Who actually builds the nuclear power plants we're talking about
this season? Not the companies or CE OS, the
fancy engineering design teams, but the people on the ground
welding pipes, assembling structures, signing their name
on work that will last for decades.
I wanted to understand this side of nuclear construction, so I'm
bringing you inside the world of somebody who has lived that
reality. From the time he was 19 years
old, Tyree McCall started his career as a labourer on Plant
Vogel's Units Three and Four, the first major nuclear power
plant built in the United States in decades.
From there, he worked his way up, went to welding school while
working full time, and built a career inside one of the most
demanding construction environments in the world.
But nuclear welding is completely different because
you're welding on pipes and you're welding on a lot of
different structural supports that are going to be stayed into
these nuclear plants for years and years and years to come.
And your signature is on this stuff.
So my mindset shifted. This episode is about craft,
discipline, responsibility, and the culture that makes nuclear
possible. So how did Tyree get involved in
nuclear in the first place? It's a little bit about my
background. I'm from a city called Baxley,
GA, maybe 40, maybe 50-60 miles southeast of Savannah, GA.
We have where the first nuclear plant from Georgia was built,
which is named Plant Hatch. So growing up, I watched a lot
of the community where they had nice houses and cars and things.
And I'm wondering where is this coming from?
And then I heard about Plant Hatch a few times, but I never
really knew a lot about it. And so when I graduated, it was
either you go to college, you go to the military, or essentially
you go to the nuclear plant if you wanted to be successful.
My family was very successful in many different, you know, career
fields. But I'm one of the first in my
family or immediate family that chose the nuclear career with a
craft. When we talk about becoming a
labor, I mean, I'm becoming a welder.
I'm sorry. So just a little bit about my
background coming growing up in the city where nuclear was,
knowing the success of it. It just like I said, I tried it
in military and things or wanted to go and I took the route of
nuclear and I needed a job at the time.
So it was more so just going to work.
My grandma, she took me to plant Hatch and they weren't hiring at
the time. And then they say, well, you can
go to try plant Vogel and this is when they were doing the
construction or three and four and she took me there.
I started in November of 2013. I graduated in 2012, 2013 my
first major job ever fresh out of high school working Vogel 3
and 4 wanted to be projects ever been completed and got my start
there and the rest has just been history as far as my career to
where I am today. Tyree grew up in Baxley, GA, not
far from Plant Hatch, another nuclear power station.
Growing up, he saw something interesting.
People in his community who worked at the plant had stable
jobs, homes and opportunities. But like many young people, he
didn't necessarily know what those jobs actually were.
Then after high school, an opportunity appeared.
Plant Vogel was building units three and four.
At 19 years old, Tyree stepped onto one of the biggest nuclear
construction projects in the world.
So imagine this for a second. You're 19 years old, fresh out
of high school, and suddenly you're walking onto a mega
construction project. Are you nervous much?
So I wanted to know what that experience was like for Tyree.
At that age, they saw something in me.
They saw potential. They knew that I was a young
man, but I started as a laborer and it was like, well, it's cool
that you start here, but don't stay here.
So going through that, when I first came on site, it was just
a different glow. It was a different like, OK,
this young man, he needs to be going places.
We don't need to have him just stuck in this same mindset.
And I could have settled because I was making coming out of high
school that working at a nuclear plant, just a start.
Now, salary is great. But like you said, they were
around me. So the culture there for me
being a young person was like, we're surprised that you're
here, but we're going to push you while you're here.
So when you ask what that was, every day I ran into people that
was pushing me to be great and do things.
And so that was like learning. It was kind of like an
apprenticeship, honestly, without being in The Apprentice.
And so that's what it was. The older guys, they taught me,
they raised me. I went through life with them.
I had my first child at 19. So as soon as I got to the
nuclear plant, I start making money.
I had my first, my son was born in 19.
So I'm making a lot of money, but I had a responsibility.
So as they begin to have conversation with me, they're
like, yeah, you're making money, but you got to take care of
yourself. But that's what kept me working
as well. You get what I'm saying?
