First time in the TORUS..share your experience (keep it clean ;)

[number41]

Got my firt jump into the Torus today............What can I say but WOW?!?!?!  I'm still amazed by this machine nearly every day, but I think that the Torus takes the cake.  Unfortunately, I only got 536 mRem during 13 years in the Navy, but despite my best efforts, I've nearly gotten that much in the last 13 DAYS!  Well, I guess that's the price you pay to really learn the plant, though.

[HydroDave63]

  Unfortunately, I only got 536 mRem during 13 years in the Navy, but despite my best efforts, I've nearly gotten that much in the last 13 DAYS! 

The radiation only kills the weak cells

[retired nuke]

I have been an RP in nuclear power for almost 30 years, been to 24 different plants, at least half of them boilers, and I've been lucky enough NEVER to have entered a torus.....

Been in cavities, drywells, condensers, steam generators (both sides), but escaped the torus....

Hope your outage is going well

[Laundry Man]

The Torus is fun!  Big round thing with lots of parts.  Desludging and creating nice toasty filters, divers and the like.  Too bad they ruined it by changing o suppression pools.
LM

[Fermi2]

Inside the Torus isn't so bad. No way you picked up that much dose in a Torus.

[Marlin]

Inside the Torus isn't so bad. No way you picked up that much dose in a Torus.

I've been in a few TORUS's myself and during maintenance, that is not unusual. Full and operational you are correct, but empty is a very different story even after pressure washing and shielding. I have been in a couple that even have high dose areas full due to major valves with crud traps just outside the shell. I have seen HEPA filters changed out every other day due to dose rather than loading that were in themselves high rad areas (re-coating). I can understand why this may not be in your experience as during these evolution operators are rarely seen once the TORUS is dry and isolated.

[Fermi2]

Yeah, I was in it during Opening Inspection and other times when it was full of water. One time, Ops ran an RHR Surveillance and initiated Torus Sprays while people were in there doing maintenance. No one was happy about it!!

[Marlin]

Yeah, I was in it during Opening Inspection and other times when it was full of water. One time, Ops ran an RHR Surveillance and initiated Torus Sprays while people were in there doing maintenance. No one was happy about it!!

Yes that makes for long lines in decon and blows out containments built for maintenance. 

Hopefully you did it when the TORUS was full of water and empty of people.

[Bonds 25]

Never been in a Torus, but I hate our Wetwell. Way too hot and humid for my taste.  Spent a lot of time in there during our '07 outage.  Contam levels in the 100,000 dpm/100cm2 range, wet, dose rates are kinda low 10-20 mrem/hr (except for the occasional hot spot) mostly from the RHR spray line, but the main problem is being 6' 3", I have to constantly bend over a bit to keep from dragging my head on above piping (very hard on back). I wasnt involved in desludging, but I heard filters can be in the > 1 Rem/hr range.  I gotta admit it was pretty damn "cool" in there though, kinda like out of a James Bond movie.

[Fermi2]

Nope, there were 6 mechanics working on vacuum breakers. Also there was stuff all over the platform, tools, poly, hoses, it was a MESS.
IIRC it wasn't so bad getting around in the Torus. there was something like 15 feet of free space above the water. One thing I hated was actually getting into it via the hatch and down the temporary ladder. I've never been in a wetwell (well a Torus is technically a wetwell) but a BWR 4 MK I Drywell is a monument of confinement!
I honestly miss Fermi quite a bit. BWRs were fun!

[Bonds 25]

Fermi's drywell is quite the specimen.  Again didn't fit in there very well, but as far as dose rates and contam levels go, it's the lowest out of the drywells Ive been in.....by far.

[Fermi2]

That's because after the Turbine Event in 1993 the plant was going to be down for a year. They used that time to remove anything that had Cobalt or Nickel from the plant. They removed all the Stellite from the BOP Valves that could be exposed to the reactor and they changed out the CRD Mechs to the types that had nothing that could get activated and raise dose rates.
Insurance paid for it all!

Mike

[Bonds 25]

That explains 11 Rem/hr contact being the hottest CRD pulled while I was covering changeout under vessel.  My very next outage was Quad Cities, 400 Rem/hr.  I did take my hottest smear ever while at Fermi though, RWCU valve inside the steam tunnel....80 Rad/hr/100cm2.  Valve looked like part of a sewer line.

[Fermi2]

Probably the G33 F120 or F121. There was a pretty good leak from them at one time.

[Bonds 25]

Cant remember the exact valve number, but I think it might have been a RWCU drain line stop valve.  Its so hard to get around in that steam tunnel, Im amazed they didnt get contaminated or receive uptakes (must have been the awesome HP coverage...err maybe luck). Actually Im amazed at least one person doesnt die an outage from falling in the dryell with all the workers they pack in there.

