Fernald

[RAD-GHOST]

Rumor has it, the Diem Train finally made it to Ohio, but only for the new, temporary riders!  Anybody know the real deal?

[filmfreak]

I've been at Fernald since 91. I started as a Rad Tech now I'm a QA/QC geek. There is still alot of work to be done and they keep laying people off. Fewer people, more work, long hours, short fuses. The people here are like family. I won't say anything about Fluor. If you can't say something nice...

This area is okay.  The Tri-state area is full of right-wingers and perfect for people who like to kill things (hunt, fish, etc.). I won't really miss it when I leave. I will definitely miss the many wonderful people I have met at Fernald though.

[oldradman]

NO MORE FLOUR PUKES,, IT IS   A BARTLETT  SITE  NOW  LETS HERE IT FOR JIMMY  PRICE,   YEA BABY YOU DID IT

[Jill]

Ahhh, Fernald!  Only pleasant memories I have of that job!   When I got there, I found that I had been hand picked for the department I was to work in (thanks for the good word, Big Bird!) because (I'm guessing)  they were happy with thier first "Mound Primadonna"  (again, that would be you, Big Bird!) that by adding another "Primadonna" how could they go wrong?!  LOL  Everybody in our department had such a good time together, no matter who you were with, that it seemed like one big family!  Yea, you had to have thick skin, a good sense of humor, and the ability to defend yourself if you found yourself the whipping child that day!  As far as fun goes, it was off the hook!  As far as knowledge goes, nobody topped our techs!  As for bosses, I will just say, we were 3 for 3.  If two out of three ain't bad then three out of three couldn't be beaten!  By far, the most fun I've had at a job since driving the golf cart and drinking beer at Pebblewood at 7am! 

[rasputin]

        dont forget the "bird watching" on the north 40..........forgive us our tresspasses

[price]

Thanks Old Rad Man- See you at SRS!

[oldradman]

For those of you considering going to Fernald, let me say this it is not a bad place to work. But the BUDHEAD YOU WILL work for is TT.  And he is a real piece of crap. Dose not know how to take, or even talk to the Rcts. He is not to be trusted. I know these are not nice words. But the man is really a jerk. And he makes it  a hell hole to work at. He does not have any proffessional skills working with people. I do not understand why he is still there. But this is from one road tek to another, we musch watch out for each other when your working with people like this

[Dave Warren]

It really isn't a bad place to work. You are correct. The bad thing about it is this:

Bartlett decided that they would staff with 2 types of technicians.

1. The green RCT that would develop some loyalty to the Big Blue. Kind of an RCT farm club. Triple-A type stuff. They were loaded with expendable techs, so when the first wave of layoffs came, they could terminate them and keep their golden boys and girls at the site.

2. The RCT's that had never worked at Fernald. This was to wash the bad taste of SEC out of Fluor's mouth. SEC didn't do a bad job there, but Bartlett wanted to portray the pretty boy image and not risk bringing in a returnee from the old regime.

From all of the old returnees I have talked to, who tried to get back there, and knew the process at Fernald, all of them said they were rejected. The rumor was that the Site Coordinator (mentioned in the previous post) was fine-tooth combing all the resumes.

OLD RAD MAN: I have never met him and have nothing to say about him, but you should call the Bartlett office, since you obviously have strong feelings. That and a quarter might get you a gumball, but at least you will be heard.

I can't put too many posts on here, because the right-wing conservatives keep knocking karma off my negative total....

[Rennhack]

The rumor was that the Site Coordinator (mentioned in the previous post) was fine-tooth combing all the resumes.

Dave,

TT does select who gets accepted, but he is the RPM, not the site co-ordinator.  Ed Carl is the Site Coordinator.  Ed Carl does not have much input on who TT selects.

[RNN]

For those of you considering going to Fernald, let me say this it is not a bad place to work. But the BUDHEAD YOU WILL work for is TT.  And he is a real piece of crap. Dose not know how to take, or even talk to the Rcts. He is not to be trusted. I know these are not nice words. But the man is really a jerk. And he makes it  a hell hole to work at. He does not have any proffessional skills working with people. I do not understand why he is still there. But this is from one road tek to another, we musch watch out for each other when your working with people like this

Ok I'm not one to talk bad about someone or sling mud but Old Rad Man is right about TT.

