Pilgrim

[Rennhack]

Don't forget to vote.  Keep your comments civil.

[Rennhack]

Talk About: Pilgrim

[moodusjack]

New England's Number One hot spot...yah yah yah.  I enjoyed myself for the 14 years I was there as a housepuke.  Good pay, great living by the ocean, marvelous parties.  Bad news, this place is a wrecking machine for Contractors.

[Pet_Cow]

Pilgrim is a site? I thought it was a retirement home for Road Techs.

[rlbinc]

I lived in Plymouth, thought it was great.
Good people, great food, outstanding Irish pub.
Whale watching was cool, PYM is a great airport if you like to fly.
Fenway Park was a hoot.

Make sure your car insurance is good, I chose to drive a beater truck. Full contact merge lanes.
Lots of Left-Handed-Coffee-Drinker-Right-Handed-Cell-Phone
type drivers. They USE horns and guardrails.

Good Mun, Lotsa Fun

[Pet_Cow]

I lived in Plymouth, thought it was great.
Good people, great food, outstanding Irish pub.
Whale watching was cool, PYM is a great airport if you like to fly.
Fenway Park was a hoot.

Make sure your car insurance is good, I chose to drive a beater truck. Full contact merge lanes.
Lots of Left-Handed-Coffee-Drinker-Right-Handed-Cell-Phone
type drivers. They USE horns and guardrails.

Good Mun, Lotsa Fun

Ah yes, traffic circles and pulling your car half way across the road to make a left hand turn, blocking traffic.  What idiots.

[SloGlo]

one of the few places where aggressive driving is yer first mode of defensive driving. road rage is the norm, flipping middle digits is useless as it increases the chances of spilling yer own coffee, 'n nobuddy outside of yer vehicle cares.

[duke99301]

humm I do not know what the rate there is for hp. but a safety office asked me for the upper 40 an hour range, and 550 a week in diem, thing is I makeing $1190 a week for diem in boston , seems a little low to me right now!
but I had a blast there in 93, its the last time I ran into Dirty Murdy. whats up with him?

[Luscious]

The site everyone forgot

[llamagramma]

The Llamas are working  here at Pilgrim , living on the beach on the cape.

[MuleyHunter]

Last Time there was 2001. Good night life. The Ocean is outstanding. A few nice people really stood out, Jerome, Joe and Bernie. Oh yeah Marie Rossi (Bartlett Recruiter) was working dosimetry, that alone was worth the price of admission!!!!!

[rapid]

  worked there in '81, bartletts first contract there for hp's.

the site and myself had a mutual agreement for me to terminate, had  a blast while i was there.

GOD BLESS all

rapid ray

[roadhard]

I was there in the late 90's. The RP Supervisors were good guys - but the place was a dump.

Could never get out of the RCA without crapped up shoes, CRD banks dripped continually, they had to build wood scaffold deck around risers to do ISI, they never modified the safe end barrier - so it was hand stack concrete block (incredible amount of exposure), the hand crud on the stairwell hand rails in the office building management occupied was thick enough to cut with a knife, in the same office building you could do radiocarbon testing on the dust bunnies, the carpet was worn down the center with fillet weld like dirt slopes and the stalagmites & stalactites in the microwave ovens would turn off a rat. The lunchroom ceiling tiles were caked in nicotine. Just a vile vile place with no pride. In short - the most vile Nuclear site in the nation.

I told the Night Shift Ops Supervisor about "take your daughter to work day" and dared him to bring his kid there, just to tour the office building. Fifteen minutes later my Supervisor showed up asking if I wanted an early lay off - 5 minutes later I was in the body counter.

Maybe they cleaned it up under new ownership.

Anybody got an update?

[garycom]

Worked there last spring on the refuel floor. Good bunch of people to work with.  I lived on the cape, enjoyed the seafood, and hated the traffic circles!

[Asa1]

Worked there in 99 in the drywell for Ron Passalugo. Had a great time. Got treated great for a lowly con. Hector was also very cool to work for/with. Would go back.

[doctormoo]

theres a koa on 44 in middleboro i believe

[RAD-GHOST]

I heard the word strike out there somewhere? 

Sounds kind of funny when they stage their contingency plan before they do a sit down with the bargening unit! 

Anybody know if they are paying the Seasonal Per Diem of $158.00 a day?

Inquiring Minds want to Know?

[Remo]

Hey Rad-Ghost: 150 a day for the first 30 days. 1000 bonus after training, another 1000 if they go on strike. 36.5 cent a mile in/out no cap. Remo

[RAD-GHOST]

Sounds like a nice chunk of change for the Summer, but " Be Careful    "!  Maybe they'll be paying the same at the next outage? 

Take care, keep us posted!

[hatched]

At this  point in time, as in TODAY!!!, information about the contract HP pay, per diem, etc....  should remain confidential.  Releasing info about this situation only endangers the contract HP's that are involved in this contract.  Someone amongst the contractors, feels the need to let the whole world know what is going on.    PLEASE THINK !!!!!!!!  This may be over soon and then you can talk all you want!!!!!!!!!!!

[hatched]

Hey Rad-Ghost: 150 a day for the first 30 days. 1000 bonus after training, another 1000 if they go on strike. 36.5 cent a mile in/out no cap. Remo

  This is not correct info.........and at this point in time, the  correct info will not be publicized (by me, anyway) and also, don't believe everything you  read!!

[RAD-GHOST]

Hey Hatched,

What's the Skinny?

This site is a great venue for sharing information in the Technician sector, such as this thread!

Did you ever stop and think?

Maybe the information is true, for the other techs!

Makes you wonder, RG   

[IPREGEN]

An agreement was reached between the company and the union

[Nuclear NASCAR]

An agreement was reached between the company and the union

\

Good to hear.  Hope it was a fair one that can be lived with.

