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NuclearPlantJournal.com Nuclear Plant Journal, September-October 2016
continued the education process
with intensive hands-on, on the job
training during set-up for all site
personnel. This training included
application of process control
theories, with a top down emphasis
on an ultimate goal of absolute
safety for all removal procedures
& practices. They had to re-think
past practices and techniques with
explanations of the reasoning behind
the construction methods they
employed and discussions of the
engineering processes behind their
construction methods.
They worked in pairs, conducting
peer-checks, while performing
all work tasks & asked each team
member to implement evaluations of
each other during their work cycles,
as one of the symptoms of heat stress
can be disorientation and impaired
mental performance.
AEP asked for volunteers to
participate in specific measures they
could use that in other circumstances,
might be viewed as being personally
invasive. For example, they had
several individuals use wrist worn
devices, which would measure
heart rate, skin temperature, blood
pressure etc. They asked others to
measure their blood pressure, heart
rate and skin temperatures as they
entered and left the negative pressure
enclosures. AEP used specific
non-subjective devices, such as
fingertip blood pressure monitors,
non-contact thermometers, etc., to
measure physiological conditions.
They used these readings to establish
baselines that they would use as
indicators to determine if workers
were encountering unsafe levels
of heat stress or were overexerting
themselves inside the negative
pressure enclosures and becoming
overheated.
AEP used multiple measures to
motivate their work teams including
supplying lunch as they completed
an individual phase of the project.
They supplied items such as “Italian
Ices” & “fruit pops” on exceptionally
hot or humid days, (they avoided any
items with milk products, added or
artificial sweeteners that might make
an overheated worker feel nauseas).
They supplied different fruits/
vegetables that are touted by many
as being “internally cooling”, such
as peaches, watermelon, cucumbers,
grapes, etc.
Cost Savings
Typically this work would be
performed with the unit shutdown and
steam lines cooled down. By eliminating
this scope from the outage it’s estimated
that AEP saved 10.5 outage days – critical
path. This results in a very significant
cost avoidance. This does not include
the cost of replacement power, the labor
associated with support organizations for
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