History

A Brief History of the Professional Reactor Operator Society

As Compiled by Scott Ruesch & Frank Maciuska
June 27, 1997

Remember Three-Mile Island (TMI)? Even if you weren't in the nuclear business in March of 1979, you couldn't have missed all the references since. As markers for change go, the event itself will not soon be forgotten, but more important are the lessons learned on all fronts.

Life was not very pleasant for the nuclear plant operators in the early eighties. The Three Mile Island accident started a chain of reforms in the industry that to a large extent were directed at operators. The basis for change was reported to be that the accident was caused by operator error. That announcement was made to the public almost immediately after the accident began and, as the core was uncovering, every special interest group in the nuclear industry was racing to protect its image.

In the days that followed, a media picture of incompetence in the TMI control room emerged. As we operators picked up the bits and pieces of information, it became clear that the picture was somewhat distorted. The TMI operators were being held accountable for deficiencies that legions of engineers, designers, trainers, and regulators had failed to recognize. Operators everywhere began to imagine themselves in a similar situation and realized that the results would probably be the same.

During the next few years, the industry was deluged with solutions to the “problem" of operator incompetence. The solutions ranged from threats of jail sentences to mandatory college degrees for all nuclear power plant operators. Few thought it was necessary to ask operators what tools they needed to help them operate the plants.

With that forgone introduction, it was early in 1981 that Bob Meyer, a Prairie Island Nuclear Plant operator, earnestly began to think that it might be possible to form an organization that might help licensed operators present their viewpoint. Turning thought into action, the Professional Reactor Operator Society (PROS) was created to fulfill that purpose.

Since its inception PROS has been the independent voice of member operators across the country. PROS has been successful in helping the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) rethink the requirement of operator degree requirements, challenged the NRC on a proposed Sequestration Rule successfully in court, and presented the “in the trenches" perspective to the NRC on many other issues.

The Society receives no funding from the utility industry other than the financial reimbursement any employee might receive as a member of a professional association. PROS strength is that it is about operators, run by operators for operators.