[hatched]

Sorry....but wrong info again...an agreement has not been met, only proposed.   It will be voted on July 15th at 11:00 pm

[hatched]

Hey Hatched,

What's the Skinny?

This site is a great venue for sharing information in the Technician sector, such as this thread!

Did you ever stop and think?

Maybe the information is true, for the other techs!

Makes you wonder, RG   

Hey RG, 
Every tech is paid the same for this particular situation....and you have received the wrong info on pay.  ALL the techs are getting more than you have been told!

[moodusjack]

Reply to ASA1:

I'm glad your experience with ronnie and hector was memorable.  Both guys were great and I had many good times with them.

[Old HP]

Ah yes, Pilgrim, I worked the outage of 1977. Spent a long three months enjoying the short commute from Whitehorse Beach to the plant. The area was nice but the plant was nasty. As a result of my experiences there it has remained on my list of do not visit again sites.

[RAD-GHOST]

I had an invite back in 84, for a house mouse position.  Took the tour, then out the door!  That was back in the clean it up, fix it up days.  I told them to give me a call when they got done.  They never called, so I figured they never finished!  You got to love the area though, pricy, but nice!   

[Rent-A-Cop]

Sounds like most of you were there in the BECo days. Now Pilgrim is clean and at least the process building appears to be taken care of now. I can't say exactly, because my forte is security, as you could have guessed by my user name.

As far as the outbuildings go, the ones that I frequent (read: used by security & contractors) are in serious disrepair with one of the major buildings slated for demolition. But Entergy seems to take care of their own quite well.

But, in the end, sadly enough Pilgrim is still a wrecking ground for contractors, at least the permanent ones. 

[RDTroja]

Spent a large chunk of 1978 there... some of my best horror stories were born at that site. Always get great looks of disbelief when I describe the conditions there back in the day. Never been to a place that treated contractors worse (Millstone was a not-too-close second) and there was a wildcat strike that year so things got really fun when guns got involved.

Loved the area but only enough to go back for visits, never went back to work.

[cherndo]

Hey Asa, that was a good outage wasn't it.  Probably one of the easiest outages I have ever been too.  We had a great bunch of people at the Drywell that outage didn't we.  You couldn't beat the Louisiana style lobster cooking that we did also.  Hey give me a holler some time.  I've had alot of people asking about you.

[Fermione]

Spent almost two straight years at Pillgrim back in the late eighties.  Some great people worked there then.  Terry Corbett was my boss and I couldn't have asked for any better.  I generally was assigned to Radwaste so I saw all the fun places.  I was one of the Daryls of the "this is my other brother Daryl" fame. 

You could tell it was going to be an interesting day when you open the Concentrator room door and there is melted 5 gallon resin buckets on the floor due to the radiation exposure.

One of my favorite moments was with one of Purdy's boys from the Radwaste Control Room.  We had made an entry into the Floc Recycle Room to distribute the Floc more evenly in the HIC.  I look arond the corner and Bobby Mahr is jumping up and down inside the HIC and powder is flying everywhere.  Of course I yelled at him and made him leave.  He does and exits to the adjacent room. When I go out to talk to him, he's peeing into the gutter while still wearing plastics and a respirator.  His excuse, I had to go. 

Another fond memory is being dragged to security for special questioning.  Apparently a house tech overheard a conversation and it got twisted into me having a sex, drugs, and Rock & Roll party at my house on Labor day.  While under interogation, I was able to produce two ticket stubs from the Red Sox game played on the day in question.  That ended that investigation.

All in all, the area is great, getting a little congested with all the new stores etc.  Can't beat living on the Cape. 

For all you non-new englanders, the traffic circles are called rotaries.  My observation is people don't drive any more aggressive in Massachusetts than say Phoenix, San Clemente, or any other large urban area.

Do Pilgrim at least once, you may hate the plant but the other opportunities in the surrounding area make it worth the trip.

Fermi 1

[Meltdown]

A coworker is heading up to Pilgrim in a couple of weeks. I haven't been there in 10 years, but am trying to help him out. Any suggestions?

[Showme T. Money]

worked there in 2001, the plant was ok, didnt like not being able to use the site restrooms for not being union.  area was nice but we worked 7/12's so no time for exploring.

[Already Gone]

I worked the 2001 outage too.  I used whatever restroom I wanted.  Nobody tried to stop me, and there were no signs on the doors.  Are you sure you are talking about Pilgrim?

[LaFeet]

Your best bet is shacking up with several others at a winter beach house.  We managed to get one for 2000 dollars a month between the four of us.  Monumet Beach is only minutes away and cheaper than Plymouth itself.

[deconcuddles]

When I was there a few years ago, I stayed in Buzzards Bay.  There is quite a few motels and kitchenetts there.  The drive to the plant wasn't to bad either.  Pasted a few grocery stores on the way to pick up supper while working nights.  The prices weren't to bad then either.  Stayed at the Herring Run Motel.  Clean and the people were nice and worked with you on whatever shift you were on.

[LaFeet]

I managed to slide into Pilgrim after IP3's last outage.  What a change of scenery, both from a local view and the rad point of view.   I would love to go back to Pilgrim, perhaps even become a house tech there... the cost of housing prohibits this currently.

I am eagerly awaiting to see how Entergy incorporates all of the local and Corporate procedures / policies as they straddle the Mason-Dixon line.

[incrediblehulk]

As a former long-term contractor ( #@!$ Cones!! is what they called us) and house tech, I guess I have a good perspective on one of the most unique plants in the country. There's no denying the fact that it's a wrecking ball for contractors, but let me tell ya...it wasn't any day at the beach for house folk either! Still, I can fondly recall working with some of the best, funniest and craziest people in the business. I don't keep in touch with the folks back there, but I have (mostly) great memories. Also, the area is great if you have the time to spend getting to know the people and out-of-the-way places.

