We didn't need that, of course, but because high pressure steam is so dangerous we used only union welders who were rated master and who already had experience in steam plumbing. I don't remember if there was a special ticket for that, but everybody we hired was interviewed and had to do some welding as a part of it (the equivalent of a leetcode test on the whiteboard I suppose). If it isn't obvious: I was not qualified to usefully interview any of them.

These guys were great to hang around with. go have a beer, horse around, etc with but wow, when they were on the clock all of them (machinists, etc too) were deadly serious. No fucking around.

Sounds like true professionals. There is no fucking around with serious work, when real lifes depend on it. I wish, more people had that attitude, then there would be less mess everywhere.

If it weren't for the literal toxic working environment, I'd be tempted to quit tech and return!

He had been working as a machinist and welder for BART, on a mixture of road and rail car maintenance as well as other fixed infrastructure work. He interviewed for a job at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, but was intimidated when they asked him to "weld some gold tissue paper".

The "nuclear ticket" for most is probably:

> NPT - Fabrication of parts, appurtenances, welded tubular products and piping subassemblies

From ToughNickel [2]:

> BPVC Section IX outlines the brazing and welding qualification procedures for nuclear pressure vessels. Section IX also gives the welding and brazing qualifications required to work on equipment for use around nuclear reactors. Welders must be qualified per the procedures listed in paragraph NCA-5250.

Also, appurtenances up above, not actually a typo.

[1] https://www.asme.org/getmedia/eaacef3f-e8b5-44a4-b0c6-451e1e...

[2] https://toughnickel.com/business/Nuclear-Welding-Certificati...

Presumably its a certification to weld on or around nuclear equipment.