Irradiated

Congratulations to me! I received my radiation Level 2 Category 1 certification yesterday. This means I am certified to work with unshielded radioactive sources. Plus side: this is one of the biggest steps towards getting my next promotion. Minus side: I now have legal responsibility for any nuclear-related activities I am involved in since I have been deemed "educated enough to know better". So if something goes wrong and I am determined negligent, I could go to jail. Ha ha ha..... don't you love promotions?

Back in May and June when I was sent home from the rig for 5 weeks when it shut down for repairs, I spent a lot of time working on my nuclear certification. The way this certification is performed is through a checklist of tasks to be done in the office. Each tool that is run with a nuclear source must be calibrated prior to going on a job, and these calibrations are long, arduous processes typically lasting 4-6 hours on a good day. Finish four of these, four wipe tests (which ensure a source is not leaking), do a bunch of toolbox inventories and various other tedious tasks, and you're given a set of keys and a LOT more responsibility.

I didn't write any blog posts about it, because I was too darn tired. I was in the calibration shack for about 15 hours a day, which was mostly outside in the Louisiana summer heat. The "shack" has a roof, but no walls, and within a 15 hour period we got a lot of sun on our faces.

I nearly completed my certification in the early summer, but then I went off to school in Houston before I could get to the very last step. The last step was to learn about all the proper shipping paperwork. I tried scheduling it again and again, and was put off again and again, until I fiiiiinally was able to corner the instructor this week and get it done.

So as of this afternoon I'm done! Yay! My next step is to obtain a set of keys that open the locks to the source transfer shields and then I have to go on a "breakout job". There a current nuclear cell manager will let me run the job, evaluate how I do, and determine whether I'm ready or not to become a nuclear cell manager myself. After all, this certification I just received is only a piece of paper. They're not just going to stamp my sheet and send me out into the wilderness on my own. They need to make sure I'm actually fit to run a job before I'm allowed to do one on my own. And I have just two words to say to that...

THANK GOODNESS.