This man has no clue on what a Tech does and has the people skills of a rock. He has time and time again shown what an idiot he is with stupid requirements he puts on his techs like " You WILL be fired if you change the batteries on an instrument. You must have a qualified Instrument tech change the batteries on any instrument" Excuse me but I think most Techs are smart enough to change batteries.

He has also pulled the quals on some techs that have proved him wrong on issues with the DOE rep and he has also given time off to a supervisor that made him look like the idiot he is when the supervisor could quote 835 when asked about an issue and TT couldn't.

Now as for the Contract info asked for, Ed Carl is the site Co-ordinatror with Bartlett. The site is almost finished and is winding down and Stoller will take over site oversite soon.

Dave alot of calls have been made to the home office about TT and also alot of folks have talked to Ed Carl but so far it's fallen on deaf ears.

My advice to anyone thinking of coming to Fernald in the last months of this dieing site is don't bother, the money with diem may be good but the idiot you have to work for will make your time at Fernald not worth it

[illegalsmile]

I've never been there. The word I get from people who have is that TT is the one who says whether or not you go, and I do know several very good techs that submitted there and TT nixed them without explanation. I've worked with some people who know him very well and have nothing good to say about him. I've known Ed Carl for several years and, while his decisions as Site Coordinator/Project Manager don't always please the techs involved (he is, after all, Bartlett's rep, not ours) I know first hand that he is reasonable and honest. Also, it's not in Bartlett's interest to reject techs from a site (especially one they're having a hard time staffing) for superflous reasons.
I won't be submitting to "Fernobal," not because of Ed, but because of TT.

[Dave Warren]

Dave,

TT does select who gets accepted, but he is the RPM, not the site co-ordinator.  Ed Carl is the Site Coordinator.  Ed Carl does not have much input on who Tristian selects.

I stand corrected. I think we can all agree here. The common thread is that the RPM has his agenda in selecting RCT's, and no matter how many people complain about him, the RPM's company has chosen to ignore the feedback from the people who want to work for them.

[ISOCS]

Ed Carl?? Now there's someone I haven't thought about in a long time. He's definitely a good man. I hope he arrives tomorrow for the audit. I haven't seen him in 20 years.

[Nuclear NASCAR]

Just a reminder of one of the forum rules:

7. Peoples name's: Don't use them, they lead to law suits. Some names are already censored because of this. Don't use names in stories or messages that could in any way be taken wrong. – No libel or defamatory messages.

Libel-Published material meeting three conditions: the material is defamatory either on its face or indirectly; the defamatory statement is about someone who is identifiable to one or more persons; and the material must be distributed to someone other than the offended party; i.e. posted on NukeWorker.

Defamatory-An imputation is defamatory if it is calculated to engender: hatred, contempt or ridicule of, lowering the estimation of, or causing people to shun or avoid.

The name of the RPM has been changed to initials to comply with Rule #7 mentioned above.  I understand the need to warn others ahead of possible problems.  We just need to be careful that those warnings don't cause libel problems for Nukeworker in the process.

Peace,
Tom

P.S.-Any questions please don't hesitate to PM me and I'll be happy to answer. 

[Jr8black3]

Dang ya'll chill out no need for all this cu**ing

[Dave Warren]

Well now, Thomas Allen Stafford, this place riled you up right nice didn't it?

Another post like that one, and you will be down in my neighborhood of karma. Remember, people hide behind their nicknames and push smite buttons, instead of standing up and saying what you said.

Oh, and you lose karma for spelling awakening wrong.....

Some day you all will get a rude awakining and have to go out in to the real world of professional health physics   

Still, a very aggressive post, brother....Cheers

[PWHoppe]

On a professional level, most of you are truly incompetent.

Mr. Stafford, I guess that you are just trying to stand up for your friend, who by the way I don't know, and I respect that. I do however think you may be painting with a rather broad brush when you make a statement such as most RCT's are incompetent. I will admit that I too have encountered many technicians over the years who did not seem to have a good grasp of the finer points of Health Physics, but I don't think that I would say most RCT's are incompetent based on a few folks. That would be no different than saying a few individuals of a certain religious, ethnic, or social class make the whole group bad. I think you see my point.

