My name is Doug and I’m currently an operations of
nuclear fuel handler. Currently involved in the M-290 program
the type-Y(sp) canister buffering process for the
Enterprise fuel. The interaction that we’ve had,
that we’ve seen in the engineering side and the
operations side is something that I haven’t ever witnessed
here before at NRF. Engineering involved operations
very early on in the process of the M-290 uh program. We got
involved in helping develop the equipment and procedures
and they brought in the lifting and handling personnel,
the crane operators, the nuclear fuel handlers, and
it was this interaction that I think helped develop the
program and the success that we are today. A lot of the
equipment and tools that we use here in the M-290 program are
large and rather heavy. One of the things that we use
is what’s called the millennium torque tool. It’s a pneumatic
torque gun that we use to work on the lift plate adapter on
the M-290 and this aids in us lifting it off of the rail car.
This torque gun that we have to use weighs 30 pounds.
It’s heavy and awkward to use. One of the developments that we
came up with between engineering and operations was
the use of a fully articulating arm that has a
zero gravity reel suspended from it. And it makes the tool
virtually weightless and cuts down on the fatigue of the
nuclear worker. As we started the process, there were little
things that we changed with the procedures and the equipment.
Things to make it more streamlined for us. But really
what we got from our engineering staff was
top quality. We have strong innovative culture on our team.
Many of us come from different careers and backgrounds, each
one brings a different quality and skill. This was used in the
startup process to create the highly productive program that
we are today.