My Industry

Bay City, Texas

Weather: low 67 degrees, high 86 degrees, heavy rain early, then clear skies

When I went to work this morning at 0430 hours, the temperature was 81 degrees, and it was humid. About 0600 hours, a line of thunderstorms passed through the area with heavy rain and high winds. By the time the storm had gone through about two hours later, the temperature had dropped to 67 degrees, which felt much better. Maybe we'll start seeing some cooler weather.

Many people may be wondering what kind of facility I’m writing about when I mention what’s going on at work. I have hesitated to state what it is because some people may take offense to the power source. Now that the reader’s interest may be aroused, I want to say that I’m currently working at a nuclear power plant that is composed of two units that each generates about 1350 megawatts of electricity, for a total of about 2700 megawatts. Imagine that, one facility with the capability to generate enough electricity to serve approximately 3 million people. That’s amazing to me.

I have been working in this industry for a long time, and it has been the most satisfying work I have ever done. That’s why it has been difficult for me to walk away from work completely. It’s even harder to walk away when I keep getting offers to do things that are interesting and working with people who are as good to work with as this industry has. Besides that, the pay is good. I considered doing some work camping in exchange for our lot rent, but the economics did not make sense compared to doing something I like to do such as this business.

In the early years of my career, I was hesitant to tell people what I did because there was so much misinformation and hostility about it. As the years have passed, more and more people have come to realize that nuclear power is not the bad thing they thought it was. There is more of a realization that the country will need these plants that can produce so much electricity without emitting green house gases. I'm not a believer in global warming, but I do believe we need to take care of our environment. There are people who believe that we can take care of our energy needs by building wind mills, installing solar panels, building efficiency into our buildings, and a myriad of other ideas. I say go for all of these things, but none of them will produce as much electricity as the 105 nuclear power plants now in operation in this country. Those plants produce about 20% of the country's electricity, with none of the power being supplied by another country. In other words, nuclear contributes to energy independence. Another big plus for this industry: the jobs can't be exported to another country.

So, there you have it. That's the industry I have worked in for a long time, and I don't know if I'll work anymore after this project. I do know this: I've enjoyed being back.

More later, be safe.

Today's Town - Spokane, Washington: Spokorn

Not all who wander are lost.