You render your defense of your friend less effective by making such broad brush accusations and open yourself up to fiery responses that are sure to come. We all know how HP techs are not shy about venting  . I would suggest a more subtle approach. If one is truely a "professional", then respond in a professional manner when attacked, not in a mud throwing contest.

"...Give Respect..Get..Respect.."

Just my opinion, I could be wrong

[Rennhack]

I do however think you may be painting with a rather broad brush when you make a statement such as most RCT's are incompetent.

I think he said most RCT's at Fernald were incompetent, not that most of the RCT's everywhere are incompetent.  So the brush isn't THAT broad.

Also note that there was $33,000 in fines to Flour Fernald for PAAA citations recently, one such citation was for having under-qualified technicians. (I was on the team that audited Fernald)

Those violations are why Flour and Bartlett brought TT on site.  His directive was to weed out the under qualified, and bring in only the highest qualified people available.

With that said, I know of at least one highly qualified person who TT rejected. One such person (we’ll call him "Duane"), has a great resume, with a college degree in HP, many years of experience in FSS and D&D (several of them at Rocky Flats as a RCT and a Supervisor).  I know they both worked at the flats, but beyond that, I don’t know TT's reasons for rejecting "Duane", and I will not attempt to guess.

I do know that TT is attempting to do what he was hired to do.  Some jobs are truly thankless jobs.  His is one of them.  When you are hired to make the hard decisions, and you make them… you won’t be making any friends.

I don't know TT, never met him.  But I do know the story, from many sides, and from many angles.  The general consensus is that he isn't a people person, but that he is smart, and does what needs to be done.

[Dave Warren]

His directive was to weed out the under qualified, and bring in only the highest qualified people available.

With that said, I know of at least one highly qualified person who TT rejected. One such person (we'll call him Duane), has a great resume, with a college degree in HP, many years of experience in FSS and D&D (several of them at Rocky Flats as a RCT and a Supervisor).  I know they both worked at the flats, but beyond that, I don't know TT's reasons for rejecting "Duane", and I will not attempt to guess.

Let me play a little devil's advocate here.....If you failed to achieve your directive, while working for Bartlett, they would be obligated to discipline you for dereliction of duty.

Case in point:Duane

[RAD-GHOST]

Dave, ever wonder why your not the front man?

I'd give you Karma, if I could, but someone would just suck it away!

Have a Great Day, RG!

[Dave Warren]

Appreciate the thought, RG.....It's all good in Ashtabula, Baby

I guess my thinking was this: If Fluor and Bartlett brought this fella in to be a calming force, and all these experienced, competent RCT's tell me they were turned down for Fernald, that raises a question.

Is he performing the company's directive, or is he the wrong man for the job?

In my recent experience at the Fernald facility, most of the RCT's that I have encountered would not understand what the term "Applied Health Physics means." On a professional level, most of you are truly incompetent.

If you look at this previous post, it tells you that the RCT's at Fernald, who were "hand-picked" by Stafford's friend of 28 years, are not cutting the mustard. Therefore, the directive from Bartlett has not been met and the problem is not being addressed. Maybe his selection process was skewed and he ended up with all these incompetent RCT's.

Who knows? I have an old-school RCT living in my house, who is working at Fernald, and I am glad he doesn't visit Nukeworker very often. Otherwise, he may want to discuss how incompetent he is, with the 28-year friend of the Fernald RPM.

[RNN]

This is my first post on this web site. I am suprised that so many of you have negative comments about TT. I  have known and worked with him for more than 28 years. In my professional opinion he is quite simply a professional engaging  in the very complex field of applied health physics. In my recent experience at the Fernald facility, most of the RCT's that I have encountered would not understand what the term "Applied Health Physics means." On a professional level, most of you are truly incompetent. You may not like this comment , but the truth is what it is. How many of you so called RCT's could explain  exactly what "associated corpusular emission radiation fields" means ? What are the implications ? Should we be concerned about this ? Surprise, surprise. I have personnally had some of you ask me how to read a Bicron dose rate meter ? How to convert U/R to M/R. You got to be kidding me. How do you convert CPM to DPM. You know who you are. YOUR JOB I S TO PROTECT THE WORKER FOR UNNESSARY EXPOSURE TO RADIATION OR RADIOACTIVE MATERIAL. MOST OF YOU CAN'T DO IT. Why when you express your concerns about TT don't you use your real and not a computer nick name ? I don't have a problem at all with this, my name is T A S, HPS.NRRPT,HPSPRS,ANS....You know who I am. TT is truly a professional, you on the other hand are nothing more than jits. Some day you all will get a rude awakining and have to go out in to the real world of professional health physics, be prepared to work at a car wash. Don't like this ? Reply, you got my E-mail address I did not hide it...Give Respect..Get..Respect..Act like an a**hole, get treated like one...   