 Oh, and Rapid...I was there and I still remember your "agreement"....
"Y'all don't understand...I'm Rapid Ray, and Rapid Ray don't DO dayshift!"

[Hobber]

Hello,
Just interviewed for RP Tech position.  Looking for current info for cost of housing and/or cheapest areas within a reasonable commute (say 45 Min.).  Also any current facility info would be apprepriated.  Thanks in advance

LA (Hobber) Hobson

[shiine8]

Housing in Rhode Island isn't too bad!

[LaFeet]

Housing in Rhode Island isn't too bad!

I think I will just rent in Monumet Beach when I am up there again.....great view and more time for food, beer, wine and all those other off time activities

[LaFeet]

I managed to run into former Pilgrim techs and management prior to my working in Plymouth.  And the dirt I have gotten on them from Pilgrim is priceless.  I can not wait to work with those characters again.

[RadBastard]

Lafeet ,I know you and hamsamich like pilgram because you guys are close to P-TOWN.
JUST JOKING BUDDIE

[LaFeet]

Hey NIMROD...I have to travel all the way from Okie land just to go back there...Thats how much fun I had last time 

[hamsamich]

Watch out for RadBastard sneaking up behind you in the men's locker room at Calvert!  I can't believe his nukeworker thing says "very heavy user".  It should still say "Lurker".

[LaFeet]

Watch out for RadBastard sneaking up behind you in the men's locker room at Calvert!  I can't believe his nukeworker thing says "very heavy user".  It should still say "Lurker".

You boys need to grow up...... besides, Caveman is getting jealous

[LaFeet]

Just try and get me out of the British Beer Company

[Already Gone]

Don't hafta try.  The bars close at midnight in "America's Hometown".

[LaFeet]

The one in BBC Cedarville stayed open later..... just down the road from where I was staying

[shiine8]

Don't hafta try.  The bars close at midnight in "America's Hometown".

Wrong.

[shiine8]

We just posted 3 jobs here at Pilgrim as of 4/24/06 if anyone is interested....

[Nuke Lifer]

You guys are stirring up some memories for me.!
I went to Pilgrim in 81, my first time away from home, supposedly for a 3 month outage. I was finally paroled in 1986 ad haven't been back since.
Working for Chem-Nuc, we had the joy of processing, packaging and shipping over 280,000 ft3 of waste while I was there. Scabs we were. After about two years of getting verbally abused, 12 hours a day, six dats a week, I finally made peace with the union boys. Eventually, they came to sit on my front porch on Manomet Point at lunchtime to enjoy the view and down a sixer.....each. Better than having a liquid lunch in your car.
 
The radwaste 'truck' bay was a nuclear nightmare! When you walked in there, puffs of DE dust flew up into the air. Liners would float inside of the shields from being over-flowed. I spent hours and hours full dress and face pump in that hell-hole de-watering liners. 4,999 mr/yr. every year for three years straight, give or take a few mr's.

There was a trailer on site that was staffed 24/7. Wisp was the game, 24/7 as well, always full of players and watchers.
Anyone remember baby-powder filled glove liner bombs?
Is Dana Corbett still around?

Once I left Pilgrim after five years, I had been Best man at three weddings, and made many friends in, and mostly outside the plant, that I still try to keep in touch with. Cape Codders can be a little gruff at first, but after they take you in, your friends for life. I will always consider Plymouth my second 'home'. Did a lot of growing up there and learned a lot of things. Maybe the bad examples worked out well in the long run.

One regret, I wish I had bought three or four of those salt box houses on Whithorse Beach for the $30,000 asking price back then. I wouldn't be typing this now if I had!

[HouseDad]

Sorry to hear about the people problems...but you are right. I'm a native of that area, and it's not just the weather that is cold. My family was "the new neighbors" for about 20 years.....such is that awd society called New England. 

[Fermione]

Sorry to here you are miserable.  I heard hoe lousy things would be in Jersey and I have found it to be quite the opposite.  The job may not be the greatest but the shore is nice as are most of the people.  As a fellow Masshole born and bred I can only suggest that you give it some time.  It may sem a little cold but not everyone came over in the boat (my sister has us coming over on my Dad's mother's side and needs only one more confirmed piece of documentation to certify).  I lived there for two years and loved it.  With the amount the area has grown in the last 10 years I hope the diverisity of people has expanded.  Good luck!  Wish I was at Pilgrim, better yet VY.
Fermione

[roadhard]

I can't help but to throw in on this one.

Sweetie, - you would have thought a World Series Championship would have turned those frowns upside down - but nah - these are the same people who are so miserable they want us to be miserable too - so they vote Ted Kennedy into office term after term after term.

There are lots of plants out there looking for people - and in 8 or 9 years - they'll really be looking for people. But why wait that long - put MA in the rear view mirror now.

[nukewood]

I am a very positive and optimistic person, but I left the best paying house tech job at Pilgrim over 20 years ago to save my children from the " attitude " that they started bringing home from  school. My boss informed me that if you stopped and looked both ways at a red light it was considered a sign of weakness.

[Marlin]

My boss informed me that if you stopped and looked both ways at a red light it was considered a sign of weakness.

"Don't make eye contact with the driver on the side road" That was one of the first things I was told when I got there and it was true, once you made eye contact they pulled out in front of you and stopping was your problem.

Bethlehemstar, I only spent a year there but have to say I enjoyed it including the people. The locals are a little narrow and anal about change which leaves roads with four times the traffic that it was designed for. Next time you can use nukeworker prior to making a desicion.

[nowhereman]

sorry to hear how bad it is up thar, but it has to be better than raising a family on outage work...

