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Meet Robert Fuller: A model of employee longevity
05/19/2025
Throughout our celebration of Grand Gulf’s 40 years, it’s only fitting that we feature the site’s most tenured employees. Meet Robert Fuller, here since startup days in October 1984, a model of longevity in service to the station.
Fuller calls himself “lucky” in the circumstances leading to his employment with Entergy, then known as Mississippi Power and Light. As a mechanical engineering graduate from Mississippi State University, he was first employed at a can labeling machine factory until one day he decided to walk in to Mississippi Power & Light—still wearing his construction clothes—to complete an application.
“I told them I was a mechanical engineer, and they told me to wait a minute. And then all of a sudden, they said, ‘The director of human resources wants to see you.’ So, I went in there and he said, ‘We just had a job opening come up in the simulator a week ago, and they're looking for a mechanical engineer.’ And I had just walked off the street! He said, ‘Can you do an interview today?’”
“So, I made arrangements to miss work that afternoon. I went home to get a suit and went out to the site, and I interviewed with Mike Shelley and John Throckmorton. Oh, my goodness. I didn't think I was going to get a job that quick. That was October 22, 1984.”
Looking back over his first six years in the simulator, Fuller recalls how he built mathematical models on a mainframe computer. “We had to have three or four big, bulky mainframe computers,” he said. “The biggest drive on the mainframe was an 80-megabyte disk drive, and all the simulations ran on big, bulky 12-inch disc plates. It was so big, you had to pick it up with a big handle to tote it around.”
“I’d go get a reel-to-reel tape, transfer the calculations over to the simulator computer, then build a model. And it didn't take like a minute or two; it took 30 minutes to run the model. And that was for just one model!”
“Of course, the hardware has changed significantly, and they're making new advances every day in the hardware realm of input/outputs,” he continued.
“Now, PCs can run the simulator—I’m sorry, PCs do run the simulator!” Fuller said. “In fact, I can run it all from my PC at my desk. Now, you can put a thumb drive in your pocket and put the whole model, the whole simulator, in your pocket and walk around with it.”
The newest technological advances in the simulator are a boon to students who grew up using gaming and cellphone touchscreens. “Now, they train the students on glass-panel touchscreens that mimic a plant panel or indication,” Fuller said. “You can get the students more familiar with the panels in the field instead of having to tell them about it in the classroom. You can actually let them play with it and do human/machine interface with it.”
For all the advances in computer hardware, however, Fuller is quick to point out that “the simulator does not produce senior reactor operators. It's the attitude of the students and the instructors about how they're going to go about getting their SRO license.”
“It's like me and this PhD I was bound and determined to get,” he explained. “I finally got a PhD in mechanical engineering, same as my master’s and my undergraduate degree. It took me 20 years to do it, but I got there.”
After six years in the training simulator, Fuller transferred to design mechanical engineering and supported several departments over the course of many scheduled maintenance outages over four decades. “I'm good at analysis and mathematical modeling; that's my forté,” he said.
Over the years, Fuller has noted several changes in the workforce, particularly among his engineering peers. “In the early days, when I was given a technical problem, I would usually try and solve it myself using BASIC and FORTRAN. Now, the tendency is to go to a vendor to get them to give you some kind of answer.”
Fuller has also noticed the tendency of younger workers to change jobs several times over the course of their career. “When I was hired, when you got a job, you got a retirement; you were going to be with the company forever. You might transfer around, but you weren't going anywhere. And that's still my attitude.”
Fuller returned to training in 2024, at the request of leaders who valued his broad perspective and expertise. Seeing the opportunity to expand his diverse skill base even more, he seized the opportunity to return full circle to the simulator.
“I’ve been lucky in being able to go from material science to thermal hydraulics to electrical print reading and nuclear engineering,” he said. “I'm building radiation models now.”
Four decades have offered Fuller an expansive perspective on company changes and their short-term and long-term effects.
“I’ve noticed that we seem to recognize individuals more these days,” he said. “And I think it does affect people's attitude. Our site has gotten much better in being responsive to the needs of the plant. They've been on the ball, getting it solved and getting it done.”
Forty years and three degrees have also afforded Fuller the right to offer tips for success.
“Regardless of discipline, I’d tell any new person at the plant to pay attention to detail, because life is hard and if you do something dumb, life just gets harder. A person has to know their limitations and when to reach out for help.”
“Also, new employees need to develop an attitude about how they're going to approach their job. Me, I always believe I'm going to do the best I can and make a useful product for the plant or the operator or the engineer to use.”
When asked about his philosophy of work, Fuller said, “Let me give you the Mr. Spock philosophy from Star Trek: The good of the many outweighs the good of the one. I believe that’s still true today.”
And looking back over the good that he’s been able to do over the years, Fuller says he considers it “a stroke of luck” that he walked off the street into the electric building and submitted his job application.
“I could hardly believe it when they said, ‘We have a job for you in the simulator,’ he recalled. “And goodness, they wanted me to build mathematical models. They were then, and they still are, my forté.