And now say, well, while I'm here, I might as well learn this
culture, this nuclear industry and just safety and this so.
And it just, I fell in love with nuclear.
I really did. I don't see myself working any
other career. I fell in love with it.
One of the most powerful things Tyree shared was that the
experienced workers around him became mentors.
They pushed him. They told him something simple
but important. You can start here, but don't
stay here. For Tyree, the job became more
than just work. It became an informal
apprenticeship. He was learning the culture, the
expectations and the responsibility of nuclear work
while also navigating adulthood, including becoming the father.
Now, if you've never worked in nuclear construction before, you
might be wondering something basic.
How do you actually learn the job?
How do you go from knowing nothing about tools, procedures,
or nuclear work to being someone who can operate inside that
environment every day? Tyree explains what that
learning curve looked like for him when he first started.
Listening, learning, just listening, sitting back.
At first I was kind of hot and, you know, young hot on fire.
But I learned that I've worked construction at the house
before. So it's different.
You're not building Walmart, it's not like a regular.
So it's so many different procedures, right, when you're
dealing with nuclear because of the safety of the environment,
dealing with just nuclear culture as a whole.
So I had to learn to be patient. I learned a lot of coming out of
high school on fire, just ready to run, but I literally had to
slow down and learn the procedures, the processes, the
word packages, calling engineering and calling QC for
different steps and processes. You can't just put something
together and sign off on it. Like with nuclear, signing
material and things and signing off on stuff is very big deal.
So those different types of procedures and that thing with
what you don't know, that's kind of something I had to learn.
One of the biggest shifts Tyree experienced was learning how
different nuclear work is compared to ordinary
construction. In nuclear, you don't just build
something and move on. Every step is documented, every
material tracked, every signature matters because when
you sign off of something in a nuclear plant, you're
accountable legally and professionally.
So one thing you'll hear over and over in this episode and
this season is safety culture. Every process, documentation and
signature carries responsibility.
And if you're wondering actually what that means on a job site,
we'll get to that. And then also understanding
being around the people that you're working with.
It's like a family. You're around them more than you
are your own and your own family.
So that's something I did have to learn as well to on certain
job, it's like, I don't like you, I can quit or leave, but
making that kind of money, it's like you got to learn to deal
with people. So you don't want to give up, I
mean, running from one job to another and another and another
and just with the integrity that it takes to have a nuclear
clearance, to have a nuclear badge to even get in the plant
to begin with is something you should carry when honor and
integrity. So I thought about welding only
for the money. Fast forward timeline, I had my
first son in 19 as a laborer and then I had another my daughter
at 21. And then this was two years
passed by. I was in the labor crap at this
time. I had already built my realm,
kind of got my feet wet in the career, become a little
accustomed to the culture. So I'm two years in, I'm like,
yeah, it's time to make a shift. I thought about welding only for
the money. People around me were like, hey,
you know, they used to call me young Bucky been here for two
years. It's time to do something.
What are you going to do? Like I said, for the money was
it was just something I wanted to do.
As far as AI knew, I wanted to trade and honestly, to be real,
welding was the highest paying craft out there that I knew when
I asked around outside of I think crane operators, welding
was just wet. It was I wanted to be
successful. So I took that route and that
transition was tough. I had, by this time I had two
children and then I also was going to school that night and
working in a day. So I was working as a laborer
still at playing Vogel Unit 3 and 410 hours a day.
And then I would get off and go to night school at Weld welding
night school and I'd probably go from like 5:00 PM to like 930
ten O clock at night every night Monday through Friday.
So for two years to get my welding and engineering kind of
degree. So but that process was very
tough, but I knew I didn't want to settle.
And then I think what made me want to get involved was that as
a labor, working around those Craftsman, it's a different
respect. I respect the labour craft, but
I think it's important that you get in and use it as a
footstool. So what I'm saying is that they
kind of just don't have a lot of respect because they don't have
a skill, you know? I mean, some do, some don't.
But like when you actually go through an apprenticeship or go
to school and actually get some knowledge on it, you'll respect
it more because you took the time out to do it.