[RRhoads]

well...sorry but they call 'em M-ASSHOLES for a reason.
The plant sux too but that would be "off topic".

[Carolina Jethro]

I have to say it reminds me of my first stay in that area... when I got ready to leave there I told the locals that I know why they are such rude a_holes... that if I had to live there all the time I would be mad at the world too... but I do agree with Fermione that VY is a great place... totally different breed of Yankees up there... they just talk kinda funny! Good Luck and hope things get better!

[elwood]

I was stationed in rotten Grotten Ct  so I know what M-holes are like.  I turned down that job just because of the area. I would not subject my family to that kind of living conditions. 

[ChiefRocscooter]

Hey we should be fair about this bashing the New Englanders thing after all if we slam on them to hard they will start to feel bad and move south, which will qualify them for DAMN Yankee status.  Besides there are some good people up there, well ya most of them are from other parts of the country,,, aww hell never mind, I would'nt go there either.

Rob

PS The only good thing I got in Groton was my wife and she was actually from Fl (Dad retired from Navy there, eventually they along with rest of her family they moved back south, so I do not even have to travel north of the MANSON NIXION line anymore!! 

[earlbear11]

 maybe you should not have applied for the job???

[alphadude]

yep in general new england sucks, it is a society of consumers and how much money you can spend to look good. the area is beautiful but tooo many people stuck in their ways..  go west- the farther away you are from new england and the belt way of washington the better off you are- Then you can see what America is about..

[shiine8]

Man, what a bunch of ignorant comments!  That's like saying every one down south chews tobacco and watches NASCAR. How many "rude, damn yankees" are holding a gun to your head to keep you from quitting?

[alphadude]

the voice of experience usually doesnt mean ignorance- which means a lack of knowledge.  i would say that the statements are more prejudice with little to no ignorance demonstrated actually.

Besides we don't really care how they do it on long island. 

[Llama]

That's like saying every one down south chews tobacco and watches NASCAR.

Hey Shine! Ya forgot about the Fishin Channel 

Take care my friend

See ya this weekend MARSSIM

[Marlin]

Well, I really just want to whine.  And maybe someone out there can make me feel better about this.

Well, I did whine, and I do apologize for that. And I did get some sympathy (which I think is all I was really looking for, and it made me feel better!)

Those of us men who have been married successfully for a long period of time have been educated (beaten down and whipped for you single men) and recognize venting. We know these are "Yes Dear" moments, but sometimes the devil makes us give our wives real advice. I hope this venting session helped and that you find the people there are fundamentally like any one else. My perception of those in high population densities is that they are suspicious of overly friendly people, but make very good friends once they get to know you. You don't have to wonder what someone from Boston thinks. they will tell you. I am from the midwest and found that I had to make an adjustment to New Englanders and Southerners. Good luck and enjoy yourself there is plenty to do in Boston and out on the Cape.

[alphadude]

America is all about speed. Hot, nasty, badass speed. -Eleanor Roosevelt, 1936

[incrediblehulk]

Having worked there for quite a bit of time and having married a local, My opinion is that there's no "secret word or funny handshake". I quickly came to the realization that while certain areas of the country consider the behavior of New Englanders to be rude, THEY believe that they are showing a "polite reserve". They are just as confused by the outgoing familiarity that Southerners and Mid-Westerers feel is normal. Once I realized this, I started treating the locals with (to my mind) a stand-off attitude until the person got to know me. Once I was known and accepted, the friendships I made there have lasted almost 30 years now.

Having said that, I understand how it would be hard for a single mom to be out in the community meeting and interacting with locals...and I mean locals, not plant folk... but until you do, I'm afraid you're stuck being the newbie. Hope things get better for you, as the good parts of the area are incredible.

[alphadude]

yep it cold up thar more ways than one...

[Rennhack]

Talk about Pilgrim thread???

[PWHoppe]

Talk about Pilgrim thread???

As you wish

Sounds like the logical place to be a this point...

[shiine8]

Oh , don't listen to Hoppe, he's probably wearing his Chubs Tie thinking about how nice Matsusaka would've looked in a Cubs shirt!!!!!  Ho Pat.... hope all is well with you...went fishing with Bronicki this past summer and had a ball...R U still consulting??  Shine

[Vic Vega]

You mentioned that "a good portion of the blame does lay with me."  Maybe you ought to delve a little further into that statement instead of blaming everyone else for your misery.  You also must be quite "narrow" to make such sweeping generalizations that "these are the most narrow people I have ever met" and that "if your ancestors didn't step off the Mayflower, then they don't want you here."  Sounds as if you are no better than the people you are describing.  New Englanders may appear cold and rude, but once you get to know them, they have incredibly warm hearts.  From my past experiences, workers at Pilgrim go far out of their way to make people, whether you are an ex-Navy nuke or just not from the area, as comfortable and welcome as possible.  Perhaps it is your approach that is faulty.  One thing New Englanders (and most considerate people, I would imagine) will not tolerate is a person that is condescending and "Holier than Thou".  If this sounds like you, you may want to try re-evaluating your strategy.  The only "secret code word to get into the club" is a smile, some sincerity and most importantly, humility.  A little of that goes a long way.  Try it out and let me know how it works.  Sounds like you've got nothing to lose.  And if its sympathy that you want, you've definitely moved to the wrong area. 

[nickthestick]

I also married a local, or two there, the second has worked out 1000 times better than the first. What I can tell you coming from the midwest, and living there for 14 years, is that if you give it time, and are open minded, the people are great, the area is beautiful, and that you too may eventually fall in love with it. My personal opinion, but I felt out of place when I first moved there too, for about 6 months. Just stay open minded, and consider yourself more fortunate than many other people, for landing a great job. Now that I'm not there, I try and get back afew times a year for our vacations. And a quick shout out to Shine, miss ya man!

