ENERGY MATTERS

[hartley353]

The uncontrolled fire is out, but a significant amount of heat is still being given off, even with its capsule of concrete, Panbiker is partialy right.

[PanBiker]

I stand to be corrected on the burning statement in my last post. I do feel though that an 80 year time constraint on reaching the equivalent of an off switch should tell us that the technology is effectively uncontrollable if and when the proverbial hits the fan. This view is supported by a number of events since the Windscale fire. Chernobyl and Fukushima only two cases in point.

[Tripps]

It did not seem to be widely reported, but the radiation scare at Sellafield a couple of weeks ago, which caused 8,000 workers to be told not to come to work, was later said to be a false alarm caused by natural background radiation.

[PanBiker]

Very scary if they cant tell the difference!

[hartley353]

During my career I have worked on many contracts with the various Nuclear Power stations around the country, during this time I have seen and witnessed many events which don't make the public domain. There are many scares and accidents, and has been said there is no off button. I can no longer work on these premises because I have reached the limit of the amount of radiation allowed.

[Stanley]

I don't know why I have never done it before but yesterday I put a thermometer on the floor in the bedroom which is above the front room where the stove is lit 24X7. 23C! So I have underfloor heating. I knew the wall was warm but had never thought of the floor as a way heat from the stove permeates through the house.

[Sue]

Bob worked in nuclear power stations all his working life, inspecting boilers and all sorts on all power stations. He was in decommissioning and maintenance teams as well entering boilers. His radiation exposure was negligible , less than if he had moved to live in Aberdeen.

[hartley353]

Sounds like he is a lucky man Sue and never came close to the hot stuff. For one example when I installed an overlay system at Wylfa on Anglesey, this involved uprating the four control rooms on each reactor. To reach them involved passing through monitoring gates, a large number of my tools got left behind as being to hot to remove from the area, and my body was reading high involving showers and changes of clothing. One near miss I witnessed was during the decommissioning of a welsh installation. I had stayed late to complete tests on the adjacent substation, when I came to leave the site I noticed flames in the old turbine hall, the local firebrigade put it out, but this could have been a larger incident had it not been caught early. In all my time working on these installations I have never had a negative film badge. To learn the results I had to ask for them, it was never offered. During my two years working on demanning projects for the off shore business I never considered the background radiation in Aberdeen to be a concern, and I was there 24/7 most weeks.

[Sue]

He worked in the same places as you.

[hartley353]

He worked in the same places as you.

If he shared my experiences then he has been exposed.

[Sue]

Nope A1 fit when he left after over 35 years in the industry.

[hartley353]

There is probably no tangible connection to being exposed to radiation on this level and the state of your health. The knowledge of my exposure came from taking private precautions to monitor it. The normal regime in the industry was to not allow access to the records. In all probability I shall suffer no ill effects, neither will Bob, and that is all I can hope for. My wish is that no more nuclear power stations are built in this country, and we wait for fusion technology. when I turned my back on Sizewell B after its commissioning I honestly believed that would be the last.

[chinatyke]

The normal regime in the industry was to not allow access to the records.

Aren't you supposed to be given a radiation certificate stating your total dose when you left their employ? I certainly got one when I left Mullard's and was told I must produce it for up to 20 years afterwards if I went into similar classified work under the ionising radiation regulations or whatever they were called. That was in about 1968. We wore film badges at work and could expect low level radiation of x-ray and gamma rays produced from operating and testing cathode ray tubes at over-voltage, and deliberately forcing them to exceed normal limits. We didn't see weekly records but they were available to us.

[hartley353]

When i asked for my badge information I was refused, that prompted me to run mine own alongside. The company who processed my results indicated that I was receiving 5 year rates in one year. My understanding of radiation tells me that people in certain parts of the world exceeded my doses every day of their lives and would not be harmed. One well quoted anology is that the safest place to be regarding radiation is to be crew on a nuclear submarine. My greatest concern was the amount of Radioactive material I and my tools was coming into contact with. There were hot particles on my clothing and equipment, these were obviously able to be ingested or inhaled. The advice given to me was to stay away, that I have done.

