Working and living at the Barakah power station UAE

[BISCUITMAN]

Hello,
Has anyone got any knowledge and experience of working at the Barakah Station and what is the standard of the living accommodation provided.
Many thanks

[UncaBuffalo]

I am also interested, so...? Anyone?


I will say that I did some research about this a year ago. Rumor at that time was that the rooms were about like your standard hotel. Recruiter I talked to said they provided you with transportation also...but then I heard everyone was basically confined to the compound because of the pandemic, so...?


Thanks for any current information about the job....which contract company treats you best, pros & cons of the experience, etc...

[cranford]

One of my friends was working in Barakah no nuke related and I can only remember that he was complaining all the time about how hot is the place... I can get in touch with him if you wanna learn more about the place. He worked there as an engineer for 3 years and then managed to buy villa in Nice so I can say that he was getting paid well.

[UncaBuffalo]

Heard that one of the French companies was awarded the RP technician contract for this outage? And pay-rate low...$7000-ish per month base? Apparently able to staff it mostly with Central Asian technicians?

[UncaBuffalo]

Heard that one of the French companies was awarded the RP technician contract for this outage? And pay-rate low...$7000-ish per month base? Apparently able to staff it mostly with Central Asian technicians?

...and no per diem. Ouch.

[UncaBuffalo]

Rumor at that time was that the rooms were about like your standard hotel.

New rumor is that the housing will be so full during the outage that you will be required to split a room with a worker who is on the opposite shift?

[UncaBuffalo]

Heard that one of the French companies was awarded the RP technician contract for this outage? And pay-rate low...$7000-ish per month base? Apparently able to staff it mostly with Central Asian technicians?

Also 30 technicians from South Africa going. A HUGE loss for Koeberg...but will be good for the technicians...AND for Barakah.

[UncaBuffalo]

Someone said that Barakah is the new RP "Fyre Festival"? Can anyone currently there tell us how things are going?

[UncaBuffalo]

The South African techs are starting to bail out & come back to Koeberg. And Barakah is also losing several of their Canadian & European techs?


Guess communication is a huge issue in Abu Dhabi with all the different nationalities they staffed...?


The South African techs also felt like they were being asked to do too much decon work & not enough REAL radiation protection?

[UncaBuffalo]

Anybody go to their outage this spring? How was it? I heard they were making the outage workers split a room with someone from the opposite shift?

Anybody there long-term? How is that? Do you still get your own room if you sign the one year contract?

[UncaBuffalo]

YOUCH! Just had a recruiter offer me $16 per hour (straight AND OT hours same rate) and no per diem!

On the plus side, you 'get' to live in a C-van...and eat cafeteria food!   

[UncaBuffalo]

What's the secret to obtaining a decent job offer from a recruiter?   (Esp. a Barakah recruiter, but...ANY advice appreciated)

[UncaBuffalo]

Looks like I am headed that way for their fall outage. Any advice from anyone who has been?

[UncaBuffalo]

Guess the outage is basically all of October? They have me scheduled to start mid-September...and fly back home mid-November...

[UncaBuffalo]

Heard there was a hiccup with first staff date? Group is in-country, but being told not to report to Barakah  for a week? So just sitting in hotel?

[UncaBuffalo]

One of my friends was working in Barakah no nuke related and I can only remember that he was complaining all the time about how hot is the place...

I just got here...but can confirm the heat!  ;-)

[fiveeleven]

Its in a Middle Eastern desert.

[UncaBuffalo]

Its in a Middle Eastern desert.

True, but...?

I guess I was expecting the dry heat of a desert like Palo Verde? Humidity high in UAE...due to being right on Arabian Gulf? Feels more like South Texas.

[UncaBuffalo]

Fun group of techs....in my group we have people from Sweden, Argentina, Finland, Mexico, Bulgaria, Canada, Spain, South Africa, & USA...and have heard there are also already techs from Korea, UK, & Uganda onsite...

[UncaBuffalo]

Hello,
Has anyone got any knowledge and experience of working at the Barakah Station and what is the standard of the living accommodation provided.
Many thanks

Ok. Currently if you are a male RP technician on a short contract you get a fairly decent (new paint on old building) room...double bed, desk, fridge, microwave, shower. Nothing fancy, but everything clean. As I understand it, there will be housekeeping & laundry service...although perhaps not every day?

The ladies are in newer (rumored nicer) buildings on other side of cafeteria.

Cafeteria is pretty basic, but plenty of food & choices.

