Empowering Pumps recently began inviting people to Nominate a Pump Professional, and today’s Pump Person of the Week is Chris Compton, a Senior Engineer with Duke Energy.

Q. What inspired you to become an engineer? How did you get started working in the pump industry?

Chris: My father was a Mechanical Engineer.  I was interested at an early age in learning how things worked and how I could make them work better. Being that my Father worked at the fossil plant, I was exposed early on how power plants work and were fascinated by them. This familiarity with the plant atmosphere naturally drove me toward working at a power plant.

Q. What is your favorite part of your job? 

Chris: I love being able to work with systems and equipment that ultimately provides power to millions of people. I am proud that our station provides a valuable service to the customers of our community and enriches the lives of people around us. I love the fact that the pump industry is ever changing. There is always something new just waiting around the corner which makes our world more efficient and an innovative place to live.

Q. What advice would you give to someone new to the industry?  

Chris: Sometimes the work can be challenging, but remember that having something in this life that is worth any value usually never comes easy. As long as you have the drive, determination, and grit to keep pursuing your goals and aspirations, you will eventually obtain your goals and be the better for it.

Q. What are the top 5 questions you get asked by your customers and how do you answer them?

Chris: Here goes!

1.)  “Is Nuclear power safe?” I feel that Nuclear power is one of the safest forms of energy that we have today. A lot of work goes into how systems are tested, and our plants are designed to have multiple backups to our primary systems in order to satisfy our main function: “To protect the health and safety of the public”.

2.) “What do you do in Engineering?”   In Engineering, we work closely with other stakeholders in the plant (Operations, Maintenance, Work Control) to ensure systems and components operate as desired, are properly maintained, and processes are performed in a timely manner to ensure reliability, reduce downtime, and provide clean, efficient, and most importantly, safe power to many customers in our community.

3.)  “Do you like what you do?”  I like to learn new things about how the plant operates. I am always humbled by how all the various systems within the plant can work in concert with one another to provide a safe, reliable, and efficient source of power to our customers.

4.) “What are your responsibilities at the plant?”   My responsibilities include the Predictive Maintenance (PdM) program which includes vibration, oil analysis, and thermography.  I am also responsible for all the primary pumps at the plant, including the large Reactor Coolant Pumps which ensures that our reactor core is always covered and cooled.

5.) “Is your job stressful?” At times the job can be stressful.  I try to look at these times as opportunities for me to grow and learn within my profession. I believe most of life is dictated on your attitude and how you handle life on life’s terms. A quote from Winston Churchill comes to mind,  “A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty”.  With this being said, I try to live each day of my life as an optimist.