty announced on the ship’s 1MC(loudspeaker), “ET2/SS Green departing” and I walked across the brow in Guam, took a plane flight back to Hawaii, and spent some time in X-Div my enlistment in the Navy would be finished.
Almost ten years later after my time working in Silicon Valley I have noted various instances where problems or issues existed and no one wanted to admit they were wrong. In addition, nobody wanted to take action while everyone waited for someone else to resolve the problem.

I wished someone would either step up or “volunteer” someone address and resolve our problems. It was then I thought about my last days on Topeka. I must admit being a touch embarrassed when reflected back on my thoughts on my days of my enlistment.

Time has proven Senior Chief to be 100% correct. Honestly, I wish I had the chance to tell Senior. I think he would want to know. Wait, I published this blog on the Internet, I already did.

P.S. I served in the U.S.S. Topeka S.S.N. 754, a nuclear powered fast attack submarine. Currently she is based in San Diego but was stationed in Pearl Harbor while I was a Reactor Operator from 1996-2000.

Troubleshooting by Tony Green

The scenario is along these lines. A complex mechanical electro system is not functioning. As this system is producing revenue creating its designed product there is a lot of money at stake if the system is not brought back to normal operation quickly. Your job is to repair the equipment and return it to operation.
Where do you start? There could be an infinite amount of things that may have caused the problem. You realize that the pressure cooker is about to begin unless progress is made.
Suddenly you remember the seven step troubleshooting procedure you learned while you were in the Navy as a nuke.
You identify and elaborate on the symptoms, identify the list possible faulty components, and narrow down that list to the one that you suspect is causing your problem and finally create a possible retest procedure after performing a root cause analysis.
Yet, the system is still not working. You relax and try a few more things. As this process occurs you ensure that you are thinking positive thoughts as you have initially been stumped yet were eventually successful. After a few additional adjustments to your list of what may be causing the problem you find your culprit and the system is brought back into operation.
After breathing a sigh of relief that the crisis has been averted and receiving kudos from management you reflect on how you got the job done once more.
In the end you used two things: a process of determining the problem and a true belief that you would figure out the solution. Yes, with that you can fix anything…

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.

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