Refueling a NUCLEAR REACTOR - Smarter Every Day 311

[Destin] Is that a hot rod? [Man] It is very hot. [D] That's a very hot rod. [M] YES. [Chuckles knowingly] If that comes out of the water, we would no longer be here. None of us up here. [Destin] Really? Really. Hey, it's me, Destin. Welcome back to Smarter Every Day. I am so incredibly excited to share this video with you. I have never experienced anything like this. I've wanted to learn about nuclear power for years, but I purposefully kept myself ignorant. I deep dive into aerodynamics and all material of science, things like that. But nuclear power is this thing that I didn't want to approach until the time was right. I'm telling you the time is right. We're about to learn about nuclear power by seeing it and by meeting the people who are making nuclear power. And just we're going to walk inside an active nuclear power plant, not just on any normal day. We're going to walk in to a power plant on the day that they're refueling it. They're taking old the fuel rods out and putting new fuel rods back in. And we're going to see how they do that. And it has totally demystified nuclear power for me. This experience just changed how I feel about a nuclear power plant being just down the road from where I live. It's awesome. So this is what I would ask of you to do for you. If you would just watch the video as if you're there with me and we're walking around and we're asking the questions together and we're experiencing it and give yourself some grace. Because there are moments where I have no idea what's going on, and I'm just asking questions. And I think it's okay to not know what's happening and then just let it happen. And then later on in the video, we'll understand more about it. So this is a really neat experience. I hope you really enjoy it. This is unlike the access most people get to the nuclear industry. So this is very, very special. And I want to thank the people that let this happen. This is the culmination of months of coordination and training and people working behind the scene to give us this very special look into a very special place you can't just take a camera here you have to have the proper training and a ton of people made this happen I'm so grateful for that. But let's go to an active nuclear power plant and learn about nuclear power in a very real way. Let's go get Smarter Every Day. So something's about to happen that we've been wanting to happen forever. We're going to get to go to a nuclear plant, and this is my friend, Phillip, who forever... I've called him Jimmy Neutron, as long as I can remember. And the thing about Phillip is he's very moderate, very level. How would you say... Not very expressive. This is his angry face. This is also his happy face. This is his excited face. And that's who you want working in a nuclear plant, I feel. Yeah? I'm the most boring man you'll meet. I have to get extra medium shirts. Extra medium? Okay. All right, George, we're going to go to a nuclear plant. You excited? [G] I'm so pumped. [D] All right. There it is over there. Where are we at, Phillip? [P] We are leaving the training center And you are just east of the plant. [D] What's the name of the plant? [P] This is Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant. [D] All right. This is the third largest nuclear plant in the United States, correct? [P] I don't know. [Both laughing] It's one of the biggest ones. [D] I believe it is. But you guys have three units, correct? [P] We have three units. We are the only plant that has all three units under one roof. [D] Watch your step Interesting. Yeah, the safety at nuclear plants, I've heard, is over the top. [P] Oh, yeah. We have rules on how to climb a flight of stairs. [D] Really? [P] It's crazy. But people rarely get hurt, so I guess it works. [D] There you go. What's up, Bill? [B] Hey, how are you doing? [D] Doing well. All right. So this is the security? [B] It is. This is our Westgate house. So we're getting to the plant. [D] Okay, cool. Sounds good. Bill, what's your deal here at the plant? [B] I work with the instrument shop right now. I've worked here for about 15 years. I'll spend my some time in operations as a licensed operator. [D] Is this where I need to cut off the camera for security stuff? [B] Yeah, that's probably a good spot. [D] Okay, we're all cut the camera here. We just went through a lot of security that I'm not allowed to show you. And it's pretty intense. There's a lady that you'll probably see on camera here in a minute. She's got a rifle. I feel comfortable with that. That's pretty good. Well, we want to make sure everybody stays safe while they're working here. [B] We don't want any issues, the wrong people be in here, right? [D] So when you come in to work every day, you've got to go through that. [B] Yes, sir, every day. [D] All right, good. All right. Bill, what we have here? [B] So these are our two buildings. You'll see the larger building over here is our reactor building, our shorter turbine building.