[UncaBuffalo]

Found out that the room you get is based on what you bargained for when you hired on. Some of the techs accepted share rooms, while others have singles.

Apparently it is also luck of the draw and depends on what they have available? Some of the techs ended up in a building where they are having to share bathroom, even though they have their own room?

[UncaBuffalo]

Got into the plant this week. First thing that struck me is...APR-1400s are HUGE.  Everything felt 50% larger than any other plant I have been in.

Have only been in Aux building so far. Plant comes down at end of month...will be interesting to see if CTMT is as roomy.

[UncaBuffalo]

YOUCH! Just had a recruiter offer me $16 per hour (straight AND OT hours same rate) and no per diem!

On the plus side, you 'get' to live in a C-van...and eat cafeteria food!   

I had seen no hint of these mysterious C-vans....and was ready to consign them to Urban Legend status...

BUT...it's true! They had techs SHARING cargo containers a couple of outages ago! Someone finally pointed out the notorious C-Van Compound to me. Awesome! This gets more entertaining by the day.




Note: Fewer workers onsite this outage, so no one got banished to Shipping Container Limbo. 

[UncaBuffalo]

Recruiter I talked to said they provided you with transportation also...

Okay, so technically the recruiter was right...BUT...


I was picturing a rental car situation....or possibly a car with a driver. But something that was readily available so I could get where I wanted to go, do what I wanted to do, and see the country on my days off.

The reality is that what they 'provide' is the site shuttle system. So you can get from your dormitory to the plant if a shuttle happens to be running when you need to go to work. If it's not running then the contract company will generally line up another bus or car, but...definitely only available for work-related trips.


I'm not a hugely patient person, so often find myself a bit frustrated waiting 15 or 20 minutes for co-workers to arrive so a shuttle or transport vehicle can leave.


And definitely gives the whole experience a bit of a prison camp feel not to be able to get away when I want to.

[UncaBuffalo]

Got into the plant this week. First thing that struck me is...APR-1400s are HUGE.  Everything felt 50% larger than any other plant I have been in.

Have only been in Aux building so far. Plant comes down at end of month...will be interesting to see if CTMT is as roomy.

Initial entry surveys last night...it IS just as roomy in the RCB.

And the cleanest plant I have ever worked. I took half dozen smears on one of the primary side S/G platforms...and zero contamination detected. I guess that area was relatively highly crapped up after they completed ECT last outage...but it was 98% Co58, so now has decayed?

[UncaBuffalo]

And the cleanest plant I have ever worked. I took half dozen smears on one of the primary side S/G platforms...and zero contamination detected. I guess that area was relatively highly crapped up after they completed ECT last outage...but it was 98% Co58, so now has decayed?

Very little distributed smearable...but LOTS of 1,000 to 10,000 ccpm specks around - looking for workers to land on....

[Marlin]

Very little distributed smearable...but LOTS of 1,000 to 10,000 ccpm specks around - looking for workers to land on....

Any chance for some pictures like you did when in Thailand for the Peace Corp?

[UncaBuffalo]

Any chance for some pictures like you did when in Thailand for the Peace Corp?

I still get this message when I try to upload picture...

"Error
You don't have permission to perform this operation."

[Marlin]

I still get this message when I try to upload picture...

"Error
You don't have permission to perform this operation."

Sent Mike an email.

[UncaBuffalo]

Well, THAT was a nice surprise! Based on previous techs' experience I was prepared for my first paycheck to be short...but they actually paid me 20% MORE than I had calculated!   

[UncaBuffalo]

Barakah proved the equation:

Open equipment hatch + positive  pressure + cavity decon = BAD IDEA

 

[fiveeleven]

All RPTs need to participate in a real-life scenario in which radiological conditions require a SOP/control point in the guardshack!! Good luck! If Aziz Maly is still there(mgmt) tell him hello from his old gaseous effluent buddy from Kewaunee. Thanks.

[UncaBuffalo]

Cafeteria is pretty basic, but plenty of food & choices.

Turns out many of the choices include Salmonella.

4 nightshift techs...out of 20...have ended up in the hospital. Not sure what the number is on days.

Health department is all over the cafeteria and trying to get the outbreak stopped , but...

[UncaBuffalo]

Outage over.

Glad I went...was a unique experience.

Would never work there again. Too depressing trying to provide job coverage to crews that can't understand a word you say.

[fiveeleven]

"Would never work there again. Too depressing trying to provide job coverage to crews that can't understand a word you say."

Sounds like some of the eighties/nineties circle bar W RCP crews. But they were from Pennsylvania......