Prairie Island

[ramdog_1]

Let Me say this about that the techs that left no one missed them I was there.
those of you making the post about outagemanagement.
will are you in managment ?
and are you trying to help get the plant back on line?
Safety was the # one  item they talked about in the OCC as will what was being done to fix any problems that may arrive.
there were a few good HP techs there that did a good job the ones that helped with the PZR and SG. as will as the briefs .
the cream rises' the rest will DFR happens it was a path they chose to go. Since most of Atlantic that left will you just put more of a load on your fellow techs.
good luck

[Moparmaniac]

Where's SloGlo when we need him for a translation, and who's will?  Seriously, it's real difficult to read what you're trying to get across man.  Delete me if I'm too far off-topic. 

[diliigaf]

Where's SloGlo when we need him for a translation, and who's will?  Seriously, it's real difficult to read what you're trying to get across man.  Delete me if I'm too far off-topic. 

                  You're right,I couldn't understand what he said at all... It's easier to read SloGlo's writing...

[starving_dog]

Let Me say this about that the techs that left no one missed them I was there.
those of you making the post about outagemanagement.
will are you in managment ?
and are you trying to help get the plant back on line?
Safety was the # one  item they talked about in the OCC as will what was being done to fix any problems that may arrive.
there were a few good HP techs there that did a good job the ones that helped with the PZR and SG. as will as the briefs .
the cream rises' the rest will DFR happens it was a path they chose to go. Since most of Atlantic that left will you just put more of a load on your fellow techs.
good luck

Here is my interpretation of the message........

Let Me say this about that.  The techs that left, no one missed them, I was there.
Those of you making the posts about outage management.
Well are you in managment ?
Were you trying to help get the plant back on line?
Safety was the number one item discussed in the OCC, as well as what was being done to fix any problems that may arise.
There were a few good HP techs that did a good job.  Mainly the ones that helped with the PZR and SG's as well as the pre-job briefs.
The cream rises to the top and the rest ???will DFR happens??? it was a path they chose to go. Since most of Atlantic that left, well you just put more of a load on your fellow techs.

[diliigaf]

                   Thank you for the translation Dog, I was lost without it...

[BuddyThePug]

Here is my interpretation of the message........

Let Me say this about that.  The techs that left, no one missed them, I was there.
Those of you making the posts about outage management.
Well are you in managment ?
Were you trying to help get the plant back on line?
Safety was the number one item discussed in the OCC, as well as what was being done to fix any problems that may arise.
There were a few good HP techs that did a good job.  Mainly the ones that helped with the PZR and SG's as well as the pre-job briefs.
The cream rises to the top and the rest ???will DFR happens??? it was a path they chose to go. Since most of Atlantic that left, well you just put more of a load on your fellow techs.

Perhaps it is a new nuclear haiku?

Or Fleegle and Snork (from the avatar) were awfully generous with the "mushrooms" on the pizza?

But seriously, did anyone cut n paste the story to allegation@nrc.gov ??

[RAD-GHOST]

That's funny, since ramdog-1 speaks of his experiences in the OCC, he was more than likely one of those management types!  I think you guys are too critical, after a couple of dozen beers, I understood it perfectly!

Beercourt, you are correct on your assumption, but your point is?  It appears that you have simply accepted the stream line, get it done and overlook the obvious attitude of a few select facilities.  Actually the situations outlined on this thread were easily preventable and addressable with little to no cost!  In all probability the uninformed, reactive and complacent management decisions will cost a few pennies in the long run.  Actually I have to say your evaluation of the commercial industry is a little off the mark.  I've been to a few outages this season and the comparison is night and day.  Of course the others had talent, experience and took their profession seriously!  That statement alone, leads me to conclude that the HP management team of Prairie Island has been measured, by the other facilities departments, and assigned a very low order of responsibility, (other wise known as a speed bump)!

