Upon completion of Officer Development School (ODS), newly commissioned Naval Reactors Engineers can expect to spend the next five years overseeing all the shipboard nuclear power plants, shore-based prototypes and nuclear propulsion support facilities in the Navy. The advanced training process they undergo prepares them to join some of the best and brightest technical experts in the country.
Naval Reactors Headquarters (NR) — Preliminary Training
Officers have an initial assignment of approximately four to five months receiving preliminary training at the Naval Reactors Headquarters in Washington, D.C. This is followed by approximately two weeks spent gaining a working background at one of the Navy’s land-based prototypes in either Charleston, South Carolina, or Albany, New York.
Naval Reactors Training Program (NRTP)
The next step involves the six-month process of earning a postgraduate-level education in nuclear engineering through the Bettis Reactor Engineering School at the Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Naval Reactors Headquarters (NR) — Staff Assignment
Following Naval Reactors Training, Naval Reactors Engineers are then assigned a Nuclear Engineer position with the group responsible for managing all technical aspects of the Navy Nuclear Propulsion Program — planning, approving and confirming the design, operation and maintenance of over 100 nuclear reactors. Engineers start in a junior role under a supervisor and rapidly advance to take on more and more responsibilities.