So that was another reason that I went and like I said, it paid
off, but it was hard. It was tough.
That was one of the toughest journeys of my career.
After two years as a laborer, Tyree started looking ahead.
He had two kids, had responsibilities, and he had
realized something important. The nuclear industry rewards
skill. So he made a decision.
He worked 10 hour shifts during the day at Plant Vogel, then
went to welding school at night, five days a week for two years.
So I wanted to know what makes someone decide to go all in in a
craft like welding and what does that path actually require?
I'm glad you asked and I think this will give a perspective to
a lot of viewers listening. So by me, taking the labour
route was good and I'll advise that if anyone is, if you don't
go through an apprenticeship, you can take the labour route.
But what that does is expose you.
So because when I went to welding school, there were a lot
of people they didn't know about welding or they didn't know
about the opportunities for welding when it pertains to
nuclear. They were like mom and pop fab
shops, local fab car shops that you can Weld on.
That's the reason why they wanted to go to welding school.
So to my advantage being at Plant Vogel at the time working
as a laborer, I was around the craft in date in the daytime at
work. And then I would get off of my
job, go to school and then learn at school and then take what I
learned from school and go back to work the next day in the
nuclear culture and kind of real time, like on the job training
and school. And it played to my benefit
because a lot of the kids that were in Weldon school, they were
either like working at McDonald's and things like that.
So they didn't really know the culture or they didn't really
know the money. A lot of people were just
thought, like you said earlier, they were kind of intimidated,
like when you hear the word nuclear and welding and just
people don't really have the confidence to, you know what I'm
saying? But I think, like I said, by me
being there already and just building and working myself up,
not being content with where I was, was what kind of gave me
that additional spark to want to continue on.
One thing Tyree explained really clearly is that exposure
matters. Because he was already working
at a nuclear plant, he could see the opportunities in front of
him. Many of his welding classmates
were training for local fabrication jobs.
Tyree already knew nuclear welding existed, and that it
offered an entirely different level of opportunity.
Welding exists in a lot of industries, construction,
automotive, manufacturing. But listen to what Tyree says
about what makes nuclear welding different.
If we're serious about building the next generation of nuclear
power plants, we need more than concrete and containment dones.
We need people. Engineers, welders, licensing
professionals, project managers, Inc specialists, operators.
The people behind the build. That's where Nuclear Talent
Scout comes in. We source directly for companies
to find the people who can actually move projects forward,
the ones who understand safety, culture, regulatory rigor, and
how to execute on time and on budget.
If you're ready to step into the next phase of nuclear or you're
hiring for it, head over to nucleartownscout.com.
Because the future of nuclear energy isn't just designed, it's
staffed. Now back to the show.
Yeah. So funny enough, I've worked
both what we call hard dollar jobs or hard money jobs where
it's outside of nuclear, which means like, you know, it's soon
as the whistle blows. But with nuclear safety culture,
because of the what we're working on, we're building a
nuclear plant, right Or we're working and doing maintenance on
nuclear plants that are already running.
You got to think about the environment and the safety
culture is more so if I check a procedure and I like it and sign
off on it, there's probably about, I have the six different
additional signatures go behind me to check and verify, right.
So with that, you have just by default different eyes looking
at it. And if one person finds
something, we stop. We don't go forward, we stop.
We try to find ways to rectify the situation.
We have meetings and we discuss. And so with nuclear safety
culture is slow because of the integrity of the work and
protecting the environment. And you know, it's very serious.
I think the difference in what I will say about nuclear safety
car and to explain it more is if you're outside of like building
a house or something, you can kind of get away with not
wearing safety glasses or not. When if you're a handyman on the
outside, you doing stuff just without gloves, you know, back
in the old days, you can just get away with a lot of things at
home, you know? But with the safety culture,
it's a complete different. They are watching for safety
glasses, earplugs, your PPE, boots, hard hat.
It's almost like a constant everyday thing.
I think the culture there is completely different and it's
slower and it's very important though.
