Your Favorite Thing About Outages...........

[number41]

Finish this sentence:

"My favourite thing about outages is...................."

Common answers I expect to see:

1. "when it's over"
2. "the money"
3. "not having to talk to my wife for a month"

I'll kick this off. (I'm sure this is going to anger some people, but I seem to have a knack for that.  So here goes.)

My favorite thing about outages is......mullets.  For those glorious 30 days, I get to see more mullet than the whole rest of the year combined!

[Brett LaVigne]

My favorite thing about outages is......mullets.  For those glorious 30 days, I get to see more mullet than the whole rest of the year combined!

Dude...don't you mean "Skullets"?

[Content1]

is actually getting 2 full length ones and earning enough to live on.

[JustinHEMI05]

My favorite thing about outages is all of the wildly different characters I get to meet from every nook and cranny of this country.

[xobxdoc]

I've been off the road since 1995. I'm now in Operations. When I get a chance i like to go up to the HP breakroom and see the old faces. I ran into 2 people this outage that I haven't seen in over 25 years. That's what I liked about working outages, running into your old friends. The entertainment was good too. Joe Ashe was pretty funny!!!

[UncaBuffalo]

Finish this sentence:

"My favourite thing about outages is...................."

...they stop being so conservative...and let us swing from the chandeliers.  WOO-HOO! 



I know there is also a down-side to being schedule driven...but I do enjoy it when they loosen the reins a bit! 

[stownsend]

I've been off the road since 1995. I'm now in Operations. When I get a chance i like to go up to the HP breakroom and see the old faces. I ran into 2 people this outage that I haven't seen in over 25 years. That's what I liked about working outages, running into your old friends. The entertainment was good too. Joe Ashe was pretty funny!!!

Joe "who glued the locks on my briefcase" Ashe?

[xobxdoc]

The one and only!

[Smooth Operator]

....the first week of the outage when everyone forgets we work at a place with metal detectors....

[number41]

.............hearing the really interesting nicknames of people called over the PA (i.e. Bud, Scooter, Dirty Dave, Weasel, etc, etc.)

...........having to run a marathon before every shift because the only parking I can find is in the next county and I'm running late (again) because I just spent 20 minutes sitting behind contractors getting their trucks searched at the front gate.

............almost getting killed during my sprint in from the parking lot (because I'm running late, remember) as somebody drives the wrong way down a one-way row so that they can beat another car to a freshly vacated parking spot.

............ getting carbon monoxide poisoning as I sprint through the parking lot because 400 cars are sitting, idling, waiting for a new parking spot to be vacated because some dude just drove the wrong way down a row and beat them to the parking spot they were going for.

.............watching 14 people push a half empty cart that weighs all of 25 lbs. so that they can all look at least a little busy.

.............hearing people have an entire 5 minute conversation over the PA loudspeaker because they don't realize that they have to let go of the page button on the handset.

[xobxdoc]

... finding workers fully dressed out in a clean area wondering where the step off pad is so they can undress.

[stownsend]

Finding people inside a contaminated area without any more PPE on and still have one more SOP to go.

[stormgoalie]

The ability to step up and say "Nope, not gonna happen" when a contractor decides that the rules don't apply to them.  Nothing like hearing a paradigm shift without a clutch

The downside, finding YOURSELF on the backside of a posting not wearing the appropriate PPE because someone unfamiliar with the facility didn't put postings at all access points

[Rather Hunt Than Tech]

....the first week of the outage when everyone forgets we work at a place with metal detectors....

Maybe this should read....... For the whole outage those people that never grasp the concept "METAL DETECTOR".

... finding workers fully dressed out in a clean area wondering where the step off pad is so they can undress.  You beat me to this one.

I enjoy seeing people that I only get to see once or twice a year, swapping stories from other plants.  You know, those darkly funny stories that end with Decon.

[HousePuke]

While I've hit the point in my career that I generally hate outages...

Running into someone I haven't seen in a long time and doing some catching up...

Just staring, scratching my head and wondering how some of these people manage to breathe in and out on a regular basis...

The rare person that's new to HP/RP that really wants to learn.  That's pretty special.

