Photo courtesy of the USNA Mechanical Engineering Department. A member of the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Propulsion Plant shows midshipmen part of the academy’s EM300N course around during their visit April 22.

The EM300N course, taught by Capt. Murray Snyder, is designed for midshipmen in non-engineering majors who have an interest in pursuing a service selection in nuclear power. The semi-annual trip to Calvert Cliffs directly supports that objective by allowing mids to view a real-life nuclear power plant at work.

The mids also work in labs with radioactive material and receive hands-on interaction with the instruments the Navy uses to detect and measure shipboard radiation and personnel exposure.

The visit included a tour of the machinery spaces that house the turbine generators, the exposure monitoring control center, and the massive freshwater intakes on the edge of the Chesapeake Bay.

Lt. Eric Kommer and Lt. Randall Leslie, both instructors in the academy’s mechanical engineering department and Navy nuclear trained junior officers, accompanied the group to offer insight about similarities between the Navy’s nuclear power plants and those at Calvert Cliffs.

The mids also learned about security measures and emergency planning at the plant and participated in two simulated casualties.

‘‘Many of Calvert Cliff’s senior management and a majority of their senior operators were prior Navy nuclear trained officers, and any visit from the Naval Academy is a highlight at the plant,” said Lt. Ethan Lust, also an instructor in the mechanical engineering department.

The power plant, built in the 1970s and owned by Constellation Energy, has two pressurized light water reactors that produce 20 percent of the power consumed by the state of Maryland. The company is currently building a third reactor.