So, yeah, I think that's something I like about the
culture. Yeah, we see that often even
with nuclear safety culture, when you talk about people
coming from the outside in, they want to come in and just like,
get it, you know what I'm saying?
Like, I want to go straight to work, work, work, work, work.
And sometimes the process of them having to slow down it just
they, it doesn't sit well with them.
They leave or they can't work it because they're so used to
taking a Red Bull or taking a drink and just go get straight
to work. And then or they're used to
working at home, like you said, building things at home in their
garage and things. And they're just go, go, go, go,
go, go with this. And they do not tolerate it at
all. It's a very low tolerance for
it. I mean, every day you're liable
to get it's terminal offenses for PPE and things like that.
So it's very serious only for your safety.
It's, it's important that you stay safe.
So they put a heavy emphasis on that.
And yeah, you do have people that cannot deal with it.
Funny enough. It's mental, right?
It does look like micromanaging, but it's very mental.
It's very mental and it's for your safety.
But yeah, everyone can't deal with it.
It can be a lot, but you become accustomed to the culture.
Again, it comes back to safety culture.
If you've never worked in the industry, it's hard to
understand what that actually means.
In nuclear construction, safety culture is everything.
Multiple sign offs, procedure verification, stopping work when
something isn't right, and even the smallest details like
wearing PPE or walking while using your cell phone are taken
seriously. It might seem like an abstract
idea, but we wanted to get into what that actually looks like in
the day-to-day and why safety is non negotiable.
I think with nuclear and non nuclear, so non nuclear is more
so of schedule and budget. They don't have the funds, they
don't have the resources. Most time it's independent
contractor, subcontractor, small contractors that are trying to
save more and profit more, right?
But with nuclear, I mean it's a enormous budget, you know what
I'm saying? It's huge.
It's more so of we care about you doing it right.
We don't care about how long it takes.
There's projects we worked on that are supposed to take us a
week, that can take 3 months. But then there's sometimes that
a project can take or supposed to take three months and last a
year or things like that. So I think the difference is,
yeah, budget and schedule On non nuclear, it's like you got to
go. You can't be standing around.
Even if you don't have nothing to do, you got to find something
to do, right? It's crazy.
But with nuclear it's do it right.
And if it takes however long, it's no time pressure.
Basically it's no time pressure. Tyree has worked both nuclear
and non nuclear jobs and one difference stood out
immediately. In non nuclear construction, the
pressure is usually scheduling and budget.
In nuclear construction, the priority is different.
You have to do it right, you have to do it safely.
So what actually changes when the project you're working on is
in a nuclear power plant? What's different about the
culture and expectations and pace of work?
So with me as a laborer when I first started, like I said 19,
the biggest thing for me when I did start was making that kind
of money out of high school was just culture shock.
And I was making adult money at 19.
Like we talking 60 almost 7019 a year.
And this was back in 2013 when everything wasn't as high.
So I say that I'm transparent enough to speak on that because
I spent a lot of time in the mall when I graduated in my
hometown, we didn't have a mall. I got exposed to our largest
city from my hometown to when I moved to Plant Vogel and the
economy was building around Vogel because of the money that
they were paying, but also the businesses.
It created opportunities for a lot of businesses and things
around Plant Vogel, a lot of businesses to start coming in
and things. So I spent a lot of money and I
start noticing that I didn't have anything to show for after
a while. Kind of like having fun at first
kind of just buying clothes and every week I was buying clothes
and shoes. But as I continue to grow and my
responsibility shifted, I think what kept me grounded often a
lot was my children. And I talk about them a lot
because they carried me through this career.
And the reason I know they have because I don't get to take them
with me, but I take them with me.
I show them pictures. I send them pictures of what I'm
doing often every city I travel to around the country.
And so they're aware of the nuclear culture and now
currently implant and backs to where plant hatch is.
So we I take them out there sometimes and ride them through
and see from then. It's been an evolution, like I
say, of just growing up as an individual.
Even the safety culture trans transmute into my lifestyle
because of being safe. For example, we can't walk on
the phone and talk at work like we have to stop.