[Sue]

Bob got a certificate with his total dose, which was low.

[hartley353]

Souds like from what you say Bob was an employee, and as such under their duty of care would be given paper work by his employer. For most of my career I have been a freelance Engineer working for various Engineering Consultancies. My requests for the information was from such a position, when I was refused.

[Sue]

Correct. He worked for the CEGB, and later it was National Power , then Nuclear Electric then MAGNOX, all his working life bar one year. Health and exposure was very carefully monitored and all info given to employees.

[Marilyn]

I was given a dose reading when I finished working in Nuclear Med.

[hartley353]

Why me? Am I the only person to have worked at a large number of nuclear sites and never received a dose certificate, other than by my own efforts. This could be an interesting little project to first see if I am alone, and then why it has happened, and to how many others.

[plaques]

Hartley looks like we're back to these damned probabilities. Perhaps you are one of the small number of people who will live forever irrespective of what their radiation exposure has been. On the other hand those who fall within the a three sigma distribution range are in all probability dead. Best not to get too involved wilh radiation statistics or you may never sleep at nights.

[Sue]

Seems weird, Bob can't understand it. Sounds like the contractors you worked for were not towing the company line.

[Marilyn]

So...do you cast a soft green glow when the lights are out, Hartley?

[hartley353]

I think a green glow may suit me Marilyn, there are those on this site whom may wish to see me coming. Bobs suspicions are partialy right, I have only just lifted the lid and the worms are visible. It would seem that because of the areas I was visiting, I should have come under a designated title, and been issued with a passport book to my personal possession, into which would be written all relevant recorded monitoring data. All records on exposure to radiation have to be kept for 50 years, I shall write and request what is held on me. In probability I have only just started on this path, and it would appear that it was as recent as 1999 with the latest act that a responsible attitude was taken with monitoring, and when you read this act it is left to the HSE to monitor a procedure set in place by the nuclear operators. This act allows the operators to set assessed levels to certain areas, and say that is what folks have received without proof, though there is a rider that states it must be put in the persons files when they have guessed it. The subject grows more interesting. In all certainty I have nothing to fear from my exposure, but the hand held devices going off when monitoring my equipment was a little disconcerting. On one occasion I was asked to remove a wheel from my vehicle because it read to high, but the use of a hose pipe to wash it, brought the reading down to an acceptable level.

[Sue]

I know Bob was always monitored very closely and had medical every year. He had to pass those at A1 fit to work in the reactor areas etc. his radiation exposure was also closely monitored. We never had any cause for concern despite the work he did .

[PanBiker]

I have a query lodged with British Gas at the moment, waiting for the next response. We have an online dual fuel account with BG, I do monthly meter readings and we have paperless billing. Works very well, I only pay for what I use via direct debit.

I sent my latest meter readings in round about the middle of last month and when I got notification that my bill was ready I went online to check what we had used. I then went into my account history to compare my monthly usages with previous years. The records only go back to August 2011 but I was rather concerned to see that on that particular month they show that my energy usage for gas was over 86,000Kwh, with a similar inflated amount showing on my electricity usage for the same period. The gas usage alone represents more than £3,500 for the month!

I asked for an explanation for the inflated readings and was told that they could not see the same readings on my account and could I send a screen shot of what I could see. This was duly done for each account, clearly showing the erroneous entries. The next reply was that BG dont have my meter readings prior to August 2011? so they cant check for what my usage was in previous months. They asked if I had the information and if so could I please let them have it. The meters were read by a BG meter reader on that particular month as they send them out occasionally to cross check the customer readings.

I pointed out that they could compare with subsequent readings for the same periods in 2012 and 2013 which surely would give reasonable cross check for usage patterns. I also added that as my account is currently clear and I am up to date with payments. I must have overpaid for the £3,500 worth of usage shown on my account and could I please have it back!

They are still thinking about that one....