I guess the biggest part of the problem, that keeps getting overlooked, was management's delivery of the numerous concessions.  We're they there?  NO!  Did they know the conditions?  NO!  Did they assess the data and make an informative decision?  NO!  A manager, from another department, would simply place a phone call to HP management, who would then filter the concession down the line via another phone call.  Reminded me of the sneaker commercial, "Just Do It"! 

By the way, C0-58 & C0-60 could be a gas, but just imagine the temperature! 

Prairie Island Frisk All Song:  Does anyone remember that song?

Little Hands,

Little Feet,

Stuck in the Frisk All

can't get a Beep, Beep, Beep!

Sorry, I just couldn't resist!   

[HAIRDUDE]

Okay Folks,

  A good number of you know who I am. I've worked along side many of you in the field over the past couple of decades. I swung a meter for over 20 years before I went over to "The Dark Side", so I feel I have earned the right to speak from either side of the fence. What I'm about to say may have an adverse effect on my popularity rating, but it needs to be said:

  I am the guy who crunches the numbers. I am the guy who analyzes the data at Prairie Island. That's my gig these days. And numbers don't lie. This outage was scheduled for 32 days at the outside. We did it in 30. See ... the longer it takes to 'get 'er done', the longer everybody is in the RCA picking up dose. I set the dose goal for the outage at 55.7 Rem. The end result was 41.856Rem. Do the math. I'm not saying everything went perfectly. I'm not saying every decision was sound. I have limited exposure to that end of things these days. What I AM saying is that the bottom line ... the thing we, as RPs are MOST concerned with: Keeping the exposure to individuals under our auspices As Low As Reasonably Acheivable, ... the bottoom line is that exposure was limited to what I believe to be a stellar low. When I initially put out the dose goal, I was aiming at a best, case in accordance with historical data which said an average good performance for an outage .... going back 10 years ... was between 53Rem and 58 Rem. The goal was considered 'challenging' and had little likelihood of being met. They came in 13.844Rem UNDER this goal.

  Now ... I can't say exactly what every single thing was that went into this unbelievable performance. I CAN say that I saw an awareness of ALARA by all involved, above any I've seen here in the past. Who gets the credit? Everybody as far as I'm concerned. I saw everyone from laborers to Sr Techs chasing down every millirem at every opportunity. I got phone calls on the order of 15 times a night from people concerned with their exposure, dose goals, work scope expansions etc. every night. THEY were letting me know what was going on before the Passport System had a chance to update the data. AWESOME!

  Now ... one of the Techs who chose to leave ... you know who you are Bro ... confided in me the morning he left ... but I asked him to write down all of his issues and bring them to my office and I would personally look into all of them ... never happened. I went back over to that part of the site looking for him a couple of hours later when he hadn't gotten back to me, and he had left site. I wish he'd stayed around and seen it through. I offered my assistance in helping him get resolution and he aparrently either thought I was blowing smoke up his skirt or something else happened that I don't know about. All I can say is, I wish it would have happened differently. The only way to affect change is to participate in the remediation process. Had he hung around, at least some of his issues could have been addressed and perhaps improvements could have come out of it all.

  So yes ... There were issues with the outage. Was it a management thing? I don't know. Not my gig. Bottom line. That's what I deal with for a living folks. And the numbers say, you guys did one hell of a job in the end. Workers, techs, leads and ... yes ... Management too ... all had to be doing at least something right to get that end result. More right than historical data says is probable here.

