Palo Verde

[Phurst]

Man you'd never get me to move to Arizona. Southern Tennessee is about as close to heaven as I've ever been.

Mike

Then you must have never been outside Tenn. I'll take the west anyday, some of the northeast, a bit of the west coast, than if I ma forced, a touch of western SC. To each his own but trust me, anywhere in Tenn is nowhere near heaven.

[Broadzilla]

Then you must have never been outside Tenn. I'll take the west anyday, some of the northeast, a bit of the west coast, than if I ma forced, a touch of western SC. To each his own but trust me, anywhere in Tenn is nowhere near heaven.

Assuming makes you look ignorant my friend. I've lived in Ohio, Florida, Illinois, Arizona, California, Michigan, Idaho, Washington State and have been to all 50 states except Alaska. So I'd like to think I know a little bit about the Various areas

Mike

[Phurst]

Must have been to the wrong parts or just blew through. I've been to all of them including Alaska, lived for more than a year in NY, VA, SC, NC, GA, FL, OR, CA, UT NJ, DE. I stand by my observation, including the part that says each to his own. I have met people in every place I ever went, including Barstow, that loved their community more than anywhere. TN is just not my cup of tea.

[AtomsApple]

Unfortunately all of my information is old.  I was there 15 years ago.  I must have liked it though, because I went there for a 3 month outage and stayed for a year and a half.  It taught me how to drink water and I still do that no matter where I am.  Some of the politics scared me so I hid in radwaste.  That was just me coming out of DOE into power plant politics again though.  I really have no complaints except for an apartment full of scorpions when they plowed a field next to my apartment and getting sick when they chopped cotten on the way to work.

People talked about other people to me and I actually liked everyone there.  I just sat and listened and then went back to work.

Dry heat depends on your body.  Some people have low circulation and love the heat.  To me, I sweated so much, I was in 100% humidity from my own sweat.  Radwaste is not air conditioned, so sweat was my middle name.  The evaporator room was killer in the summer.  The crane in storage broke down over high rad storage and required constant coverage because they had to go beyond the locked gate.  At 3 AM, up near the ceiling, it was 130 degrees.  If I fanned myself too fast, I sweated more.

In the winter, the winds would chill you to the bone.  I did stay there for 1.5 years though.  It was all bearable.  I had fun there.

[RDTroja]

As much fun as people are having debating Tennessee's merits or lack thereof, how did this get started in Palo Verde's topic? Did they move the plant? If so, this belongs in SloGlo's Nuke News section.

Back on topic, all of you!

[JnyMac]

We just heard today from our OPs Director that we will be looking to hire 12 new AOs before the first of the year.  The last time all they would except was prior operations exp. or Navy Nuke.  I don't know if the same can be said for this time but i am betting on it.  So get those resumes updated. 

The following link is where it should get posted

http://www.pinnaclewest.com/main/pnw/careers/default.html

I'll update you guys when more information is available.

[Jen-Jen]

Any more info on the AO jobs?  I went to the link but it wasn't posted.  I'd like to apply but I have no idea who to send my resume to.

[JnyMac]

No news yet.  We are going through a ton of changes right now.  Going from an INPO 1 to a 3 will do that to you.  When we hear anything I try to get a post out.

[gmoney]

 

You might want to figure in a trip to DMV to  register out of  state vehicles while working at PV.

See link and article below

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/1010outofstate.html

Out-of-state plates draw crackdown

[hollywoodparke]

This article ran in Monday's paper in Phoenix http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/1010outofstate.html. It really pissed me off and I called my state representatives and e-mailed the governor of AZ . Hopefully they will understand our side of the story and realize that it is just not realistic for roadtechs to register there vehicles in four or five states per year. I encourage all travelers to contact there representatives and thet them know that this is something that just can't be done.

[Camella Black]

Well this sure goes waaaayyy beyond raising the rent or your prices when you hear "I'm here for the outage".

I spent 30 minutes trying to find someone to email concerning this and just decided I'd write a letter to the editor of the paper and see what happens. (Update later). I did discover that John McCain is the Senator.

I think they should have people at the borders handing out flyers (like they did this week in Florida) telling you that if you come in the state to work you can be fined for not changing your plate immediately (get real people).

Better yet, maybe the facility (since they said they approved) should be forced to include this information in any future contracts and include the price of a new tag or fine for each contractor in the price they are going to pay the company (can't see that happing).

Can you imagine the insurance nightmare here? I don't understand how the state can even get away with this and I can see LAW SUIT in the future.

Last word ... I wonder if this fine or new tag would qualify as a work related expense???

[HydroDave63]

An excerpt of the linked article includes:


"...State law defines a resident as a person employed in Arizona or someone who remains here for seven months or more in a calendar year. Temporary workers are given a three-month grace period. But once that time is up, residents should get their plates changed or risk going to court..."

It sounds there like anyone there less than three months should be able to beat it in court, although it is annoying that anyone should have to go to court over this in the first place. Does anyone have recent experience with going to an AZ traffic court over this issue? Would like to hear from anyone who has gone all the way through this process.