Reactor building has got the reactors that are housed in there. It's really a secondary containment just in case something went awry. And then our turbine building over here is where we got our turbine and our generator where we produce our power. And then you can actually over here see all the lines that are coming out of the plant. That's where we supply 500,000 volts to the valley, which goes to the substations out there to our homes, really. Neutrons, electrons. [D] So the reactor is actually in there. And then this is the generator, turbine, all this. And then that's where it's distribution. The security stuff, it's pretty serious. [B] I think so. [D] Yeah. Am I allowed to say what we had to do to get in the building? [B] I mean, yeah, you can. [D] But biometrics. [B] Yeah. [D] Biometrics. Yeah, that was and not normal biometrics. Browns Ferry nuclear power plant is run by TVA, the Tennessee Valley Authority. It's a public corporation created during the New Deal, coming out of the Great Depression, to help manage and protect and use the Tennessee Valley's vast waterway system as effectively as possible. And today, it's become a major energy provider in the area, pushing power out to over 10 million people. This plant, Browns Ferry, was constructed in the 1960s and 1970s, companies and is a huge deal for my local community. We headed down to what's called dosimetry, where we would be checked in and given devices called dosimeters that would track our exposure to ionizing radiation as we move throughout the plant. This video is a part of a deep dive series on nuclear power that we're doing here on Smarter Every Day. In a previous video, we learned about these dosimeters when George and I had to undergo radiation training in order to enter the plant today. If you want to go deeper into nuclear power, check out this series. It's pretty cool. You can subscribe on YouTube if you're into that, or you can sign up for the email list on smartereveryday. com when the new videos come out, I'll send them to you. In an earlier video in the series, we explored EBR-1, the first nuclear reactor to generate electricity and put it on the grid. There's so much more that we're going to learn about in this deep dive, from how we handle radioactive materials to future nuclear technology to how to deal with nuclear waste. In upcoming videos, we're going to explore all this and learn everything we can about this important energy option. But right now, let's get back to the plant. How's it going? I'm Destin. [Amanda] Destin, nice to meet you. [D] [A] Okay, just one at a time. I'll need you to step into... [D] This? [A] Yes, the gem five. [D] Okay. Sounds good. [A] A little room here. [D] And so what are we doing here? You said your name was- Amanda. I'm Destin. Yeah. [A] Radiation protection. I'm the one that issues dosimetry. [D] Oh, great. [A] Yes. [D] Awesome. So I go right in here? [A] Step in, face the wall. [D] Face the wall? [MACHINE] Three, two, one. [A] Be careful stepping out. This little device, as far as it's your dosimeter of legal record. [D] Okay. [A] When this is read, it has dose on it. When you log in, you'll have a self-reading dosimeter. It's real-time. [D] Okay. I'll carry these with me at all times, right? [A] Well, when you go into the RCA, you'll log into the SRD, but this will be on your person all time. [D] Okay. Got it. Do you track this for everybody in the entire plant? [A] Anyone who has to go in the RCA, yes. [D] Wow. That's amazing. [A] About 2,000. During an outage, it could be anywhere from there to 4,000. [D] Wow, that's amazing. While we're waiting on dosimetry, this is Angela. [A] Hi. [D] What instructions did they give you? [A] No, they just said just to be with you all, just in case anything happened, and we needed to escort you all out. [D] You're more intimidating than I expected. [A] Really? [D] You are. Yes. [A] Thank you. [D] You're welcome. Ma'am? [A] You can hold this. [D] Oh, thank you so much. So this is my dosimeter. [A] Dosimeter, yes. [D] I should feel a bond with this. [A] Yes. [D] Okay, thank you. [A] Do not lose it. [D] Okay, great. Thank you. Are you excited to bond with your dosimeter? [G] I just can't wait to meet it. [D] There's a lot of stuff. Good thing I have three chins. Start clipping stuff to my chins. [B] That's why I have the beard. [D] That's why you have the beard? [A] Are you excited? [D] I'm very excited. Did you see me do a little dance just then? [A] It's good to have people excited here. [D] That's good. I'm seeing a lot of beards, man. I don't have a beard. Do they issue you that beard? [Bearded Man] Yes, they do. [D] He just got a mustache. I don't have facial hair. I don't feel like I can be here. Bill thought I might find it interesting to check in with some of people in the executive offices. So we went upstairs and met Lionel Locke, the safety manager. What's up, man? [L] How are you doing? I'm Lionel. I'm Destin. Nice to meet you. [L] Nice to meet you. [D] Yeah, pleasure. Lionel, I have heard a word over and over ever since I got here, and it's outage.

