The Guys Who Get it Done at San Onofre

Today's Orange County Register is taking a look at a refueling outage at San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station.

What's different about this profile is that the reporter actually took the time to talk to a pair of employees at the plant:

Bob Ashe-Everest is a supervising engineer in the Nuclear Fuel Services group. Randall Granaas is a refueling engineer. For those months, Bob takes the day shift. Randall works at night. It's imperative that someone from their group be on hand as the delicate dance – offloading spent fuel, uploading fresh fuel – unfolds.

[...]

Ashe-Everest has worked at San Onofre for 31 years. Married, two kids, lives in Laguna Hills, is on the city traffic commission. Likes to go boating. Is team captain for the Orange County-to-San Diego bike race that benefits the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Is handy under the hood of a car.

Granaas has worked here for 16 years. Married, lives in Dana Point, joined the Navy with the express desire of becoming a nuclear engineer. Loves to travel. Is planning a trip to China. Very handy with computers. He and Ashe-Everest have a mutual aid agreement: Ashe-Everest helps Granaas fix his cars, and Granaas helps Ashe-Everest with his home computer headaches.

Nuclear power is not a mystery to them, not an enigma, not a boogeyman. It's what they do.

Sounds a lot like the folks in NEI's Nuc Gen group that I work with every day. I wish more people could get a chance to get to know nuclear workers like Ashe-Everest and Granaas, and understand the kind of skill and dedication they bring to the job.