  So ... Here's the money shot: I would like to thank EVERYONE that took part in our outage. I wish some of you could have had a more enjoyable experience while here and hope things are better in the future. I appreciate all of the hard work and attention to the real issues. I am thankful for a beautiful ALARA bottom line. I have no idea what the outage cost. I don't particularly care. Maybe once I make RPM I'll give a rats keaster about that kind of stuff ... but I doubt it. But ALARA ... the ONLY thing important to RP, was awesome this outage. Schedule? ... that plays into the "Time" part of "Time, Distance and Shielding" ... Like I said, the sooner the outage is over, the sooner I get everyone out of the RCA ... If they ain't in there, they ain't pickin' up no zoomies  And as far as I'm concerned, the rest of the issues were just that ... issues. There are issues with every outage ... everywhere. Yup ... Few people like my boss. That has no bearing on ALARA. Yup ... there are procedural issues ... those are being worked on and hopefully will be corrected and complete some time in the near future. The fact that they were identified says something about the program and how road techs help us all improve. Fresh set of eyes and all that. Is PI perfect? Nope. Is anyplace else? If there is a perfect plant, let me know. I'll email them my resume. Was everybody happy? YES ... at some time or another, while at Prairie Island, you were all happy ... even if only for a while.

  In closing, I hope some if not all of you come back to the frozen north to visit again some day. I'll most likely be here and would love to see you again. Thank you for all you did while you were here and Happy Holidays to all of you and your's.

[PWHoppe]

Hairdude,

Well said, and Karma to ya , given that attitude I would be happy to work an outage at PI.

Merry Christmas to you and yours 

[retired nuke]

Hairdude - All this kvetching, when PI did a 30 day outage for 42 Rem? over 20% under the dose goal? Any lost itme accidents / recordable injuries?   

You think you got any good fixes for a BWR you wanna share? If invited, do you think you could teach us a few things?

Many pats on the back for a successful outage. You are right, there are always issues with particular jobs that don't work out as well as planned. But a few mR of intake, to achieve the overall numbers you just posted - If I was still a traveler, I'd work on your refuel floor!

Merry Christmas, you guys made your own present....

[HAIRDUDE]

The credit goes to just about everyone but me guys. Thanx for the pats though. As for teaching, I think it all boils down to awareness in the field. At thebeginning of the outage, I was calling around hounding managers about dose and work order status but in short order, they were beating me to the proverbial punch. The staff was awesome and rose above any adversity they were experiencing and let their respective work ethics lead the way. I'd be tickled to help out if the occasion should arise, but as I said, it's the performance of the whole team that made this one go off the way it did.

Merry Christmas to ALL

[HAIRDUDE]

P.S.

1 Lost time accident. It was a back strain.

[Rennhack]

Hairdude,
Well said, and Karma to ya , given that attitude I would be happy to work an outage at PI.
Merry Christmas to you and yours 

Yeah, Floyd is a good guy.  Karma to ya.

[Nuclear Hooker]

PWHoppe,
I agree with you.....too bad Floyd wasn't part of the supv. and management that made the outage what it was.  Maybe I'll go back when Floyd is the RPM

[indoprime]

Well, being one of the last ones out the door of PI, I'll say this....

To me, it wasnt a bad outage, most of the poo-poo happened to go down during dayshift.  It's a shame that Hooker and co. left, but you had your reasons...and you stuck with it!  (Principles....i dig folks w/ principles).  Being a nightshifter, I didn't really have to deal w/ all that stuff.  But I had my own fish to fry too... (like dealing w/ folks that had 32mrad crawlin' around the transfer canal w/ no hood, wrong booties, and the wrong damn face masks.)  I told my lead about this, he let it slide, it came back to bite us. Nuff said.

Just know this, at the end, I let my concerns be known, I was honest and open about my experiences and what could have been done safer, and hopefully, someone will hear it.    I'll be back.  But it'll be on nights (hopefully, my same supervision will be there).

[richardb52]

When I heard all the negative things about PI, I was almost sorry I had decided to go.  When I got there and saw the plant, I thought I was back in the mid-eighties.  Access, RWPs, lack of consistency in control, communication, equipment.  I just had to laugh.  I hadn't seen a dot matrix printer in ten years.  But, I was on nights and I worked with some very good techs and rad-workers.  Nobody got overexposed, and everything else was just inconvienences.  They do alot with so little, you know that it will get them someday.  The most inconsistent plant I have ever been to.  So clean the lower cavity is not HCA, yet no way to easily access past survey data.  I could go on and on but most of it has been said.  A lot of management leadership issues.   I was there last outage Fall 2006.  Would I go back again.  Probally, if I were on nights and it wasn't in January.  Did you know they have outlets in the parking lot so you can plug your vehicle into so you can start it in the cold?  Very friendly area of the country. 