[Marlin]

   It's been a bit but what I enjoyed was the travel. We made the best of our trips across the US. When at Calvert Cliffs we would pick one of the Smithsonian museums and spend the day there. Turkey Point is next to the everglades and the Keys (watching Key Largo on Key Largo), Indian Point was good for visits into New York City ( saw the premier of Star Trek V, New Yorkers are not quiet during movie showings), at Palo Verde we spent a little time in the desert (very cool Night Clubs), San Onofre is located next to a state park and is not far from Disneyland or Mexico for a little sight seeing, any of the New England plants put us close to good seafood, Pilgrim is near Boston and Cape Cod (P-Town is an interesting experience), Byron is near an annual turkey testicle festival (yes I had some, not bad) and on and on. I miss the travel, but not enough to do outages again.

[RAD-GHOST]

The One-Ups!

Einstein, his five brothers and two sisters have been reincarnated and I'm currently working with all of them!

Elvis got layed off yesterday!

RG....

[xobxdoc]

Sitting in a trailer overlooking the Pacific at Diablo waiting at least 2 weeks for your red badge while you played cards. The site coordinator usually sent you home at noon.

[number41]

.....watching the same guy wander aimlessly around the reactor building all night without doing a damn thing.  Really, I saw this guy (who works for a contractor that advertises here) over 20 times tonight while we were doing LLRT.  Not once did he have anything in his hand, and he basically looked like he was slowly walking from place to place so that nobody would question him or assign him a task.

[sammoyers]

... seeing people I haven't seen in a while.

... being able to eat regular. (a nasty habit.)

... finding a new paintball field I haven't played before. 

... playing at a paintball field I haven't played in a while. 

[number41]

mutant, I've actually tried to flag this guy down.  Doing LLRT has me inside the DW staring at a leak test rig, so I can't just run away from what I'm doing to chase him down.  A couple of us have decided to corner him ASAP to find-out what is going on.  In line with another thread regarding stupid things we do at different plants: today we were continuing containment penetration testing and kept noticing two "people" keeping this chair warm.  Neither of them seemed to be doing anything, just sitting in this chair outside the bullpen.  During lunch I asked the dude what was up.  He's a HRA/LHRA guard for the drywell.  Even though there are 4 HP's working the drywell, we've decided that it's possible that none of those guys would notice someone jump the boundary fence and make it into the LHRA improperly, so we have someone designated solely to watch and make sure that doesn't happen.  I've only been an HP/RCT in the navy, so I don't know the exact rules in the civilian sector, but to me it seems like we are missing an opportunity to apply a little common sense here.

[retired nuke]

mutant, I've actually tried to flag this guy down.  Doing LLRT has me inside the DW staring at a leak test rig, so I can't just run away from what I'm doing to chase him down.  A couple of us have decided to corner him ASAP to find-out what is going on.  In line with another thread regarding stupid things we do at different plants: today we were continuing containment penetration testing and kept noticing two "people" keeping this chair warm.  Neither of them seemed to be doing anything, just sitting in this chair outside the bullpen.  During lunch I asked the dude what was up.  He's a HRA/LHRA guard for the drywell.  Even though there are 4 HP's working the drywell, we've decided that it's possible that none of those guys would notice someone jump the boundary fence and make it into the LHRA improperly, so we have someone designated solely to watch and make sure that doesn't happen.  I've only been an HP/RCT in the navy, so I don't know the exact rules in the civilian sector, but to me it seems like we are missing an opportunity to apply a little common sense here.

Actually, in CivLant, the LHRA boundary guard must have no other duties. So those RP techs, since they are probably rovers, or covering crews, can't actually maintain their full atention on the boundary. Seems silly, but if the RP tech turns away to brief / coach another worker, and someone wanders in, it's a violation. And trust me, from an RP standpoint, that is not the attention you want the NRC / INPO having on your plant.

Common sense is even rarer out here than it was in the Nav...

My favorite part of outages is the know it alls that come in and tell us everything we are doing wrong.... and are repeat techs here outage after outage....
If we were that bad, why would you come here?

of course, when I was a roady, that was me....