[shiine8]

Sorry I missed you at Bronicki's this past summer Nick, I think you were in Chicago. Any new additions??? Take care....

[RRhoads]

well one can't downplay the fact that Pilgrim ranks right up there with Oyster Creek

[shiine8]

Well, as long as adolecent heavy metal worshippers stay away, I don't think anyone at Pilgrim really cares what others have to say about the place.

[RRhoads]

well...i remember you when you were a rocker at IP. so leave the music out!
The plant (Pilgrim) still sux IMHO. The thread is talk about pilgrim, Pilgrim!

[go-lsu-fan]

Anyone know of a place to stay around this area please let me know................Dennis

[LaFeet]

Pilgrim, while small, does  not suck.  The people at the plant were  great and I had a ball.  Hey Shine,  this here Reb isa coming back for another round.  Without the chew, and no NASCAR here. 

I favor the smaller plants, and the change of seasons.  As to who thinks what.... to each their own.   Just dont dump because you cant adapt.

[RDTroja]

When I was there (about 100 years ago) I got along very well with the locals, loved the area (except for winter which was AWFUL)  and the plant still ranks among the worst 2 or 3 I have ever been to (out of about 30 or so). The dose rates were outrageous (pegged a teletector several times outside the drywell), the contamination levels were by far the worst I have ever seen (15 REM gamma on a smear, and widely spread) and most of the house techs would have had to come up several levels to be considered anything but arrogant and downright mean... and I am trying hard to be polite. Other than that it was a great place to work. I hope things there have changed, but it would take a lot to get me to go back to find out.

[RRhoads]

hum..from the looks of the polls...average or BELOW...Seems just about right from when i was there in '97...BTW ..it sucked then!

[hamsamich]

the polls don't account for people who worked there in the 80s vs people in near past, so how do we know many of the people rating Pilgrim aren't doing if from a 20 year old experience.  I say this because I was there in 05 and liked it very much.  Anzalone and Fitzy, what up!  Steve was the man too...thanks for hooking me up with that job man!  Pilgrim rocked, lately.....

[LaFeet]

 There is still a large number of local "Off Season" rentals near the plant on various sites:

 www.vbro.com
 www.cyberrental.com
 
 These are just two that I use often.


 Good luck and see you there.... I believe I am drywell bound (again) 

[LaFeet]

Currently here at Pilgrim, and while it seems to be a fluster cluck,   it is still enjoyable to be here......... and no facial percons on my watch (yet).   Looks like I owe a lot of people a beer

And yeah,  I'll definitely come back for the next outage

[LaFeet]

I told them I had a Plasma Cutter for that pump seal....... now if they can just pass a few Nozzle ISI's we could get an outage started.   Still love it here.

[Already Gone]

Sorry, can't do plasma on stainless anymore.  Look for a lot of changes with welding and cutting.  Lots of sucking rubber for a few years.

[LaFeet]

Thats okay with me Beercourt... I was just offering anyway.  We finally got the darn thingie out, and its going back together finally.  Just some two weeks behind now...

[fntstk4]

can you guys tell me what schedule the operators are on?  8s/12s?  rotation?

thanks...

[LaFeet]

There's no operators here......   oh you mean the guys who hang tags

I believe they are on 12 hour shifts.... I could be wrong.

[LaFeet]

Outage layoff list has hit the fan..... most leave Saturday the 28th.

And the drywell is still open.......  these house techs gonna be busy bees soon.

Would love to stay, but VY isa callin

[fntstk4]

thanks much

i applied for an AO spot, just trying to get my ducks in a row...figure out what i'm potentially in for

[LaFeet]

thanks much

i applied for an AO spot, just trying to get my ducks in a row...figure out what i'm potentially in for

Got word today   fuel done movin   however....  that N2K nozzle just being a bast3RD..... and the tubine and condy bay still looks like Iraq on  bad day.....

Hey Brian   Mickey   I am available to go back after VY  I could always get more beer....maybe Shine will let me stay with him???

[LaFeet]

Any word on Pilgrim?   I am working on my second week at VY

[fueldryer]

Sorry, can't do plasma on stainless anymore.  Look for a lot of changes with welding and cutting.  Lots of sucking rubber for a few years.

Why is it you can't use plasma on stainless ? Just curious.

[Nuclear NASCAR]

Why is it you can't use plasma on stainless ? Just curious.

They're tightening the regulations on hexavalent chromium: http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/hexavalentchromium/index.html

[Already Gone]

Let me clarify my earlier statement.
You can use a PAC on stainless, but the airborne Hex Chrome is about 30 micrograms per cubic meter.  This is 6 times the PEL.  Even in a respirator, you would have to track the hours of exposure, take air samples, use HEPA ventillation, have medical evaluations done .... yada, yada, yada.
Lately, TIG welding is the only weld process that doesn't allow for the oxydation of Chromium to Cr-VI.  Maybe dual-shield flux core as well, but I haven't looked into that yet.  SMAW (stick) welding is almost as bad as the plasma arc cutting according to the air samples I have seen.
Since they lowered the PEL from 50 to 5 ug/m3, the world of stainless work has gotten a lot harder to navigate.

[Mike McFarlin]

And every facility has their on interpretation of these new guidelines, making it even harder for the world of stainless cutting and welding.

[LaFeet]

And every facility has their on interpretation of these new guidelines, making it even harder for the world of stainless cutting and welding.

I thought all you needed was a blow dryer, half face mask, and a lot of acetylene

[larsorad]

This isn't really any response to a positive or negative posting about pilgrim, but the plant is a good place to work full time. There will most likely be a few house tech positions being posted here very soon. In the past, we've hired techs who were familiar freinds of present house tech's and  that has turned out well.  What the heck , send in a resume. We are a factor (or so, we like to think) in who gets the nod. Our staffing #'s are small and we could use some help.

