Palo Verde

[nukeET1]

Pulling the wrong fuel bundle. Ouch. 

[Fermi2]

Pulling the wrong fuel bundle. Ouch. 

More common place than you might think, and easier to do in a PWR than a BWR.


Mike

[shayne]

Just looking into the fuel pool, I'm not sure how they manage to pull the correct fuel rod as often as they do.

[JnyMac]

The bad thing is when you have as much NRC oversight as we have right now it is like hitting a 700' home run in the 9th with 2 outs and the series on the line.

[RDTroja]

The bad thing is when you have as much NRC oversight as we have right now it is like hitting a 700' home run in the 9th with 2 outs and the series on the line.

Sounds more like offering up that pitch for the home run.

[JnyMac]

Yeah
We keep lobbing them and the keep hittin home runs.

[Fermi2]

Yeah
We keep lobbing them and the keep hittin home runs.

No, it's the NRC. They hit the ball 25 feet short of the fence and call it a homerun. Since they're a player and the umpire you really can't argue the call.

Mike

[Fermi2]

Thanks,

Hey I have a question... I looked at a pic of Palo Verde and it looks like the plants are somewhat seperated. Are there three different control rooms with three different sets of shifts?

Sequoyah has one big turbine building and one big aux building with a common control room for both units.

I doubt having a Non Licensed STA is economical. It isn't anywhere else. My guess is they don't want to go through the transition and the growing pains of a combined position because it is a pain in the arse.

MIke

[JnyMac]

Mike,

All the plants are seperated by fences.  Mainly the RCA.  3 identical plants and control rooms.  All with own turbine, control, and aux buildings.  All control rooms are on the same schedule.  5 site crews.  15 Shift Managers, 15 CRS, 15 SROs, 45 ROs,  and 90 AOs.  This does not include Work Control and OPs Standards.

[Fermi2]

WOW!! That's a LOT of Operators!

Mike

[shayne]

Breaking it down, at the same levels here at Fermi.  1 SM, 1 CRS, 1 STA, 3 NSOs and 6 NOs per shift.

[Fermi2]

Most multi unit sites have one SM per shift for all units. One CRS per each unit (one of whom acts as an STA). Maybe a WCSRO . 2 RO's per each unit.

Mike

[JnyMac]

I know its a ton.  We also have 5 SMs on special projects and I think 5 CRS as WCSRO.  Lots of retiremnets coming and lots of room for advancement.

[Fermi2]

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

Mike

[Dave Warren]

I have lived in both places.
I think Arizona has a much better climate, and the golf courses are definitely better.
But, Tennessee has the long-term work and Arizona has 30-day outages.
No humidity and sparse rain gives Arizona the nod.

[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.

[Fermi2]

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.

[raymcginnis]

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.