And ticks or whatever we're doing, we can't continue to
walk. But even when I'm away from
work, it carries with me. So like if I'm in Chicago or New
York or wherever, walking, I stop and I look at my phone and
I text and then I start back walking.
But yeah, I learned a lot, like you said, from being a labourer.
Now, like you said, the responsibility.
So when you become a welder, your lifestyle shifts just
naturally because of the income, the responsibility that it comes
with, the integrity of your work.
Your name is signed off on this stuff.
Whereas when I was a laborer, you don't have much
responsibility. You, you know, sweep clean up
this and that. But nuclear welding is
completely different because you're welding on pipes and
you're welding on a lot of different structural supports
that are going to be stayed into these nuclear plants for years
and years and years to come. And your signature is on this
stuff. So my mindset, it shifted like
I'm signing off on things that I have to have integrity on, which
means I have to verify, check. So it was a complete different
mindset. And so, yeah, it did shift a
lot. And then also my finances and my
budget and everything had to shift as well.
So that was kind of how that went.
Terry's career has evolved dramatically from a laborer
sweeping and supporting crews to a certified welder whose
signature is attached to structural components that
remain inside nuclear facilities for decades.
That shift doesn't just change your job, it changes your
mindset. This is what I love about the
evolution of this story. Labourer.
Student, welder. Each stage comes with a
different level of responsibility.
So if you're curious about what an actual day looks like for
someone walking inside a nuclear plant, Kyrie explains how that
job changes as your career grows.
If I'm speaking to a welder, I would just say it's more so like
a glorified fabricator, pretty much like same fabrication you
do outside nuclear is the same. Like we went on carbon steel
just kind of like unistressed and do a lot of electrical
support. I'm a structural welder so we do
a lot of different structural welds, but it's the same.
I think that the intimidation comes from the test.
You have to take a test to get your search when you first
qualify for nuclear water. So you take a plate test or a
pipe test depending on the location.
But to pat to get your search, you have to pass that test.
And that test can be very challenging.
I felt it once and I haven't felt it ever again after that.
But that first time I felt it, it crushed me, but I learned
from it. But that test is very
challenging. It can be very challenging.
But yeah, when you pass it, then you start to learn to go in more
detail as far as your procedures, We work out of work
packages depending on what the work is.
But like I said, if I had to explain it, it's not hard
because your supervisors, they guide you through and like I
said, you're unsure. You have to stop and it's OK to
stop and they want you to stop. Like I said, if I'm talking to a
welder from outside, I would definitely tell them.
It's not as bad or hard as they make it, but it can be
intimidating. I know my first time welding at
a nuclear plant, I was shaking. I actually messed up, you know
what I'm saying? When I first got my certs, I got
inside of the plant and you have that kind of like, I want to
show that I'm a welder. Your ego and so you knew, you
knew, you knew y'all on the job. I messed up bad my first cover
welds, but my supervisor sat me down, you know, and they, they
walked me through the steps and processes.
And then over time you just keep getting better and better and
better. But it's really nothing like too
technical. You have specialty welders that
do different like specialty work that like underwater welding and
all this kind of stuff at the nuclear plants and stuff.
But we don't really get into that kind of detail.
One of the biggest barriers to becoming a nuclear welder isn't
the work itself, it's the test. To work as a nuclear welder, you
must pass a certification Weld test to prove you can meet
extremely high standards. Fail the test, and sometimes
that opportunity disappears. So you can't just show up and
start working. You have to earn their
certificate. And those tests can be intense,
so Tyree will explain why they matter so much.
So often back in the day, the culture has shifted a lot, but
back in the day, a lot of welders tell me, listen to a lot
of older guys when I'm at work. I just do I lean, I run straight
to them and they talk about the culture, how it was to to where
it is today. But you used to would have to do
what they call a make a break. And I think some jobs do, but it
don't matter where you're coming from.
Like if I'm in Georgia and I'm going to Texas or Louisiana or
whatever to take a well test, you get one opportunity and you
fail it, you go home and you don't get paid.
Like you travel out there because oftentimes because we're
driving, because we have to have our car for work or vehicle for
work. So we're driving out and you can
drive miles and miles and you take your wheel test.