[Blaxmas]

Hey, people.  This is my first post on the nukeworker forums.  I've had my 2nd class fireman's license for a few months and have zero success finding a job.  I'm interested in applying at Pilgrim but I cannot even find a WEBSITE for Pilgrim.  When I search "pilgrim nuclear" (or something similar) it just brings up a bunch of sites PROTESTING it!  All these power plants these days require that you apply through their website.  Anyone know the pilgrim site URL or how to apply?  Thanks!

[HouseDad]

Hey, people.  This is my first post on the nukeworker forums.  I've had my 2nd class fireman's license for a few months and have zero success finding a job.  I'm interested in applying at Pilgrim but I cannot even find a WEBSITE for Pilgrim.  When I search "pilgrim nuclear" (or something similar) it just brings up a bunch of sites PROTESTING it!  All these power plants these days require that you apply through their website.  Anyone know the pilgrim site URL or how to apply?  Thanks!

Pilgrim is part ofthe Entergy system -
Entergy posts their jobs right here on Nukeworker

The website is www.entergy.com for the company page.

Good Luck, most of the fire brigade is covered by plant operators though....

[ookiewookie]

Pilgrim is my favorite place to work.  Well, this one and Comanche Peak.  House techs and most other departments are friendly.  The plant is small and easy to learn your way around.  I'm not too crazy about it being an Entergy plant as I think Entergy does not treat its employees terribly well.  But overall, a great place to work and above all I like its location location location. 

[Broadzilla]

I had heard at one time Pilgrim was a dose trap, is that still true?

[Motown homey]

I had heard at one time Pilgrim was a dose trap, is that still true?

They've been better over the last five or six years, but last year had some problems during their outage.  They just put in Noble metals and expect a big boost from that for dose control.

[LaFeet]

Dose was down by a Large factor for last outage.....hoping to go there in the Spring.

Hey Shine... Brian, whats going on out there?  Ive been asked to go there in May???

[Already Gone]

Pilgrim is part ofthe Entergy system -
Entergy posts their jobs right here on Nukeworker

The website is www.entergy.com for the company page.

Good Luck, most of the fire brigade is covered by plant operators though....

A second class fireman's license has nothing to do with firefighting.  It is a license to operate a boiler.  Most fossil plants hire people with Stationary Engineer and Fireman Licenses but nukes do not unless they transfer over from a fossil unit.  Then, of course, their licenses become useless.
Firefighters put out fires - firemen keep them going!

[HouseDad]

A second class fireman's license has nothing to do with firefighting.  It is a license to operate a boiler.  Most fossil plants hire people with Stationary Engineer and Fireman Licenses but nukes do not unless they transfer over from a fossil unit.  Then, of course, their licenses become useless.
Firefighters put out fires - firemen keep them going!

Thank you for the info Obi-wan, technical terminology and the english language can be confusing. 

[cairnit]

Was told that the Pilgrim job listed was for strike contingency. They want people trained to come in and work in case there is one.

What's up?

[ramdog_1]

  I do not know what is going on it is a hard choice to make but we are not coming from the hall.
what to do I liked it there been there years ago. If I could go I would be  there had fun down at white horse beach. it was the last time I seen Dirty Murdy and Bill Thew. where are they now?

[LaFeet]

Sounds like everything is running a bit smoother -  the strike being averted.  Hope the best for youse guys and dolls up there.  I expect to see you all in the spring.

[Motown homey]

Organizational Announcement from Pilgrom Communications Staff

On Monday, June 23rd,  John ‘Jack’ Priest will be joining the Pilgrim team to take on the role of Radiological Protection Manager.

Jack comes to us from Fermi 2, Detroit Edison, where he has held both the positions of Radiation Protection Manager and Radiation Protection Superintendent.  His experience includes assignments at First Energy, Davis Besse and Perry Nuclear Power Stations, Westinghouse Hanford, and United Nuclear Corp.  Jack hails from Boston and is a graduate of Lowell University with a Bachelor of Science in Radiological Health Physics.

There will be a transition period before Jack fully assumes the RPM responsibilities; I expect turnover to be complete by early July.

I also want to take the opportunity to thank Bill Mauro, and Tom McElhinney, who have helped lead the RP Department this year and have worked diligently to help all of us be successful and safe radiation workers.

Please welcome Jack as he begins his assignment as a new member of our Pilgrim team. 

[UncaBuffalo]

Good Restaurants:

Wood's Fish...at the north end of the waterfront, by the fishing charter boats.   Wood's is also a fish market, so you can check out the seafood before you order it.  I recommend the grilled swordfish, but the fried fish & scallops are good, too.  (Note:  downtown Plymouth & the waterfront are a zoo on the weekends...try Wood's for lunch or early supper on a weekday...they close at 7pm on weekdays during the winter.)

Bangna Gardens (Thai food)...take exit 9 (Kingston) and head west...you go maybe a couple of miles...it's on the right as soon as you cross the railroad tracks (across from the post office).  I've been eating Thai food for 20 years & Bangna Gardens is the most consistently good-to-great Thai cooking I've found.  We're trying to sample everything on the menu - about halfway through it.  Everything has been good, but I especially recommend the pineapple soup & tamarind duck.



....and, a bit further afield, Antonio's in New Bedford has great Portuguese food!  (Try the chicken Antonio.)  267 Coggeshall St...take the Coggeshall exit and hang a left...Antonio's is a couple of lights down on the right.

And if you make it to Fall River, try the Waterstreet Cafe for dinner & catch a show at Narrows Center for the Arts...both are located under the bridge by Battleship Cove & the Maritime Museum, so easy to find.

