|
Saw many things in the plant Monday and Tuesday
I got to shadow I&C and FIN (Instrumentation and Control, Fix It Now, respectively, both are departments that do maintenance) Monday and Tuesday, respectively. It was cool. They take really long breaks and get to play with gadgets.
I&C
At I&C I got to see many things inside the plant. I followed them around as they repaired or calibrated stuff. On the way to calibrate the radiation detector in the off gas system, I got to go through the reactor building. That thing is huge. Since all air is sucked into the plant so that there would not be any radiation leaking to the public, I had to pass through two airlocks to get there. Once inside the reactor building, it was cool to see that all the floors were of a metal mesh of squares. The trip from spent fuel containment to the top of the reactor building to see the bridge was really far; there was huge number of stairs to climb. At the top of the reactor building next to the bridge, I got to see the top of the insulation that is on top of the drywell which is above the nuclear reactor. I also got to see the reactor building's dome from the underside, which was something I doubt I would ever get to see. I also got to see the generator and see the walls that surrounded the turbine (the turbine is radioactive, had to be surrounded by concrete walls). I got to watch them repair a radiation detector and calibrate some instrumentation in the control room.
FIN
The guys I shadowed in FIN did mainly outdoor stuff. In December a pH detector failed that was related to the condenser, the result was that the water became extremely acidic, the control read 7 and the pH was 3. Anyways, there was a leak and I got to see the metal mesh floor that it ate through. They fixed the control in December and everything works now, but requires maintenance every so often. I also got to see the plant's sewage treatment area and a low level radioactive waste containment building. The plant got struck by lightning on Saturday while Kristy and I were visiting St. Francisville, so we might of actually seen the lightning strike, being so close to the plant, but we had no idea that it hit something. The lightning struck a device on the pools that clean the water pumped in from the Mississippi so it can be used in the coolant towers. The device was fine (really, it was) but some other part had to be replaced on the pool. I just dropped by the FIN office again today and apparently there was another lightning strike this morning. Two circuits had to be replaced.
I have photos of everything I saw, but they are about 1 meg each so I will not put them up here due to the fact that my server space is very low.
Kristy is going to Pittsburg tomorrow for a conference and staying until Sunday so I am going to be alone this weekend. All alone... If you have my screen name, you'll probably see me online a lot.
Belched up with tidings of comfort and joy by Joe
at
1:31:00 PM. |