I've heard the word outage. What is an outage? [L] An outage means that the plant, when it's running, it's online. That means we're making power, putting it out there in the transmission system. We got to turn the plant off, cool everything down open everything up so we can fix the valves, fix the motors, and do the maintenance of the plant. So we're not creating any power, we're not generating any electricity. But this is a monster. There's three units, and it's a challenge to manage not just the unit that we have an outage, we still have two reactors that are running. So it's always a challenge, and it's a good team. It takes a solid team to manage all of this. Some of the other sites that may just have one unit, a little easier for them because they just got that one unit in an outage. That's all they got to focus on, but we're still producing power with two other units. [D] Okay, so there's three units. Bill, there's three units here? [B] Yes, sir. [D] Okay. What are the unit one, unit two, unit three? Is that what you call them? [B] Yes, sir. Each operating at about 4,000 thermo megawatts, putting out about 1,350 megawatts electric to the grid. [D] What's going down for the outage? [B] Right now, Unit 2 is down, and we're refueling that and performing all the work that Lionel discussed, and Unit 1 and 3 are operating. [L] We are refueling outage. Refueling outage means we are literally taking the spent fuel out, putting in the spent fuel pool, and we got around 330 new assemblies that we're putting inside the core. You have your coal plants that have railroad cars constantly coming in with coal. We can run two years off of a reef, off the nuclear fuel that we put in the pot for this outage. [D] That's happening today. [L] Right now, as we speak. [D] So this is a big day to be here. [L] Yes, it is. [D] And this is why you brought me in on a Saturday. [B] I did. Yes, sir. [D] Thank you so much, man. Lionel, thank you. [L] Appreciate it. [D] Is this a fuel bundle, Bill? [B] Yeah, actually, that is a mockup of a fuel bundle. [D] So this is what we're refueling today? [B] That's right. Yeah. This is the ATRIUM-11, I believe. It is the style on this one. [D] Okay. [B] These are your fuel rods. Actually, you got a good view of the fuel pellets here also. [D] So these are the pellets. All right. And so we're pulling these things out with a crane and putting them back in? [B] Correct. Yeah. [D] So these fuel rods are where the magic happens, and I want to talk about it so much. Someone actually sent me a book after one of the first videos in this series. I opened the book. It's made a long time ago. Sure enough, the exact reactor for Browns Ferry nuclear power plant is in there. Look at that. Those are the fuel bundles. And I have been researching this so much. The thing specifically I want to talk about is the difference between a boiling water reactor, which is what Browns Ferry is, and a pressurized water reactor. But we just don't have time for that in this video. But in a future video, we're going to talk to an internationally recognized expert named Bill Williamson. This guy knows so much. We are going to learn this stuff, but this video is just not the place to do it. But for now, let's go talk to the guy that's over this nuclear power plant. [B] Trying to hide from us? I got some people that wanted to meet you, Quinn. What's up, Quinn? [Q] Hey, man. good to see you. [D] How's it going? [Q] Good. [D] Yeah. So I'm Destin. [Q] Yeah. [D] We met during my training, right? [Q] Yeah. [D] All right. So I met Lionel, so far as safety guy, and you're the plant manager, right? [Q] Correct. [D] So I learned about the outage. So we're in an outage. No, not plant, unit Two. Two is down. Is that what that means up there? [Q] Yeah. So one of the benefits of the plant manager's office is megawatt meters for all three units. [D] Is that real? [Q] Yeah. [D] Absolutely real? Okay. [Q] So you can see two is down. One is at 100% power. Three is right at 91% power right now. We're coming back up to 100 from the outage that we talked about. [D] Okay, so how long does it take to come up to... What is 100% in terms of megawatts? [Q] About 1300 on a good cold river day. [D] What do you mean by cold river day? [Q] When the river's cold, it allows us to improve our vacuum and the condenser, which improves our megawatt output. [D] Really? [Q] Yeah, it's temperature dependent. [D] Tell me, when you see these dials up here like this, what does that make you feel? [Q] The one on the left makes me happy. [D] Okay. Yeah. [Q] The one in the center is expected, right? Every two years, you have to take a unit down to change out a third of the nuclear fuel. And that's what we're doing. That's what you'll go see here in a little bit. So they're moving fuel in and out of the core. [D] And the one on the far right, are you comfortable with that? [Q] No, I like it to match the one unit one. [D] So what I've been told is that nuclear plants, you want it to be boring. [Q] Yeah, absolutely. Hot, straight, normal, 100% power. Just sit there. [D] Really? So steady-state. [Q] Yeah. [D] So how long does it take to bring a plant down for an outage, and then versus how long does it take to bring it back up? [Q] So the way we do it for refueling outages, it takes about 12 hours. We start around 9: 00 in the morning, derating in steps, and then we can go in a various...