[let-it-ride]

For 23 years I always thought I was on a paid vacation! From Maine, New England, New York, East Coast, South, Florida, Mid West, Texas, California, Nevada, New Mexico it was an adventure!
I saw and did more than the people that lived there their whole lives. I would do it all again if I had the chance.
Now I am too old and live on a beach in Mexico. But I wish I could do it all over again. (anyone need a 60 year Tech that did it all?? haha) I met many great people from all over the country. I always thought that if I could staff an outage, I could staff the best of the best and it would be a party during work and after work. (I am being humble that I put myself in that class)
Now, sad to say, I see many great HP's that have passed and are gone. We all can name many.
BUT the HP's that worked long and hard and did more than was needed is what I remember most. BUT, that was the typical work ethic of the Tech's I looked up to.
I wish I could do it again.

[Mike McFarlin]

Best part of an outage--seeing the bank account with a couple of 0's on the right side of the decimal. Also, the sight of the plant in the rear view mirror is a good feeling.

[stownsend]

Best part of an outage--seeing the bank account with a couple of 0's on the right side of the decimal. Also, the sight of the plant in the rear view mirror is a good feeling.

I like to see the digits on the left side of the decimal point.Unless you meant the correct side?

[stownsend]

   It's been a bit but what I enjoyed was the travel.   Cape Cod (P-Town is an interesting experience), Byron is near an annual testicle festival  and on and on. I miss the travel, but not enough to do outages again.

The two places had a lot in common.

[retired nuke]

For the money, but that is just a wild guess!

Hmmmm, nothings changed...

[Jr8black3]

Seeing the plant in the rear view mirror. Outages aren't as fun as they used to be...

[Mike McFarlin]

I think he meant something akin to;

Account Balance: $5600.00

as opposed to;

Account Balance:   $00.56

I'll take the $5600.00

[whizzzkid]

the beginning - seeing all the people, some you haven't seen in a while and body counting out.  The time in between sucks

[Dwayne]

The friends that I have made...
The Great food on the road...
The war stories that are told...
The dumb things newbies do...
did I say the great food on the road!!!

[Neutron_Herder]

I just finished up my first ever outage, so my experiences aren't nearly as cool as the others.

The biggest thing I liked was the ability to meet people from across the country who had worked at many plants, and their opinions on how "my" plant compared to what they have seen elsewhere.  It was a pretty enlightening experience!

Other than that, as a new guy I really liked the fact that there were a whole bunch of doors in the plant that are usually locked that weren't; giving me the ability to actually go in and see the stuff that I've been studying about for the last few months!

[Jr8black3]

The End

[vikingfan]

Making a boat load of $$$$$$ money in a short period of time !!

[MIA]

Seeing a fresh off the boat squid shake in his PCs the first time he sees a boron encrusted valve on the minus 10 elevation.

[mostlyharmless]

Seen it too. After all the talk,the shake and quivering voice when faced with dose and contamination. But I also remember my hand shaking the first time the meter was in my hands and the rate was high. Got over it quick though.

[Marlin]

Seeing a fresh off the boat squid shake in his PCs the first time he sees a boron encrusted valve on the minus 10 elevation.

   Interesting concept, but my response was "This is cool check it out" I'm sure I was just as amusing from a different standpoint.  I doubt there are any plants today that are as bad radiologically as they were when I got out of the Navy in "78", Vermont Yankee, Pilgram, Surry, Brunswick, Peach Bottom, or Zion had radiological conditons that I am sure would dwarf the general conditions of those in any plant today, there weren't boron encrusted valves but entire floors and pipe tunnels encrusted to a foot or more with boron or spent resin. I wonder how a tech from today would respond to the conditions that existed back then? Spock said it best "each according to his or her own abilities" (I know, I know, Carl Marx said it too)  .

[Jr8black3]

LOL Marlin I hear ya,, but you never spent anytime in the ZOO at DC Cook,,who what a mess..