If you fail it, it's over. Like if you fail it, you got to
go home. You don't get paid this kind of
thing. So the pressure of going into a
wheel test alone is hard, you know what I'm saying?
But then when you fail it, you're crushed because you got
to go back to your family and tell them you didn't get the job
because and you don't have no money because you you failed the
welters. And that that pressure is, I
don't wish that fellow nobody. Now today it looks kind of
different. Whereas if you come as a welder,
you fail it, they'll keep you a job.
Of course, you won't get the same pay scale.
You'll probably get like a helper pay scale.
We have fab shops at our job at the nuclear plants, like little
fab shops. You can go and practice and then
if you feel comfortable, maybe six months later, the
supervisor, he trusts you, he'll let you go back and take it.
But that's a very crushing feeling to fail a well test when
you don't have a job either. Like you don't have a job and
you're going to get a job and still don't get the job.
I felt that one time and I told myself I never want to feel that
ever again by the time I was in the union.
And you can go back to the local and practice, but you got to put
the work in. I think that was the good
feeling. When you fail, don't just stay
or fail. You learn from it and then
improve. Failure is a part of every
craft. Terry talked openly about
failing his first welding test and the pressure that comes with
it. When your career depends on
passing a single exam, the stakes feel incredibly high.
But the key lesson he learned was simple.
Failure isn't the end, it's feedback, because failure
happens in every craft. So how do you move forward?
I studied a lot. My teachers at school were
great, but then you build colleagues, you build friends.
A lot of the people came out of well at school my age.
I had a couple guys that were my age and then the guys that you
work with on your crew, you just ask questions for the first
couple. You shadow your, you have
someone that'll be over you, so you shadow who you're working
with. That's when you ask questions.
But like I said, I went to Wellness school, so I had a
little knowledge. It was just a safety culture.
But yeah, you have to take it with a grain of salt.
Don't take nothing personal. It's only for your good.
They're only trying to help you. Now.
The delivery might not be the best because with construction,
delivery is rough. It's better than what it used to
be back in the day, but you got to have thick skin out there.
You do. So I think once I learned that,
because at first I took everything personal, but you
can't take it personally and just received it, you know, just
receive it. They're only trying to help you.
But yeah, that's how you have to take it.
A lot of time. You have to swallow your tongue.
You could be right and still be wrong.
Similar, you know what I'm saying?
And then you thinking about the responsibilities because like I
said, when you work in nuclear, you get a different pay scale
just because of working in nuclear stuff.
Income increase comes with an increase in responsibility.
So when I say that, I mean, and oftentimes people build our
lives off these incomes, right? So you thinking about that the
whole time, like is it worth me going back and forth over this
individual because of what they're paying me and just you
get what I'm saying. You have to have those, you
know, you have to do the inner work too.
And it's a lot balancing that and work and home and it's a
lot. Different pay scales come with
different sets of responsibility, and Tyree shared
how he grew his financial understanding over time.
But what happens when you rely on a certain income level or
paycheck and it's not there? Kyrie walks us through what it
was like getting laid off during COVID and how to leverage
entrepreneurship as a backup plan.
To the entrepreneurship role and everything, just having that.
So back in the day, like I said, I speak on that a lot because I
sit around a lot of older people and they talk about the culture.
But the time the whole nuclear culture has shifted from the way
it used to be. And the reason I bring that up
is because now we have a little more freedom to and it used to
be frowned upon, like to have something going on side and it
kind of still is. It's not a bad thing.
It's just like you work here. We need to hear because a lot of
people would try to be in two places at one time.
Their mind is not focusing that how you get accidents and things
like that. But I think when the pandemic, I
was working at playing Bogor from 2013 to 2020 and the
pandemic came and stopped me from working.
I had responsibility to take care of.
So it was kind of like what am I going to do?
And I started my business and just kind of working that on the
side. And then Fast forward, just
always having that trade under my bill, I knew I was going back
to work. But I think 2022, I went back
and I learned how to have that balance.
