More Old Friends

Bay City, Texas

Weather: low 50 degrees, high 79 degrees, partly cloudy skies

The problems with being able to remove components from the old reactor head continued today. Progress is being made, but slowly. Once the parts that are giving problems are removed, we should be able to make up some of the lost time. We have a lot of people here who have done this work before, and none of them can recall having this type of problem before. The old reactor head was scheduled to be removed from containment three days ago, and it looks like it will be another three days before it will be moved.

I heard that CNN was going to be here this afternoon to do a report on the outage and nuclear power. It will be interesting to see the slant they put on their report, since this is one of the sites that is planning to build two new reactors. From the reports I hear, the effort here is probably going to lead to the start of the first new reactors to be built in the US in the last 30 years. The site’s licensing application is moving through the Nuclear Regulatory Agency’s review process, and has another one to two years to go before they will issue a license that will allow for the building and operation of the new reactors. Once the approval is given, the first reactor should begin operating in about four years. Some preliminary dirt movement has already started on drainage ditch relocation. It’s an exciting time to be in the nuclear industry.

On my way out of the plant today, I ran into another old friend that I hadn't seen in several years. Robert is one of the genuinely nice people that I have met here, and I was glad to hear that he and his family are doing well. They have three children, and all three are in college or involved in postgraduate degrees. He told me that he and his wife were enjoying a quieter house and getting reacquainted. As I left Robert and walked on into the parking lot, I ran across two more old friends. We talked for several minutes before they had to go in to work. Have I ever said how important work is to most people's social life? Especially in our modern world, where people who live next door to each other seldom see one another, much less talk.

More later, be safe.

Today's Town - Hastings, Florida: Potato Capital Of Florida

Not all who wander are lost.