St. Lucie

[Rennhack]

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

[snowbound12566]

Now that the outage is over and the babies have had their Whole Body Counts, what has become of the Plant Manager and VP that were removed from outage duties?

More FPL Philosophy: "If all of the Manager's are out of control, they can't fire us all.  That would raise the suspicions of the NARCs!"

"I know, let's pick a scapegoat and place all of the blame on him."

[maxupdate]

Yeah, I've been wondering about how everything worked out at PSL.  Did they get a new, permanent RPM?

[Old_Guy]

Don't appreciate the comment on the babies at St. Lucie.
There were MANY GOOD techs at the last outage and all the techs had the same option ( stay or leave) and most chose to stay even with the long hours, 7-12s, and being understaffed. It wasn't the old St. Lucie but in this day and age of safety comes first( right after you get the job done)any outage you can walk away from with all your fingers and toes is a good outage.

[maxupdate]

Old Guy, from reading previous therads that have since been deleted, Snowbound might bave been referring to the small shield boxes that were used after the outage for whole body counting children, hence the term "babies."  Can't say for sure that any of this actually happened so take it with a grain of salt.

And Mike, why did all the old PSL threads get deleted?  Probably a good thing as they were getting a bit out of hand.  Nevertheless, it is interesting finding out what's happening at other sites.

[LoneWolf]

Yes Old_Guy I agree with the babies thing. From what I understand some children were actually brought in and received a body count. Allegedly, a box was fabricated as a booster for the children to stand on. A small 10k particle was detected on a sock upon an exit WBC of a contract worker. This worker is related to a plant employee. Since the particle was discovered after the sock was worn home and after it was placed in the washing machine, a concern developed that maybe more made it to the house. This particular particle actually made it through all monitoring equipment undetected. A HP was sent to do a survey (all OK). I believe the WBC of the children was the last effort to satisfy the concern. The 20K particle on the underware is big news but the 10K sock did not get much press. Of course you understand this is just a rumor. Officially, nothing happened!

Catch any big fish lately? [smiley=director.gif]  

[snowbound12566]

As a knowledgeable person with decades of FPL experience, I can safely say that "get it done at any cost and we'll deal with the consequences later" has been the nuclear management philosophy.  Anyone that dared to speak up found themselves being escorted to the gate at the next set of "Downsizing".

[bbish]

I hate to hear all of this about Lucie.  Been in Oak Ridge since 94 but Lucie was home and the best plant in the industry to work.  Guess all good things come to an end.  Have to believe that it was inspite of the house techs, not because of.  They were all great coworkers and friends.

[LoneWolf]

PSL HP is in a sink or swim position. Sometimes a mess has to occur inorder to get things back on track. They are on a short track to get ready for their next outage. The program must be revised, but most important, the plant management must allow HP to do what they are paid to do. All we can do is hope for the best. Good Luck to PSL HP.

[philpatton]

I worked on the Y2K program and had great cooperation from the in-house folks.  Wouldn’t mind going back.
FP&L has the best food  service of any of the many sites I’ve been at.

[snowbound12566]

There is a rumor that the Plant Manager of St. Lucie during the contamination outage from hell is no longer the plant manager.
Word is that he is no longer in nuclear power.

Anyone know anything more???

[supernuker030]

  :)BELEIVE IT OR NOT YES THE PLANT MANAGER AND SITE V.P ARE STILL ON BOARD AT LUCIE NEXT OUTAGE WILL BE A CHALLENGE I KNOW I WORK THERE

[LoneWolf]

Snowbound:

Plant manager has not been removed. Just a rumor you must have heard. PSL is working hard to get ready for next outage. All eyes on them now!

[Antineutrino]

After 22 years in this business, I can tell you that a plant is never as bad as you hear, and likewise, never as good as you hear.  St. Lucie has some of the finest (and some of the "not-finest") people I've run across.   They are having a rough time now, but they will end up better for it.  An infusion of new blood would help.  

[LoneWolf]

8)I agree that PSL is not quite as bad as you hear BUT their last outage was absolutely terrible. This is what most of the posts are referring to. It shall leave a lasting impression of all who were there. The HP organization was strugggling and finally collapsed. It could no longer remain a secret that the department needed help. 3 HP supervisors are gone, and the remaining personnel are working diligently to get the train back on track. I wish them good luck.

