Clinton

[Rennhack]

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

[scaffoldmonkey]

Mini shutdown weekend seemed to go well. musta been ahead of schedule as they  kept on calling us in 3-4 hours ahead of shift. Venture ran one shift but wanted 24 coverage...go figure. Good people there. Had it much more together than my first taste @ ref-out 8. Ah...home, paid ,own bed, life is good. Wye motel was a good place to stay though(Clinton) about 8 minutes from plant.

[cpottsjr]

Hope I'm okay on this thread with this question:  Am at DC  Cook, housemouse, long past road tech;  new RP superintendent as of Monday morning is Robin Serocke...  stated as having come from Clinton where she held the position of radiological engineer.  Asking for any words of wisdom regarding Robin and a tech-point-of-view regarding her past at Clinton and possibly her future at Cook.  Thanks in advance for any pertinent info.  For the record, we welcome her here and hope she is instrumental in effecting improvements in our program.

[DJ@Retired]

You guys at DC Cook should be real happy with Robin. We will miss her here at Clinton. She was a valued member of the RP team. Robin is smart, young  and  ambitious.  However, I have never really seen her in a position of authority.  Its been my experience that Radiation Protection Mangers are as good as the people around them or as bad as the Management at the top that  they  take orders from. If Robin can hold her own and not be intimidated by  the  upper  Management boys, I believe she will be a good one.  Give Robin your support and I believe Robin will give it right back. Good Luck and way to go Robin. DJ

[St Raphael]

DJ - how's everything at Clinton?  Hope to see you next year.  I'll have another pie for you! Happy Thanksgiving to all at Clinton.

[Rad_Toy]

was there in 2002 going back in jan 2004  nice people,  plant worked your a__ off.looking forward 2 going back...

[Rad_Toy]

Really liked the people and the area...outage before last was short handed..drywell/days... worked your A _ _ off..
juniors getting paid big monies, and could not respond to a PCM alarm, so when we were coming out for a smoke, they would nab us.. so much for your smoke.. time flew by...
We will be back Jan. 7th.

[DJ@Retired]

Baloong Wrote:Has anybody heard what is going on at Clinton? Bartlett tells me even experienced returnee HP's (of which I am one)cannot get in for their Feb 04 outage unless they are willing to commit exclusively to Excelon for the late winter/early spring 04. I am also hearing Clinton has reduced contract HP staffing by 35 techs. Does anyone realistically believe Clinton can successfully complete an 18 day outage with 35 fewer contract HP's? I believe their previous best was their 2002 outage which was 30 some days with a full complement of contract HP's. It appears Clinton may be well on the way to becoming just another miserable Excelon plant. From a contract HP perspective, their Feb 04 outage may simply be a good one to miss. Best of luck to those who get into Clinton. Keep us posted!:
Whats going on is Bartlett is not being very honest with you. The 35 Fewer techs where never ask for. As for a commitment thats Bartlett not Exelon.

[Eric_Bartlett]

Here is the story straight from the one responsible for the staffing of the Exelon system, including Clinton.  When Bartlett was awarded the Exelon contract one of the reasons was that the previous vendor had a difficult time staffing the Illinois plants.  Bartlett came in and changed things around as far staffing the system as a whole instead of individual plants.  I know that makes a lot of the techs upset because they may want to do only certain plants and not others, for that I am sorry.  After the first few seasons staffing the system as a whole instead of as individuals it was obvious from my vantage point as well as Corporate's that this was the best way to both fullfill Bartletts obligation to Exelon and to ensure that Exelon remained content with our performance, hence why the Illinois sites happen to line up with little time in between them and why they have a multiple plant incentive bonus.  In talking to corporate they have agreed that staffing the system as a whole is preffered.

As far as the the overall number of techs going into the Clinton station - what happened was that there was a failure of communication between the site and myself, for which I have accepted full responsibility, where i had a much larger number of SHP techs requested than that that was actually asked for, therefore leaving me to reduce the number of SHP techs hired by 30+.  :-/

So there be the story.  I know its of no consolation, but there it is.  Oh, one last thing - hey DJ, long time no talk to - hope your do'n well - by the sounds of it you are -  as far as the "commitment" to do more than just one exelon outage at a time as being just Bartlett thing and not an Exelon thing, unless corporate is tell'n you how they want Bartlett (namely me) to staff you may wanna check on things before you make erroneous statements.(just an idea)

Eric Bartlett

[DJ@Retired]

Sorry Eric, I just see things from down in our world. I forgot you do have deal with the grand fleet! . Glad you cleared this up! Because a lot of techs get pretty angry about there work or lack there of. As for the statement about Bartlett not being very honest. Bad choose of words. What I should have wrote was that Bartlett didn't explain things very well. Which I believed you have corrected. Eric please except my apology. It was a long late night.  DJ

[Eric_Bartlett]

Hey DJ - no offense taken - been a rough season  :-/(and we aint even in it yet) - sorry if i got snippy with ya, the demands of this job will do it to me every time especially having to satisfy 5 siblings aka exelon sites all at once - the number mix up at clinton was almost the straw that broke this camels back - but it wouldn't be nuclear power if it was easy - i'm glad i could attempt to clear everything up especially after that fiasco   (been do'n this for over 14 years and still try'n to get it right) - hope everything is going well with you and yours - good luck on the upcomming outage.  do me a favor and slap yoas upside the head when he shows up next week.  

take it slow,

Eric

[DJ@Retired]

Eric hope you & yours had a great Holiday. Good to hear from you. As for Yoas. Thats at easy one. Thanks & keep on truck'n.... DJ

[ltemup]

Was there for some hazard recognition work, going back in Feb. 2004 for outage work. Nice people, overal safe plant to work at.