But often times we work a lot of shutdowns sometimes.
So I work shutdowns too. So they only last two 3-4
months. We do maintenance and do
shutdowns and they last 2-3 months and then you'll get laid
off. And that looks kind of hard
sometimes when you have a family and responsibilities and bills
because you don't have no income.
Sometimes you get unemployment, sometimes you don't.
But it's always good to have and it's for any career.
Anyone listening, like I think it's always good to have
something to fall back on. But yeah, that's how my career
and my creative entrepreneurial journey started, just by having
that balance and diversity. Or does that balance in wanting
to know that if I get laid off today or when I get laid off,
because oftentimes that's the way it comes to what can I fall
back on? As the nuclear industry prepares
for new builds, one of the biggest questions is where will
the workforce come from? Tyree's advice is clear.
Ask questions, find mentors, join apprenticeships, and
understand the responsibility that comes with the work.
So if you're a student or someone thinking about the
trades, you might be wondering, how do you actually get started
in nuclear? Where do you begin and what
should you know before stepping into the industry?
Learn as much as you can if you're in school already, but if
I had to advise anyone coming fresh out of high school or just
wanting to get begin I would say join an apprenticeship.
I'm union, but you know, I just advocate for either you join an
apprenticeship or also getting under someone's tutelage and
kind of being guided. I think that's very important
because often times you have people just being honest, a lot
of people that their grandparents and parents work in
nuclear culture, and sometimes you get where they can pull
people through the cracks or just a lot of different things
that go on. And it's nothing wrong with it.
I just think that you need to know what you're doing, dealing
with this kind of stuff. And I say just learn as much as
you can. Always ask questions.
Don't be afraid. No questions, a dumb question.
They tell us that every day at work, literally.
But yeah, you can't be afraid to ask questions.
You can't be afraid to fail either.
But yeah, that my advice to a young person coming up and want
to get in nuclear, ask questions.
Like I said, it's a very, very strategic, it's very calculated
career. Like you really have to be on
top of it and then transcends into your lifestyle certain
things and certain people that you hang around with.
You can't hang around with working and carrying a nuclear
badge. You have a nuclear clearance
that is rare, you know, So some of the decisions that you make
affect your job. Things that happen off the job,
get back to the job and you can lose your clearance.
So it's a lot to go on with advice I could give to someone
wanted to learn and get inside a nuclear career.
I'm just going to have a little tidbit about that.
And you lose friends, you lose people.
The people, the kids that you grew up at with in high school
and stuff. That's not the main thing.
The friends that you hang around with, you are going to lose
them. You're in a different old,
different tech record. You're in a whole different
ecosystem, right? So, yeah, I lost a lot of
friends. I left my hometown in 2013.
I have never lived in my hometown since just being away
on the road, working and moving away and working with this kind
of career. So yeah, that's a very big point
in this career. Yeah.
Often times, if you listen long enough, sometimes the question
that you do have, they do answer.
And if most of the time if I have a question, it's like
coming from a subject that they're discussing, right?
But I mean, if someone is making, if they're having a
public discussion or we're having a group meeting and
discussion, they ask does anyone have any questions, comment
concerns. You might think about it.
But as you listen and hear and just kind of feel you have to be
very present. But I really don't really have a
lot of questions just for now because I've been in this is
year 13. Was she 2013?
So this is 2026, this is year. What?
Wait, I started in 2013 and this is 2026.
This year, 13, yeah, 13. So now I don't have a lot of
questions it depend on, like if we're working on specific tasks,
it gets embedded in me. I'm saying it becomes a
lifestyle. So not too many crazy questions,
unless it's a certain procedure you're working on or certain
tasks you're working on, you just have questions.
One point I re emphasize is something many people don't talk
about. Working in nuclear changes your
life outside of work. You hold a clearance, your
actions off the job site can affect your career, and
sometimes your path takes you away from your hometown, your
friends, and your comfort zone. But for many workers, that trade
off creates opportunity. I still can sometimes regret
that I didn't just because I didn't have the knowledge of it.