[alphadude]

some of these postings show a lack of understanding on the way business works-which leads to rampant speculation. these vps and all are on contract. they dont get fired like the hourly puke.  some of the things mentioned would be minor details to a vp.  but such is the life of the RAT. oh yea when u hear some vp is not in the business any more.. u are seeing a mega buck buy out.  go figure

[LoneWolf]

In addition to the 3 Health Physics Supervisors who have decided to not continue employment with PSL, 4 of the remaining HP supervisors received HR letters announcing immediate improved performance is expected within 90 days or else. They are not the only management personnel to receive such a letter. Oh What a feeling!  [smiley=deal.gif]

[snowbound12566]

There is only one Manager at PSL who was there as a Manager in 1997.  
In regards to plant performance and a reduction in Human Performance Errors, the plant made a great turn-around and performing well.
FPL uses their employees and spits them out.  If you are working at the plants (PTN or PSL), wake up, your turn is coming.

Example:
How about those 90 day Performance Improvement Plans-  The sad thing is that manager's that are giving them to employees are receiving these plans from their bosses.

[LoneWolf]

:-? Very, Very, True! "Danger in the comfort Zone"!!

[LoneWolf]

Changes are for the good at PSL. Expect plenty of management support for doing things right during the upcoming Unit 2 outage. Extra turbine work should take some pressure off of the containment staff. No room for errors this time around. New management working hard to get things on track.

[Neubium]

:)I think they have a 30 day outage scheduled. This should be less aggressive and easier on doing things right. Lets hope so. LoneWolf- Any word  on those empty positions in HP?

[snowbound12566]

J and R are still in charge.
Remember to pack extra shoes and Mountain Dew.
You look sexy in flip-flops anyway.

[ShamingOfTheTrue]

Well, I've read all this stuff, and I was there.  There were some mistakes made, because of the schedule push, for sure.  I've done this for a very long time now, and I have seen much worse though, in the so called golden days.  I found the SL employees that I came in contact with, day to day, delightful, and if I had to do it over again, I would, because of them.  I had heard a rumor that they treated contractors badly, but I found the opposite to be true.  I was treated with respect and was one of the team, I felt.  There were contract HPs there, who really would not have made it in the oldern days.  I wonder if they are the ones who are complaining.  Sure the SL upper management overreacted to the off site find, but who wouldn't in these days of media bloating of the facts.  That was the very upper management though, handing down those decisions, out of fear.  The middle and frontline management were really good people just trying to hold on to what they had, I thought.  Upper management needed some training and discipline to trust the middle and front-line management, because they were knowledgeable people.  Their fears were translated down to the people that were running the show.  Every contractor came there with a bad attitude because of the cut of hours.  That is a separate issue though, but now it's all mixed together, I think.  Was SL horrible?  No.  Could the situation been improved?  Yes; by alot of factors, that are not being discussed in this forum (namely, how much integrity was really there with us contractors, and how much was just whining?)

Anybody get over-exposed?

I didn't, and I didn't see any of that.  Didn't like them sending the people back into the BRT after the hydrolasing fiasco.  I'll agree with anyone on that though.

[LoneWolf]

Excellent analysis of the problem at PSL. The bottom line is they just were not prepared for the outage. PSL has always relied heavy on returning contract HP staff to pull them through. They did not have their team this time around. There were many contract HPs who had never been to PSL. The returnee rate was very low. Upper management expected performance and somehow middle managers were very intimidated. They tried to keep under cover the inadequate preparation. Nobody wanted to be without a chair when the music stopped. HP lost a lot of credibility early on. There were not any personnel over exposures BUT a true potential was recognized by many. Can it be better? Absolutely. I think the program is being tweeked and would hope a better group is soon to emerge.

[houdini]

I have not been to SLucie in a decade or so, however I have nothing but fond memories.  Playing golf at the condos (they were in play ya know), parties on the beach and at the local hangouts, and some of the best house techs I ever had the privlige of working with, such as Hollywood, Vinnie, and the Dream just to name a few.  The only downside then was you had crankin Frank Hammeker to deal with!  Keep the faith people in this business they don't want you to get to high or to low, SLucie's time to shine again will be soon!