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laying up nuke boats

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xht1sw	Exactly what are these watchstanders doing?	#11	[-]
Posts: 29 (23-Jan-2008 06:10:35) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Mike, What is it that these watchstanders do while waiting for the RC to be cut out? Having the ELT around for the chemistry/radcon work is understandable. The EDO is there for accountability. But what are the other two doing? Are they just placeholders to ensure compliance with federal law/naval regulations, or do they have actual tasks that they need to accomplish? Sure would be interesting to see exactly what the crew (and the Navy) has to do to completely decommission and strike a nuclear powered vessel. Would make for an interesting show on the Discovery Channel or whatnot - if it wasn't for federal laws and the whole NNPI thing. Mark (XHT1) Fermi2 wrote: pascaly wrote: Cheers Fermi, thanks. Until the Reactor Compartment is cut out and sent away on a barge you have to have the following for each watch section: Engineering Officer (EDO), Shutdown Roving Watch, Shutdown Electrician, and an ELT for Chemistry and Radiological Controls. Mike
Fermi2	There Are	#12	[-]
Posts: 3100 (23-Jan-2008 07:14:25) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	There are still certain systems in place that are used to maintain a boundary between the zoomies in the Reactor compartment and public. The Shutdown Electrician is there to monitor and repair electrical equipment, the Shutdown Roving Watch monitor any mechanical systems, while the ELT is also a Mechanic he cannot be the ELT while standing a Mechanical Watch. There's not a lot of equipment running but the Reactor Vessel has to be checked for leaks (Shutdown Rover Watch), there are usually temporary fans running for contamination control (Shutdown Electrician) and someone has to perform radiation protection duties when either of the above enter the Reactor Compartment (ELT). These would be one watch section, though ELT would really be a 24 hour watch. I'm not 100% sure of what the actual watch lengths are for a Decommed Nuke are but I'd assume for the SRW and Electrician 6 hours on, 12 off. Than at about 0800 the next day a new group would take over. OR They may just say the SRW and Electrician have to tour the Reactor spaces every 8 hours or so and go with one group of guys per duty group. I'm not 100% sure because I never served on a decommed vessel, however I had friends on vessels that refueled and uring the defueled condition they still had certain watches set. The above watchstations/individuals are identified as required, what I'm not certain of is how often they are required to tour the spaces. Mike
pascaly	Thanks Mike, interesting stuff.	#13	[-]
Posts: 1456 (24-Jan-2008 03:35:33) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	EDIT: yuku hacked my title, so my message-less post now has a message in it.
Dan 601		#14	[-]
Posts: 132 (24-Jan-2008 06:55:55) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	xht1sw wrote: Sure would be interesting to see exactly what the crew (and the Navy) has to do to completely decommission and strike a nuclear powered vessel. Would make for an interesting show on the Discovery Channel or whatnot - if it wasn't for federal laws and the whole NNPI thing This site has some info on the process. Kind of painful to see a couple of my old boats getting 'recycled' http://donshelton.net/djs-srp1.htm
Fermi2	Yeah	#15	[-]
Posts: 3116 (24-Jan-2008 08:20:04) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	My baby is in picture 5, the SSN 687 USS Richard B Russell the Last And The Finest. Mike
pascaly	SRP	#16	[-]
Posts: 1457 (25-Jan-2008 00:53:29) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	It was kind of like a snuff film.....very interesting stuff though, especially the rail car with the rods, where does it go from there? I'd imagine there'd be pretty tight security where ever that thing goes.
Fermi2	I Can Tell You	#17	[-]
Posts: 3119 (25-Jan-2008 01:42:12) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	The Naval Cores are removed as an entity. They are then placed in those huge concrete cylinders that you see in the picture. Normally the cylinders are backfilled with helium to a few atmospheres. Helium has good thermal characteristics and it won't corrode the fuel. This cylinder is actually inside another concrete cylinder. Between the two cylinders is an air gap, the outer cylinder has open grating every 90 degrees on the bottom and the top. Air in the gap is heated by the inner cylinder and rises, as it exits the top grate new air enters the bottom. It's natural circulation. This keeps the Helium inside the inner cylinder cool which keeps the used fuel cool. The Cylinders are taken to Idaho to the former Naval Reactors Facility. This facility has a HUGE building called the ECF (Expended Core Facility) This building has a huge spent fuel pool. They unload the cylinders into the fuel pool. Each core has it's own spot in the pool. There's a guy whose job it is to go to this pool everyday and measure the distance between the expended cores to ensure that don't get within certain distances of each other so there's no potential to start a critical reaction. I've been there, it's really cool. If you go to this link you can see similar equipment we use in the civilian industry. http://www.bobhenneman.info/forum/viewtopic.php?t=996&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=15 Yes when I was in the Navy these things were heavily guarded, I saw the Three Mile Island Fuel being transported to Idaho for testing, a coule things were impressive. 1: The size of the casks, you wouldn't believe how far they depressed the transport trailer. 2: The Gunship flying above the cask Mike

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