So I just returned from a trip to Washington, D.C.
The trip was the culmination of about 8 weeks of study for the series of exam and interviews required to graduate the Navy Prospective Nuclear Engineer Officer (PNEO) curriculum. You basically take all the stuff that you already know about the plant from having operated on it, and then go and really dig into how everything really works. It’s not good enough to know that a procedure tells you to do something in the event of a casualty. You have to know why the procedure is written that way (i.e. what do these steps prevent, what could go wrong if you don’t do the procedure right?). It’s not always about operations either, almost more important is learning about the various maintenance responsibilities that way when you’re the guy actually responsible for supervising the entire department’s maintenance schedule you’ll understand what’s coming across your desk.
After passing a comprehensive written exam a student is sent to Washington D.C. to interview with the smart guys at Naval Reactors to judge your worthiness to be the Engineer Officer. If you also pass that screening then you’re done, if not you get to try again (up to a finite number of times).
It sounds demanding (and it is) but most people put in the time and effort required to make it so most people generally pass, even if it takes a second attempt. But it’s nice to have it knocked out of the way early, especially since in my case my command had to get a waiver approved for me to go earlier than normal. Had I not qualified we would only have 1 Engineer-qualified division officer on the boat which we try to avoid. :)