[mostlyharmless]

One of the loop rooms at North Anna looked loke it had snowed. They used shovels at first. Saw a boron stalagtite about eight feet long.  But it was clean boron. Sort of. I loved a nasty plant. Still do. It gives me something to think about. The boredom is what hurts me. When its hot and nasty I dont have time to be bored. And I was just getting in to high school in 78.
I have never lost my fasination with things nuclear. One wonderfull memory was turning off the lights in the vesel at North Anna, after off load , so I could watch the glow for a while. But only for a while, I couldnt let the bulbs cool down to much. Kind of like the spark from a high grade Pu239 sample. Or the decay heat from 238, like John Schofield, still warm.

[RDTroja]

Bringing up 1978 and high dose jobs... At a Northeast plant that I won't name here, we had knee-deep resins in the rail car pit that were so hot the we had to shield a 55-gallon drum with concrete just to be able to transfer it. We took a tube with about an 8" diameter, put it in the center of the barrel and poured concrete around the outside of it. The barrel still read 10/R on the outside. In order to fill the drum a deconner had to put on hip waders and enter the room and walk through the resins (that was state-of-the-art at the time.) There was a brand-new-off-the-boat HP tech (who I also will not name here) that came in to relieve me so I could go to Indian Point for an RCP outage (for some strange reason they requested me.) I gave him a few days' turnover on the job and left him in the hands of a very good decon crew. That was his first non-navy nuclear experience -- I was surprised it was not his last. I worked with him later and the 'baptism by fire' had given him a very good attitude about future radiological conditions... he was never intimidated by other high dose, high contamination jobs.

[Marlin]

LOL Marlin I hear ya,, but you never spent anytime in the ZOO at DC Cook,,who what a mess..

I did one of the S/G change outs there.

[xobxdoc]

.....witnessing some stupid things that people do
example: While working at ANO in the early nineties, we were given some really cool knives. It was a fixed blade, serrated about 2" long that hung off our lanyards. It was ideal for cutting rad rope. While sitting in the "HP ready trailer" this one individual was bored and took out his knife and pretended to drag it across his neck with the non serrated side. After about 30 seconds I looked at him in shocking disbelief. He asked me what my problem was. He had blood from ear to ear across his neck. It was just a flesh wound though.
Don't get me started on psychotic roommates!!! That should be in a thread by itself.

[nsz8]

The End

[number41]

I doubt there are any plants today that are as bad radiologically as they were when I got out of the Navy in "78", Vermont Yankee, Pilgram, Surry, Brunswick, Peach Bottom, or Zion had radiological conditons that I am sure would dwarf the general conditions of those in any plant today, there weren't boron encrusted valves but entire floors and pipe tunnels encrusted to a foot or more with boron or spent resin.

Awesome!  I've been hearing the stories of the days when the -3' pipe tunnels were barred shut with water pouring over the doors and the pipe tunnel tour was performed in a boat.  A guy recently told me that when they drained the tunnels, they found these two "things" wrapped in plastic & decided to cut them open to see what they were.  After the plastic was off, I think the quote was "holy $h1t, those are the service water outlet isolation valve operators!"  Priceless.  I also heard that when they finally processed out all the water there were several foot high piles of resin reading 50-80R/hr on the floor, and the entire place was covered with orange resin residue that had smears reading in the 100mr/hr range.  I love hearing how much different things were in "the good ol' days."  For reference, I was born in 77'.

T-120 days til' the NRC exam.  Wish me luck.

[darkmatter]

Used to be: The Money, The People, & the crazy antics.

Then it got to be: The Money's okay, The People, & who got fired this outage?

And became: Hey, where's the money, The People, & The Procedures say what?

And Now: Another day, another dollar, quarter after taxes, nickel after the wife and kids, & I need that nickel for my beer with the People after work.

[let-it-ride]

I always liked how easy it was to hook up with local women. Many liked to be with us because we had "Diem". Sound like Ark? I knew lots, and lots of guys that had an easy time getting the ladies. Of course I know lots of lady Hp's & deconners that did the same thing too. I stopped counting at 100. (a no shxxer)
I know lots of guys that are legends with the ladies. I can't say what part of the country is easier to get hooked up with an Outage Girl. It was easy everywhere!

[sscone]

I like going to new plants. Seeing new parts of the country I've never seen before and meeting new people. Of course seeing old friends is good to. The money just goes in one hand and out to another. Finding good places to eat and new things to put on my menu at home is good to.