[hollywoodparke]

The problem with going to court to fight the ticket is that the court date will usually be after the outage is over and you are at your next job. So now you are forced to pay the fine just because you can't be there or not pay the fine and risk a bench warrant which becomes a security issue. They ran the story on the local tv news and made it sound like they were going after all kinds of people but the only citations that the article talked about was the people at Palo. They have done this in the past also to Palo workers.
I also talked to the APS spokesman Jim Mcdodnald about this and he had the attitude that we pay well at Palo so you can afford to pay registration and that he didn't feel that he would lose any workers over this. I told him that he was wrong on both issues.

[shayne]

Lets say that I do make good money and could afford to pay the registration, who wants to wait in line at the DMV every couple of months?  What if I rent a car with out of state plates?

[jeremyrutherford]

Mr. Hollywood,
I totally agree with your stance, I think it is crap that they single out the workers at Palo but say they are ticketing all people who come into the state.  I haven't seen those bastards at the RV park ticketing the SnoBirds that come into the state for months at a time.  Also Mr. McDonald needs to pay us a little more than that to assume that we can afford to license a rig that is going to cost 500 to use for 3 months


Jeremy

[Atomic_Punk]

Used to be an awesome place to work.  Now, low pay, low per-diem, high cost of living.  Most of the  guys running the show (HP/RP) are ex-road techs. Unfortunately, apparently, they've forgotten where
they come from.  Not to say they're bad guys, they've just lost touch with reallity.  They all came in when the cost of living was low and you could rent an apartment for $300 a month, the outages lasted for years, and you could really sock the money away.  Unfortunatley, that's not the case anymore.

[felchie]

I hear all 3 units are down now, good luck finding workers.....

[RRhoads]

unit 3 will be back online again...they were just down a week ago!
unit 2....RCP lube oil lift pump probs....gotta fix it!
unit 1....Day 8 of outage & Rx Head still on....flooded the 114' while adding H2O to x-fer canal yesterday(thanx ops)....we are prob 4 days behind...
X-mas in Phx Sux!!!!
No techs to find....i think we went in 8-9 short....that alone tells you who GREAT this place is!!!

[Broadzilla]

unit 3 will be back online again...they were just down a week ago!
unit 2....RCP lube oil lift pump probs....gotta fix it!
unit 1....Day 8 of outage & Rx Head still on....flooded the 114' while adding H2O to x-fer canal yesterday(thanx ops)....we are prob 4 days behind...
X-mas in Phx Sux!!!!
No techs to find....i think we went in 8-9 short....that alone tells you who GREAT this place is!!!

2 and 3 are down for an ECCS Design Issue. They entered 3.0.3 over it. ECCS DEsign Issues are not usually solved over night. The issues you just listed are minor compared to the one they reported to the NRC. It might be awhile.

Mike

[JnyMac]

The latest is the calculations for the ECCS design are being completed by an outside firm.  The problem we have Millstone just completed an OD for and was virually word for word to ours.  They believe the calcs will come back Monday sometime.  We should be able to start up after that.

[Broadzilla]

The latest is the calculations for the ECCS design are being completed by an outside firm.  The problem we have Millstone just completed an OD for and was virually word for word to ours.  They believe the calcs will come back Monday sometime.  We should be able to start up after that.

That is if you can get the NRC to accept it. I'm wondering if this effects St Lucie too.

ECCS Issues are HARD to shake!! I feel for you guys.

Mike

[RRhoads]

thought there was some temp issue associated with the RWST?
Conn. ain't as hot as the phx desert.

[Broadzilla]

thought there was some temp issue associated with the RWST?
Conn. ain't as hot as the phx desert.

Nope, it was a gas stripping issue while on the RWST which somehow effected the NPSH available when the ECCS transfers to the Recirc Mode.

(For you BWR Sailors this is roughly when HPCI transfers to the suppression pool except it occurs at the RHR level.)

Mike

[JnyMac]

Actually the CE FSAR calculations covered the issue.  They had a Plant Review Board last night and are going to the NRC for permission to start up today.  They didn't have enough time to evaluate the FSAR fo the questions asked so we went to 3.03.

[ronald r como]

any truth to the rumor i heard about the pay rate of $16.00 for a senior hp tech? and they staffed it?

[RRhoads]

that is a non-outage RP tech wage...there are people who stay in between outages or come in too early...most local but some roadtechs.
wage is still low for outage...23 & 80 is maxed out outage SR RP tech returnee.
No they did NOT staff the outage w/ all the techs they wanted...somewhere around -9...

[Havasu_Dude]

      $16 hr was the rate for a year SR non-returnee at the U2 SGRP.  $17 hr is the non-outage rate for a > 7 year SR non-outage. I had a friend work U2 SGRP and they were < 3 year SR. and did not ask what the pay rate was. Found out though

[M1Ark]

Is this a union position and are the reactor operators union at Palo Verde?  How long does it take to go to license class from initial hire?

[JnyMac]

Not a Union position.  Only our security guards are union.  I would say anywhere from 3 to 5 years from hire date.  It really depends on the person and the size of the class.  The upcoming class only had 8 volunteers for 7 position.  We will also be losing 30% to 50% of our License guys in the next 5 to 7 years.

[M1Ark]

Why are so few bidding into license class?  Probably not an easy answer.