No one in my family worked union or worked, more of just
tradesmen. Most of the guys I knew that
worked at the power plant were either security or laborers.
And if they did work crafts, they worked on the road.
They didn't work in my hometown, so we would never see them, but
we would kind of asked what they do and they'd say welding and
they'd be present at the nuclear plant in Baxley, like at Hatch.
So yeah, you need to have that knowledge going into and then
you get that knowledge. But what I'm saying, the reason
why I speak on apprenticeship is because I probably could trade
fresh out of high school versus like I could have joined in the
welding trade immediately or ironworker or Boilermaker.
So welding, and I'll add to this, like welding is a part of
a craft, which would either be maybe a pipe fitter,
Boilermaker, ironworker, and that's just a tool that they
use. Most times the Craftsman frown
upon if you just come in and say I'm a welder.
And the reason why is because you need to be more complete all
around. Just because you can Weld, you
need to know how to be able to layout, read blueprints right
'cause often guys, you guys just come in and stand around.
I'm not doing anything but just welding.
Well, what about if we need you to help rig or what if we need
you to help, you know, I'm saying moving beams or different
things and you just get stuck in this mindset that I'm just a
welder and it limits you for one.
But then it just no one wants to work around those people
sometimes because they just feel like that's all they come to do.
And you get that often times on those jobs.
And that's why I say, I know how to Weld.
But there are some things that I'm still learning in the craft
as far as rigging and reading blueprints.
I'm pretty proficient. But there is so much to learn in
this culture and this craft. That's why heavily, strongly
advocate for apprenticeship. Now it's time for our rapid fire
questions. These I will just keep on good
on question back-to-back to back.
You answer as fast as you can. So first, if you go to an ice
cream shop, what flavor are you and your kids getting?
Vanilla. I'm getting vanilla or you got
kids and cream. Kids too.
They're getting rainbows and sprinkles and gummy worms and
all this kind of junk. They get everything they want,
one of everything. A bar.
Nice, Is there a place that you would like to travel to with
your whole family? Probably in the states, maybe
California. I don't want to take my family
to California. Outside of the states.
Any island? Water islands, Yeah.
Mangoes and coconuts. Yeah, yeah.
Fairness, If you had to give a Ted talk on any topic, what do
you think you would talk about? Self development, personal
development, motivation, growth, resilience, structure,
discipline, character, character building, integrity, all of
that. Easy.
That flow, this, that's, yeah, that one right off the head.
Yeah. Yeah, that's easy.
Very nice favorite meal when you're out on the road.
I like seafood, but outside of that, I'll probably have.
I like a good burger. I like a good hamburger with egg
eggs on it, fried kind of like fried egg, kind of running egg
and fries, Yeah. Nice, nice.
And last question, if you had to be the builder, the developer
for the city of the future, the city that your grandkids are
going to live in, what would you want to see in it?
Strong leadership, people who are bold, who are not afraid to
raise concern and who are aware of themselves and who are
selfless, who puts the people community first and just carry
themself with integrity like it has to be.
Today's society is just so fast with microwave mentality and
just everything growing so fast and but yeah, good people
basically. That is the first time we've got
that answer for that question. So I'm like very nice.
Thank you for having me, I enjoyed it.
Thank you. 1st, we wanted to thank Tyree so much for joining
us on this episode of Deacon Nuclear.
His story highlights something that often gets overlooked in
conversations about the future of nuclear energy.
Power plants aren't just design. They're built by people, by
craft workers, by laborers, by welders, individuals who take
pride in signing their name to work that will stand for
generations. And as the nuclear industry
grows, sharing these stories matter more than ever.
Like Tyree said, working in the industry changes your mindset,
changes your network, the people you hang out around.
There's a subtle transformation that happens working in the
nuclear industry, and it all leads back to safety culture.
Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Naked
Nuclear. We want to share more stories
like this with Boots on the Ground, welders, pipefitters,
INZ tags, anyone who wants to share their story and things
have good advice for the next generation of the workforce.
Thank you for listening to this episode of Naked Nuclear.
Until next time, stay curious. This podcast was edited by
Resonate Recordings.