[Fermi2]

One time me and an Engineer had to go to the top of the Drywell. Now you've been in Fermi's Drywell so you know the only way to get up there is to climb and you know it's the most crowded Drywell in the country. So we're a bit less than halfway up and this guy freezes. So now I gotta deal with this engineer who won't move up or down. I asked him what was bugging him and he says "Bru, all I can think about is falling 100o feet when we get to the top." I said "Nah that won't happen, you'll fall 5 feet, hit an angle iron and break something, then you'll fall three more feet, get partly impaled on a vent valve, fall 6 more feet and crack your skull on a bio shield penetration, by the time you fall 100 feet there won't be much left" He started laughing and told me he felt a lot better and we made it to the top then back down without incident.

Mike

[Bonds 25]

That is exactly what would happen if you fell too..   Believe it or not I thought Catawba's lower containment (Ice condenser PWR) was almost as hard to get around in, not as dangerous as Fermi, but extremely hard to get to where you were you were going.  I feel for the individuals who actually perform work in these places (non-HP work that is)

[Fermi2]

I'm at an Ice Condenser Plant. The worst spot here is the #4 Accumulator Room. I remember my first entry into lower containment here, everyone was telling me I wouldn't believe how crowded it was. Well when I saw it I started laughing as a MKI Drywell is a LOT more crowded. Still, it's plenty crowded in Lower Containment though you can still take a full step without stepping on something.

[Bonds 25]

Not sure witch Ice condenser plant you are at, but Cook was huge compared to Catawba.  Those are the only two I have been at.

[number41]

'Zilla, you're right, I didn't pick all that up in the Torus, most of it was on the bottom elevation of the Drywell and in the upper reaches of the 2nd level of the Drywell.  We're retagging EVERY valve that's on an OP lineup with stainless tags with a high visibility porcelain coating, so I've gottne very cozy wiith the Core Spray injection valve, the Recirc pump suction valve, the bottom head drains, etc.  But, I'm pretty sure that I'm seeing things that a lot of the more senior guys have never seen, so it can only help prepare me for license class this summer.  Today consisted of climbing underneath the Rx Feed Pump Turbines and all over the bypass valves and control valves.  Like I said, good experience....................

[Fermi2]

I agree. I remember when we used trainees to label everything in our Drywell and Pipe Chases with High Temperature Labels. We took a bit of dose up front but in the end we saved lots of dose because when we needed to drain systems these guys could take the qualified operators straight to the valves in question. They knew locations and how to get to places better than anyone in the department. Bottem Head Drains are usually high dose, IIRC the worst pipe in the entire plant at Fermi was the RWCU Suction line inside the drywell.

[SloGlo]

bestest time aye ebber had wuz inna torus wuz during sandblasting 'n repainting.  !!!  a/s heads were loading up sew fast da count room coodant keep up.   iffen eye member rite, da air averaged bout -8, with da occasional -7. 

[Laundry Man]

Pilgrim, nice sand blasting job and all looks great.  Workers decide to use masslin to wipe down the Torus interior.  Looks great but leaves that nice oil coating.  Lets sand blast it again.  Very expensive mistake.

Mike, I use to have a lot of fun dragging lead blankets around the top of Fermis Drywell to shield the nozzles.  Of course I was much younger than.
LM

[Fermi2]

Ah yes, the Nozzles When I was an RO at Fermi I had given an NLO direction to go to around the nozzle area to hang a tagout. The Guy came back 60 minutes later claiming he couldn't hang the tagout because he couldn't there. In truth he was lazy. I'm not certain if you remember Don P.? The really big guy who hired in with me back in 1990 then later became an RO. I pulled Don into the room and said Hey Donnie where did I send you yesterday? He laughed and said the Nozzles in the Drywell. I then asked the NLO if he had any more excuses. He said no and my job got done.
You want to know something? Remember when scaffolding was waived because DTE said they had a specific exemption from OSHA standards because it was a Drywell then it turned out they didn't? Well I hadn't been in the Drywell for something like 4 years and after I became a Shift Manager I had to go in to inspect something at the end of an outage. There was scaffold everywhere which in my mind made the place infinitely more dangerous because when using it you had to duck under stuff and try to work your way around items you never had to work your way around before.

Mike

[JustinHEMI05]

Got my firt jump into the Torus today............What can I say but WOW?!?!?!  I'm still amazed by this machine nearly every day, but I think that the Torus takes the cake.  Unfortunately, I only got 536 mRem during 13 years in the Navy, but despite my best efforts, I've nearly gotten that much in the last 13 DAYS!  Well, I guess that's the price you pay to really learn the plant, though.

Lucky you. My plant would have a fit if a trainee picked up that much dose. In fact, I am surprise yours does not considering its a PI LOL. I am not allowed more than 1mrem/day and that is only if its absolutely necessary. 

Justin

PS Never mind I just realized you are in an outage. Ya funny how I was allowed more dose in the outage but not to just learn something