[DJ@Retired]

In a few days, where suppose to start our outage. Yet the grand fleet has not release but one technician to us. LaSalle Outage is not going very well. So I guess this quote from Bartlett is true.
After the first few seasons staffing the system as a whole instead of as individuals it was obvious from my vantage point as well as Corporate's that this was the best way to both fullfill Bartletts obligation to Exelon and to ensure that Exelon remained content with our performance, hence why the Illinois sites happen to line up with little time in between them and why they have a multiple plant incentive bonus. In talking to corporate they have agreed that staffing the system as a whole is preffered.

Instead of having returnees who know our plant and our happy to come back! We sit "run" and have to wait a day before our outage for technicians that don't know our plant, that our running there hind ends off at a plant that's broke! Technicians in need of a few days of Rest and Relaxation. Will be looking for place's to stay which have all been taken by either GE or Venture. Go though sling shot training  in our procedure and then into a 17 day outage that so compress  with work that has little chance of coming to fruition. Oh yeah did I mention that these same technicians have to go to Quad Cities when there done here! That if we can release them on time? Which oh by the way since where the red head step child of Exelon  we will release no ifs ands or Buts. Bartlett giving them a bonus is a small compensation for a big task. You guys who are doing this marathon have my respect and admiration. The should have named this marathon "Mission Impossible"  Good luck Mr. Phelps 

[St Raphael]

Dj

Clinton rocks DJ.  Yes, it was a steady pump last outage, but the great staff there were extremely supportive.  I enjoyed myself immensely!   No coconut cream pie for you DJ this time around.  Sorry to have to miss this outage.  CB is having a knee replacement. 

[eructor]

The actual town of Clinton doesn't have much going for it. The Chinese and Mexiacan restaurants ain't bad (China Wok and El Reys...you can figure which is which)
For fun go to Champaign or Bloomington. Cheap beer and good food at Elroys or the Pub2 off ISU campus.

[mahalo]

Clinton is a great place to work the only problem that I had with it was that the 02 outage ended to soon I work the TD durring turbine upgrade and coulden't have worked with a better group of people. House techs (DJ Billy J.) ect were a pleasure to work with. I will go back in a sec. And the next time my wife makes a Cocanut craeam pie for DJ I'm eating it myself. Ok DJ

[DJ@Retired]

I still have the pie pan....

[RDTroja]

I worked the infamous LaSalle-Clinton back-to-back outages last winter. If you can stand the cold (-16 F was the worst, -5 to -10 was not uncommon) both plants were pretty good, Clinton having the edge for its people.

Clinton is an odd bird of a plant, a BWR with a containment and transfer canal (that went DOWN to the SFP!) and the design makes it very tight space wise, when disassembling the reactor. And the low dome on  the 'containment' made for some interesting weather conditions when the ventilation went out of service. Rain falling onthe refuel floor is very interesting. The house people were some of the best I have ever met, very friendly and seem to understand the standard woes of traveling techs. Would go back any time.

And if it means anything to you, the plant is halfway between the University of Illinois and Illinois State U and that means plenty of night life about half an hour from the plant, if you get the time to enjoy it. Heard some very interesting stories about a particular night club... but this is the public section of the forum.

[keltay3]

  I see NRC has ESP public meeting on April 19 for the early site permit. 

Does anybody know of any grassroots pro-nuke organizations around Clinton? 

I'd like to check out a website and/or make email contact, if you know of someone in Illinois.  (e.g. in other areas are 'NY-AREA' = pro-Indian Pt, 'Citizens for Nuclear Technology Awareness' in SC, 'NA-YGN' in Virginia)

[Trinian23]

Geting to be that time soon. If anyone needs a place to stay, let me know. I have an extra room in Bloomington, just pm me and we'll work out the details.

[IonEyes]

I hear that Bartlett is looking for 90 techs for the upcoming outage.  Is that for Sr, Jr, Decon combined?  And what are they planning to do this outage that makes the demand so high?

[Eric_Bartlett]

I hear that Bartlett is looking for 90 techs for the upcoming outage.  Is that for Sr, Jr, Decon combined?  And what are they planning to do this outage that makes the demand so high?

Thats actually a low number as compared to what they have historically brought in - on top of the regular refuel they are look'n at doing a shroud repair and a msr repair. 

Eric

[rocketman51104]

Any new news if Clinton is still staffing for their outage or are they full?

[Eric_Bartlett]

Any new news if Clinton is still staffing for their outage or are they full?

At this point HP is pretty much wrapped up(unless they increase numbers), about to start hiring the decon crew soon.

Eric