Boston:  I like to stop for dim sum at Hei La Moon...88 Beach St just outside Chinatown (across from the arch).  Very authentic (95% of the clientele & wait-staff won't be speaking English)...and a great value...easy to feed 4 people for $25.  And then wander over to Chinatown and have a bubble tea for dessert.



Honorable mention:  The Indian place & Thai place in downtown Plymouth are above average, but over-priced.  The gourmet Brazilian place in North Plymouth has an interesting buffet (plus churrasco meat on the weekends).

[Already Gone]

Kiskadee Coffee downtown makes some kickass panini.  Try the chicken pesto.

[UncaBuffalo]

Good Restaurants:

Wood's Fish...at the north end of the waterfront, by the fishing charter boats.   Wood's is also a fish market, so you can check out the seafood before you order it.  I recommend the grilled swordfish, but the fried fish & scallops are good, too.  (Note:  downtown Plymouth & the waterfront are a zoo on the weekends...try Wood's for lunch or early supper on a weekday...they close at 7pm on weekdays during the winter.)

Bangna Gardens (Thai food)...take exit 9 (Kingston) and head west...you go maybe a couple of miles...it's on the right as soon as you cross the railroad tracks (across from the post office).  I've been eating Thai food for 20 years & Bangna Gardens is the most consistently good-to-great Thai cooking I've found.  We're trying to sample everything on the menu - about halfway through it.  Everything has been good, but I especially recommend the pineapple soup & tamarind duck.



....and, a bit further afield, Antonio's in New Bedford has great Portuguese food!  (Try the chicken Antonio.)  267 Coggeshall St...take the Coggeshall exit and hang a left...Antonio's is a couple of lights down on the right.

And if you make it to Fall River, try the Waterstreet Cafe for dinner & catch a show at Narrows Center for the Arts...both are located under the bridge by Battleship Cove & the Maritime Museum, so easy to find.

Boston:  I like to stop for dim sum at Hei La Moon...88 Beach St just outside Chinatown (across from the arch).  Very authentic (95% of the clientele & wait-staff won't be speaking English)...and a great value...easy to feed 4 people for $25.  And then wander over to Chinatown and have a bubble tea for dessert.


Honorable mention:  The Indian place & Thai place in downtown Plymouth are above average, but over-priced.  The gourmet Brazilian place in North Plymouth has an interesting buffet (plus churrasco meat on the weekends).

Hei La Moon only serves Dim Sum until about 2:30pm...as I found to my dismay the other afternoon... 

[namlive]

Pilgram. In this area you can buy cranberry pancakes. From experience I can tell you there are two foods that never should be mixed together. Those are cranberries and pancakes. What were these people thinking?

[UncaBuffalo]

Good Restaurants:

Wood's Fish...at the north end of the waterfront, by the fishing charter boats.   Wood's is also a fish market, so you can check out the seafood before you order it.  I recommend the grilled swordfish, but the fried fish & scallops are good, too.  (Note:  downtown Plymouth & the waterfront are a zoo on the weekends...try Wood's for lunch or early supper on a weekday...they close at 7pm on weekdays during the winter.)

Bangna Gardens (Thai food)...take exit 9 (Kingston) and head west...you go maybe a couple of miles...it's on the right as soon as you cross the railroad tracks (across from the post office).  I've been eating Thai food for 20 years & Bangna Gardens is the most consistently good-to-great Thai cooking I've found.  We're trying to sample everything on the menu - about halfway through it.  Everything has been good, but I especially recommend the pineapple soup & tamarind duck.



....and, a bit further afield, Antonio's in New Bedford has great Portuguese food!  (Try the chicken Antonio.)  267 Coggeshall St...take the Coggeshall exit and hang a left...Antonio's is a couple of lights down on the right.

And if you make it to Fall River, try the Waterstreet Cafe for dinner & catch a show at Narrows Center for the Arts...both are located under the bridge by Battleship Cove & the Maritime Museum, so easy to find.

Boston:  I like to stop for dim sum at Hei La Moon...88 Beach St just outside Chinatown (across from the arch).  Very authentic (95% of the clientele & wait-staff won't be speaking English)...and a great value...easy to feed 4 people for $25.  And then wander over to Chinatown and have a bubble tea for dessert.



Honorable mention:  The Indian place & Thai place in downtown Plymouth are above average, but over-priced.  The gourmet Brazilian place in North Plymouth has an interesting buffet (plus churrasco meat on the weekends).

Add Carmela's (Italian...Kingston @ exit 9) to the list of great food!  I haven't had anything off their menu that wasn't tasty & well-prepared...

...and the British Beer Company in Cedarville (exit 2) actually has decent pizza (the New York style, not the pub style) to go with their wide beer selection.  And the salads are very nice, also.  The rest the food is generic, at best.

[hamsamich]

what?  have you tried this place.....obviously not.


Blue-Eyed Crab Grille And Raw Bar

[UncaBuffalo]

what?  have you tried this place.....obviously not.


Blue-Eyed Crab Grille And Raw Bar

Never even heard of it...but it's almost lunch time, so guess we'll head down there now...I'll let you know what I think...



Oh...another place that's worth a stop, if you are up towards Quincy, is Firefly's.  Best barbecue joint I've found north of the Mason-Dixon line.  Take the Furnace Brook exit and head towards Quincy...it's on the northwest corner of Furnace Brook & Adams, behind the gas station.   We had dinner there last night and stuck with our standby meal of pulled pork with Memphis sauce, pan-seared vegetables, & sweet potato pecan pudding...but they have about 6 barbecue sauces, 50 hot sauces, 2 kinds of ribs, 2 kinds of brisket.... 

[Smooth Operator]

Heading up to Pilgrim for First Line Supervisor interview....

...any idea what a nuclear dept supervisor makes ballpark?

[UncaBuffalo]

Heading up to Pilgrim for First Line Supervisor interview....

