Fermanite

[mostlyharmless]

Anyone got any stories about covering fermanite? The closest I came was seeing these guys come out  with their gloves half melted off. When I found out what they did I wondered how they got clearances.

[X-Nuke]

Wow, that's a name I haven't heard in over twenty years. There were two companies that I remember that used to do that sort of work. Fermanite was one and it seems like Federal Industrial was the other.  I agree with you that I can't see how anybody that does that for a living could ever pass Fitness for Duty or any other thing that requires sane people.

If I'm not totally off, these are the guys you hire to stop live steam leaks and such without shutting the unit down. I watched them seal a leaking main steam valve at Palisades back in the early 80's.  The thing was roaring like a jet engine at full power and had steam cut one of the bonnet bolts completely and was working on cutting the two on either side. They went in and clamped a fixture around the bonnet and pumped it full of this stuff that was like a nuclear grade hardening Permatex.  All the time they were saying that the added stress of actually pumping this stuff in might break the other bolts and cause the bonnet to come off completely.

I couldn't tell if they were highly skilled and confident, crazy, stupid, or drunk but I got the impression that it was a combination of all of these. Nuttiest thing I ever saw anybody do.

[Chimera]

Anyone got any stories about covering fermanite? The closest I came was seeing these guys come out  with their gloves half melted off. When I found out what they did I wondered how they got clearances.

Covering Furmanite???  All you did was tell them the dose rates (as if they cared) and get out of their way.  You might let them know what their self-readers were reading if they were far enough away from the pipe or valve they were working on but, other than that, you just tried not to break the seal on your respirator when your jaw hit the floor.

[mostlyharmless]

That is my memory of them. My only perpose was to check on them when they came out. I googled them yesterday and they still exist. They work on pipes up to 72" in diameter and 2800psi. One of them told me they sometimes have to search for the leak with a broom because the source is not well defined. You can see it after the steam has condensed and they have to get a lot closer. They have to enter the equipment hatch one at a time because their  nads are so big
How would you recruit for that job?  So let me get this straight,you want me to enter a cramped space wearing canvas coveralls in over 100 degree temperatures ,picking up dose, and work on a valve emitting high temp steam that may cut off my fingers or hand, and may blow up?   The pay must be good.

[Marlin]

I've made two power entries with Furmanite one for a S/G manway and one for a valve in the PZR doghouse. I have to agree with every one above it seemed a bit crazy but I am not aware of any injuries from any of their repairs.

Furmanite?!?

Yes

http://www.furmanite.com/

[Jr8black3]

They use it alot up at Fermi in their steam tunnel,,, the vavle is toast but the plant keeps going..

[RDTroja]

I had a little involuntary shudder just reading the title of this thread... even though it was spelled wrong.

Nuts doesn't even come close to describing there guys. I actually watched the end of a broom handle fall off while looking for a leak in the seal table room at a Westinghouse plant. I didn't even want to be in the same building with these guys. I never saw one get hurt, but they scared the crap out of me.

[RDTroja]

I see 'em a little different;

Here I am, performing an RWP brief and explaining the consequences of spending more than 10 minutes in a 2R/hr area, of cross contamination in an area >20k <150k dpm/100 sq.cm., and no respirators in a 4 DAC atmosphere,....

They are focused on not getting cut in half or losing an extremity to a steam leak,....

I feel a little small in this scenario,.....

I cut them the slack they are due, an administrative dose limit excursion or whole body PC event is a relatively small thing, we can deal with it,....

We can also deal with deconning a severed head or arm, but, all in all, I prefer the previously stated scenario,....

I agree. After the first time I covered these guys and got an appreciation for what they did, I immediately put my part of the job in perspective. My normal briefing was 'Please don't hurt yourself and we can deal with the rest."

I never had a problem with them but I still didn't like covering them from a personal safety point of view.

[liam]

I covered a pair of Furmanite guys working on top of the pressurizer at Turkey Point in the early nineties.  One guy almost passed out and we had to manhandle him down the ladder after we removed his respirator.  Then we noticed that everyone's rubber booties had melted.  Oh, them were the days.