Wednesday, June 20, 2018

South Texas Project Nuclear Plant: Example Of the Amazing Secrecy In The Industry

Began construction in about 1975. Why don't we know what is wrong with the piping insulation? My bet it is asbestos. Are they saying in the drywell or primary containment nationwide, the pipes are still insulated with a asbestos? Why didn't they admit it today.

I worked on shift at Vermont Yankee with this guy Don. I will never forget him. He had two daughters, man were they lookers. We talked about his teenage daughter problems for a decade. They were really good girls. But they had there issues with boys. Don would say boy after boy dismayingly, the guys were absolutely slavish to his girls. Right, we all are. He kept saying these young guys were poor examples of manhood. Everyone one of them.

I was there for his bitching surrounding a new cough. It went on to repeated bouts of pneumonia. The local swamp doctors had no idea what was going on. He had Asbestosis. He knew it was losing battle, as we all did. He got one lung cut out. I visited him in his last week of life. He told me it is like drowning for years. It was a beyond horrific death. He broke his new nuclear industry working teeth in at a secret Department of Defense nuclear plant in Alaska. Then worked many years at Oyster Creek until escaping to Vermont Yankee. He never graduated from High School. He was a aux operator for life. We had stainless steel mirror insulation first in Vermont Yankee's drywell.         

Vermont Yankee was loaded with Asbestos. They finally took it out. It is a shadow over everyone's life.


STP awarded for Nuclear Industry Innovation

Wadsworth - Employees from South Texas Project Nuclear Operating Company (STPNOC) received a Top Innovative Practice (TIP) award from the Nuclear Energy Institute for solving an industry-wide concern that would have required substantial insulation removal from piping and associated radiation exposure risk. 

The award was presented during this year’s Nuclear Energy Assembly, hosted by the Nuclear Energy Institute in Atlanta, Ga. The Nuclear Energy Institute is the nuclear energy industry’s policy organization.

This solution, which was accepted by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, provided a solution that preserved a high level of nuclear safety, meant a significant savings of radiation exposure to employees who would have been required to remove the piping insulation, and resulted in a cost savings of approximately $43 million.

The innovation was awarded as a risk-informed resolution of an industry-wide General Safety Issue-191 (GSI-191).

“I am proud of the persistence and effort of the STP team over many years,” said Dave Rencurrel, senior vice president, Operations. “We came up with an innovative, risk-informed solution that guards safety and benefits our industry.”

“Innovations like the ones celebrated today help ensure nuclear power plants continue to run safely and stay competitive in today’s marketplace,” Sue Perkins-Grew, senior director of Nuclear Security and Incident Response, said at the TIP awards ceremony.

The TIP awards celebrate industry leaders for new practices, enhanced processes and improved technology. To be considered for an award, the process or practice must be implemented and address one or more of the following criteria: innovations, safety, cost-savings impact, productivity/efficiency, transferability, communications, or vision and leadership.

STPNOC was one of 12 awardees recognized at the awards luncheon in Atlanta. The award winning team includes Steve Blossom, Mike Murray, Ernie Kee, Wayne Harrison, Drew Richards, Wes Schulz, Rob Engen, Kristin Kaspar and Fatma Yilmaz.              

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