I have been working here for one month, and I’m working with Nuclear Fuels and eventually working with special nuclear materials and making sure that the transaction reports are sent correctly. So the first time I saw this site was for my interview when I first saw it I was actually real excited because I’ve only been on a power plant on the site of a power plant once before and that was in Michigan, but when I saw it I realize this is real and that I could actually be working here I was very excited because this is such a big plant and you saw that there was so many people here and that thousands of people and that you’d be part of that making power for New Jersey. I know for the next few years that I will be trying to learn about the different roles in Nuclear Fuels right now since I working with Nuclear materials that will be going on for the next six months at least just to get certified, But hopefully in the future I’ll also understand how to work in spent fuel and fuel reliability all those different programs so that’s my goal for the next few years at least.

I started out working over 20 years ago here in Newark and spent my first 11 years in the corporate world here in Newark. Subsequent to that I left Newark in ’99 and subsequently wanted to come back to Newark where I am originally from [I was] born and raised here, [I] wanted just to come back into the city. I really feel that Newark is an up and rising city. It’s an important city, it’s a key city and I think PSEG is so central to the city. Everyone that’s in New Jersey practically is touched by PSEG in a form and I just wanted to come back to a solid company, a large corporation, a company where I feel I can spend the rest, my next 20 years contributing and seeing how the company will affect directly people’s lives.

It was exactly where I wanted to be and everything worked out so well. Within a month I believe the process from beginning to end was done which was very, I think in this time, very rare. When I made my decision I weighed all of that. Is this company going to provide for me a good work environment, a family-life, work-balance, along with a great relationship with the person who I am directly interacting and working with on a daily basis? I feel that if you spend 8, 9, 10 hours in an office you should enjoy what you are doing. You should not be here forced or regretting or just coming in and not enjoying getting up in the morning and going that extra mile for your manager and I really did feel that once I met with him I knew that A). I could work with him B). it would be rewarding and good for my professional career as I go forward.

I graduated from the United States Naval Academy and then, from there, I went to a Destroyer as a Division Officer and then to an aircraft carrier, also as a Division Officer in the Reactor Department. So, nuclear propulsion again. From there, I went to PSEG starting in Engineering as an Assistant Engineer and then transferred over to the Operations Department in September 2008. As a Naval Division Officer, there’s actually quite a lot of similarities between being the Division Officer in the Navy and then transferring over into the nuclear power side of PSEG. Responsibilities are quite similar as far as supervising a crew to get a list of tasks done and coordinate a shift and how we produce power and safe operation of the reactor plant. We have that and then the technical aspects of both, which obviously the nuclear power and engineering aspects are quite similar. What I always enjoyed about the Navy was that everyday was a new challenge. It was new events, new problems to tackle. And then PSEG provided that same environment to learn. So coming into work everyday was like being in the Navy. You’re always faced with a new event in the plant. Some new issue that provided the chance to learn more about the plant and provided an opportunity and you can even go out into the field look at the individual components and then read the technical basis for it. So there’s a good blend and that’s what I saw in the Navy and that’s what attracted me to PSEG.

Well, I wanted a job that has a challenge and at the same time rewarding. Something different about the customers. What I find challenging about the job is the advanced technology of the appliances because they are forever changing. The rewarding part is that you know you go in, you got people who have small children, or elderly people with no heat, and you go in, fix their appliance. And they have heat and they are very satisfied. The work is dispatched through the G Sym on the computer. We’ll (then) go to the resident’s house in concern, maybe they smell gas and we respond to the gas leak and make minor repairs if necessary. The same with carbon monoxide, detectors go off we search for a CO in the building. If there’s CO out of a certain level, at least one percent or more, we’ll evacuate the building and call-in the fire department if need be [or] if we need other assistance to help us. The program [duration] is about three and a half years, the training process is right now [for me]. They have a school in Edison. There’s Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3. Phase 1 is the Theory of Gas. I have to search for a gas leak, the flames of gas, the explosive limit of gas. Phase 2 deals with small appliances anywhere from dryers, ranges, water heaters. And then Phase 3 is dealing with cooling, heating, air conditioners, force hot water, steam, force warm air. After that, then, you have to go out and do three weeks of ride-time with someone who is more knowledgeable and they train you. Then you go back and take your hand-on [test] to prove that you know the job. They are constantly giving us advanced training [and] continuing education with the new appliances that come out every year. We are steadily going to school and learning the new technology. The future [goal] for me at PSEG is someday [to] be a teacher of HVAC, one of the advanced training classes they have on Edison, New Jersey. I feel as though that’s what I want to do.