A few things I'll say here.

1. Sorry for breaking Fourm rules for one. I was about 1/2 tuned up when I posted and forgot rule 7
2. Mr Stafford I respect you for standing up for your friend and I will say TT does know Health Physics and is a very intelligent. On the other hand I stand by my remark he's an idiot, in my experience he conducts busniess on a knee-jerk reaction before he gets all the facts from all the party's and will not over turn one of his decisions when all the facts are placed before him.
3. I stand by my remark he has the people skills of a Rock
4. I also agree with Stafford's remark on Fernald Techs 95%. There is that other 5% that do know what they are doing and are darn good Techs. I may not be the best tech in the world but I do have over 15 yrs in this business and I do know what I'm doing.
5. I have talked to some of the Tech's onsite that have known and worked with TT in the past and yes some as long as you Mr. Stafford, and from all of them I get the same response. " No field exp, book smart but no common sense and has never done any job coverage EVER, black and white and even if he's wrong will not admit it.
6. In TT's attempt to weed out underqualified techs he has opted to bring in alot of commercial techs looking for diem for a few months and have a very hard time adjusting to low level contamination vs Dose that they are used to workiing with. I'm not saying they don't know what they are doing just are not used to frisking dirt.

All in all I have enjoyed my time at Fernald but now it's time to go.


 

[Dave Warren]

Where will you go to celebrate your 16th year in this business?

You will miss Oktoberfest 2006 in Cincinnati...

[Gonzo]

okay, so put me in with the 95% of the Techs who are incompetent if you have to but even so, I really want to know what "associated corpusular emission radiation fields" is all about...  I am positive I've never heard that phrase before...

[RNN]

Here is a excerpt of a paper I found

Chapman's interest in geomagnetic, ionospheric, and auroral observations was only part of his interest in understanding their origin. He was also instrumental in developing the dynamical theory of the origin of the various phases of the geomagnetic storm. In 1882, Balfour Stewart pointed out that the daily variation of the geomagnetic field at the surface of Earth must be caused by electric currents in the upper atmosphere. It was recognized by Stormer that Maxwell's equations require that the observed magnetic storm variations be associated with electric currents. In 1924 Schmidt pointed out that the main phase of a magnetic storm was equivalent to the addition of a southward field of 0.5 x 10-3 to 3.0 x l0-3 gauss across Earth, and postulated that the current associated with this field was in the form of a ring with the ions circulating westward around Earth and the electrons eastward. There was, at the time, a great variety of ideas on the cause of the westward ring current, invoking ultraviolet effects, solar corpuscular emission, etc., in association with solar activity. In 1930, Chapman and Ferraro set up the specific line of thinking that has evolved into the present-day understanding of the geomagnetic storm. They pointed out that the delay of geomagnetic and auroral activity of one or more days following a solar outburst rules out the ideas based on electromagnetic radiation from the sun. Corpuscular emissions with velocities of the order of 103 km/sec must be responsible. Adopting the point made by Lindemann that the solar corpuscular emission must be electrically neutral (because of the enormous electrostatic forces which arise when even very small numbers of charges of one sign are carried away from the sun), Chapman and Ferraro pointed out, and illustrated with a number of idealized examples, that the impact of a cloud or stream of electrons and ions against the geomagnetic field compresses the geomagnetic field. The compression produces an increase in the horizontal component at the surface of Earth. They pointed out that this must be the origin of the initial phase of the magnetic storm. They showed that the incident stream of particles and the geomagnetic field do not interpenetrate, the boundary layer being only 100 km or less in thickness. This picture was verified thirty years later by direct satellite observations of the magnetic field and the solar wind plasma. It is interesting to note, too, that the work of Chapman and Ferraro on the impact of charged particles against the boundary of a magnetic field has been taken up and vastly extended since 1950 in connection with the dynamics of laboratory plasma.