...any idea what a nuclear dept supervisor makes ballpark?

$110K +/-10%...and that is just a best guess, because I haven't looked at a posting in about a year...

[Smooth Operator]

Chemistry Supervisor

[UncaBuffalo]

Another place for Italian (if you are headed north) is Pacini's.  Exit 13 (Route 53 - Hanover Mall exit ) off 3...go away from mall...it's in that first shop complex on the right (it's too upscale to be a strip mall, but...).  Not much for ambiance, but the food is great...I especially recommend the grilled items.

[hamsamich]

well buf?  how about the blue-eyed?

[UncaBuffalo]

well buf?  how about the blue-eyed?

I haven't had to go back.  I think it has a wonderful idea, with poor execution. 

I haven't completely crossed it off the list, because it was lunch when I went, and sometimes the good chef is the evening chef.  When your massage therapist took me to lunch there the preparation was average and/or over salted.

Also, they may have changed management since you were here.  How were portion/price ratios then?  Now, everything seems either under-sized, or over-priced...?

Anyway, it's nice to see a place trying to serve interesting, well-thought-out cuisine, so I will probably give them another shot at a future date...

[UncaBuffalo]

Okay, I was offered a job at Pilgrim a few years back.  Polled my friends and they all said, "Are you freaking CRAZY?"




So, I looked at NukeWorker and found:

one of the few places where aggressive driving is yer first mode of defensive driving. road rage is the norm, flipping middle digits is useless as it increases the chances of spilling yer own coffee, 'n nobuddy outside of yer vehicle cares.

The area was nice but the plant was nasty. As a result of my experiences there it has remained on my list of do not visit again sites.

But, in the end, sadly enough Pilgrim is still a wrecking ground for contractors, at least the permanent ones.  

As a former long-term contractor ( #@!$ Cones!! is what they called us) and house tech, I guess I have a good perspective on one of the most unique plants in the country. There's no denying the fact that it's a wrecking ball for contractors, but let me tell ya...it wasn't any day at the beach for house folk either!

Sorry to hear about the people problems...but you are right. I'm a native of that area, and it's not just the weather that is cold. My family was "the new neighbors" for about 20 years.....such is that awd society called New England.  

But why wait that long - put MA in the rear view mirror now.

I am a very positive and optimistic person, but I left the best paying house tech job at Pilgrim over 20 years ago to save my children from the " attitude " that they started bringing home from  school.

well...sorry but they call 'em M-ASSHOLES for a reason.
The plant sux too but that would be "off topic".

I have to say it reminds me of my first stay in that area... when I got ready to leave there I told the locals that I know why they are such rude a_holes... that if I had to live there all the time I would be mad at the world too...

I was stationed in rotten Grotten Ct  so I know what M-holes are like.  I turned down that job just because of the area. I would not subject my family to that kind of living conditions.  

...the plant still ranks among the worst 2 or 3 I have ever been to (out of about 30 or so). ...most of the house techs would have had to come up several levels to be considered anything but arrogant and downright mean... and I am trying hard to be polite. ... I hope things there have changed, but it would take a lot to get me to go back to find out.

So, I thought I was prepared for what I might find there.  



I thought it over for a LONG time and decided that it was too good a job offer and I had to give it a try.  After all, I had been to umpteen different plants and always been able to find a way to make it work...how much worse could Pilgrim be?



Well, I found out.  It is just flat BRUTAL when you first get to Pilgrim.  I tried every trick I knew to try to keep out of their abuse & hostility, but...no luck.  

After two or three months, I just threw in the towel on trying to enjoy myself and went into stealth mode to survive.  That lasted about a year.  Then, I reached the point where I just didn't care whether I ended up having to quit.  Don't know if not caring made my attitude that much better, or if I finally got acclimated, but the last year was great!  

There are some really great people at the plant and I reached a truce with the others, so was able to make my own fun.  

I would still be working Pilgrim, if family issues hadn't come up.  


BUT, I would NEVER recommend the plant to someone who wasn't from the area.





Modified for spelling

[HouseDad]

There are some really great people at the plant and I reached a truce with the others, so was able to make my own fun.  

I would still be working Pilgrim, if family issues hadn't come up.  


BUT, I would NEVER recommend the plant to someone who wasn't from the area.

I'm from the area..... and I'm not sure I would like it there....

[Laundry Man]

I can put up with just about anything to have all that fishing so close by.  I spent almost two years there quite awhile ago, I thought it was great. 
LM

[HouseDad]

I've never been to Pilgrim,...

but from what conversations I have had, if shine is there it can't be all bad,....

word brother shine,......word 

One ray of "Shine" would make it liveable...

[shiine8]

Beleive it or not, PNPS is nothing like it was in the past. It's a very good place to work and the area is nice although winters are just too long. We even get about 75% returnees for our outages now!! Although I'm sure Massachusetts unemplyment plays into that somewhat.

[Sun Dog]

Beleive it or not, PNPS is nothing like it was in the past. It's a very good place to work and the area is nice although winters are just too long. We even get about 75% returnees for our outages now!! Although I'm sure Massachusetts unemplyment plays into that somewhat.

Sounds like someone has season tickets to Sox, Pats, Celts and Bruins!

[shiine8]

Just the Bruins!!!! Pats season is too cold, Sox season is either too cold, too hot or too wet and Celtic season is just too damned expensive!!

[LaFeet]

Heck I'd go there if they'd have me..... I enjoyed each day I worked there in the past

[UncaBuffalo]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/25/utilities-entergy-pilgrim-renewal-idUSL1E8GP8GC20120525


Congrats! 

[Marlin]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/25/utilities-entergy-pilgrim-renewal-idUSL1E8GP8GC20120525


Congrats! 

Jaczko was the only opposing vote.