[retired nuke]

If you liked PI, come to VY - we have returned to using dose cards...they're unofficial of course. Seems the RWP/ALARA software sux so bad, nobody can figure out what jobs are getting the dose. Of course. now there is this big box of yellow cards that someone has to decipher.....expecting PICs any day now...

[richardb52]

Actually, I will be going to VY this spring 2007.  Dose Cards.  Wow.  Oh well. it keeps someone working.   I just hope the rad tech isn't in charge of collecting them and making sure they are filled out correctly before covering the work.  But, then again,  Chaos is cash.

[coopster26]

  :)Ding dong the witch is dead...which old witch...the wicked witch(NMC)wooooooooo!!
New employee's, new equipment......things are looking up at PI............or not.

[LaFeet]

GW  is it really that bad there???   Or is it realy just come as you are??

[RAD-GHOST]

Actually the plant isn't bad, reminds me of a real PWR, only smaller!  The area has it's plus's and minus, especially minus degrees in the winter!  The Health Physics Management staff, (both house and outage contractors), can best be described as "UNIQUE"!  Radiological planning seemed to be a little deficient for their past recent outages.  Although they seemed to anticipate the issues and address them with forethought, they seemed to fail on the follow through!  Sort of like......OK, this is what we did and now it's in Gods Hands!   

Their past two outages produced their unique venue of nuclide inventory reduction, (one lung at a time)!  Although the uptake situations can be debate forever, the Health Physics Managers assigned blame, instead of accepting shame!  They seem to have heightened their level criticism of for others, with complete amnesty for themselves!  Their team concept can best be described by the Olympics, one stadium and a hundred competitors!  Of course that's the difference between an experience and inexperienced professional management staff.................solve the problem, don't be the problem!

The place does make its ALARA goals, like that's a big surprise!  Obviously the Operations and Chemistry group needs a HUGE pat on the back for that!  Run e'm Clean and the Dose is Lean!   

I like the Teflon J. comment, obviously when you spend so much time doing something, you get really good at it!  Actually I liked John Boy, sort of reminded me of David Sutherland in Kelly's Heros!  Wish I could have got him to go "Woof..Woof"!    

I actually got a call, "Your preapproved at Prairie Island".......................CLICK!

Later, RG!

[coopster26]

Does anyone know who Bob Hite is? He is the new RMP at Prairie Island, replacing "Teflon" John Anderson. Couple more changes and the turnover will be complete.

[UncaBuffalo]

Does anyone know who Bob Hite is? He is the new RMP at Prairie Island, replacing "Teflon" John Anderson. Couple more changes and the turnover will be complete.

He's been RPM at Diablo for several years...before that, Duane Arnold.  No complaints from me about anything he's done at either place.  I think you'll like him...

[RAD-GHOST]

GWB,

Way to Funny, but sadly True!  Johnny boy may have had the pedigree, but Health Physics wasn't part of that Agenda!  I'm hearing that a couple of more changes are in the works, hopefully that number eguals three and the stooges will go back in the can.....Moe, Larry and Mike!

If I'd of known that they decommissioned Teflon John, I probably would have taken the ride!

Lose the other three and I'll sign the line for the next outage, TODAY!

Best of luck to Mr. Hite, if he doesn't show up, he'd still have a better record then the past manager!

RG............

[coopster26]

.......I'm hearing that a couple of more changes are in the works, hopefully that number eguals three and the stooges will go back in the can.....Moe, Larry and Mike!.........

I like that part....Hope it's true, I hear 1/2 the RP group want's to jump ship.........maybe they will change their mind's....unless it's too late.