We're a BWR, which is boiling water reactor, which means we have contaminated systems throughout the whole station. There's areas that we can't access at 100% power that we can access at 40% power. We'll go in at 40%. We'll come down from... This last time we were coasting, we were down around 80% power because our fuel was running out. We were coasting down from 100 down to 80. Then we started our outage, so we came down around 40 power, took heaters out of service, did some inspections, looking for leaks, looking for stuff we would need to fix during the outage so that we had the right scope for the outage. [D] You start ramping down. You take an assessment because you can go more places. [Q] That's right. [D] Then at that time, you start planning for the outage. Do you keep it at 40%? [Q] No. We come down to around 20% and then insert what we call a manual scram. [D] What does that mean? [Q] There's two big red buttons in the control room. You can see those. Operator pushes those and all the rods go in. Bwr, they come in from the bottom. It immediately shuts down the reactor. [D] Okay, so what is a BWR? [Q] A boiling water reactor means it's designed to have boiling inside the reactor vessel. Pressurized water reactors don't have mass boiling in their reactors. They have nucleate boiling, which means tiny little bubbles form on the surface of the fuel and then immediately collapse because pressure is so high that it doesn't turn to boiling. We essentially are at saturation conditions inside the vessel. We run around a thousand pounds, a thousand PSIg, which equates to what? About 500 -[B] About 570 degrees. Seventy degrees. [D] Even though it's called a boiling water reactor and the other one's called a pressurized water reactor, you're still boiling under pressure here. [Q] Yeah. But we're designed to have mass boiling. We have a huge pocket of steam inside the pressure vessel, which PWRs don't. [D] Okay. Like the old locomotives, the steam locomotives, they had a big reservoir on top of steam. [Q] Yeah, right. That's right. [D] What temperature will that steam be? 570, you said? [Q] Yeah, about 570. [B] The moderate temperature is about 570. Yes, that's right. [D] So these are literally the steam tables. [Q] Yeah. Let's see. Saturated steam. [D] Because every nuclear plant is just a steam plant, right? [Q] Correct. Ultimately, you're creating steam to drive a turbine. So about 550. [D] So you went to PSI, pounds per square inch. You went down to 1,000, right? [Q] Right. [D] That's where this BWR operates. Then the temperature that water boils is in this area. [Q] About 550. [D] About 550. It's just physics. We're going to see unit 2 open, which makes sense because we're in an outage. [Q] It's flooded up, too. You'll be able to see. As a part of refueling, we take those concrete blocks off, we take the drywell head reactor pressure vessel head off and put them on stands, and then we flood it up, flood the water level up equal to the spent fuel pool, and then we remove some shield blocks, and then we just lift the fuel up, move it over and put it down. So it's one big pool. [D] Thanks, Quinn. [Q] Thank you. [D] What's this? [B] We got some hard hats for you. Some safety equipment for when you get out in the plant. Great. [G] Oh, we get a lanyard. [D] Bill's making me do more training. What am I doing? [B] You're doing some form material training. So one of the things with the core, it's open, right? So we You want to make sure that there's nothing that could potentially drop off you and fall onto the core. We have methods of retrieval, obviously, and if something happened, we'd be okay. But what I want to make sure is that you understand the rules and regulations associated with going over the core and As far as foreign material goes, we don't want to drop something. [D] I don't drop something. I'm taking training, so I don't drop camera pieces or anything in the core. [B] That's right. [D] I guess the point is, I'm not just going over an open nuclear reactor. This is a coordinated event, and we're going to have to be careful about how I hold things, right? [B] Yeah, absolutely. [D] Okay, cool. Thank you. Okay, time to dress out. I don't feel naked, but I feel less clothed. [P] Well, you are. [D] Okay, cool. Where are we going exactly? We're going over the fuel? [B] Yeah, we're going to go on the refuel floor bridge. [D] What is this? Can we look at this? [B] Yeah, actually, that's a really good picture right there. What they're doing is this is a picture of our core uncovered right here. [D] That's where we're going? [B] Yeah, there's a bridge that's sitting over there, and there's almost near about 100 feet of water that's over all that fuel. We're going to ride a bridge, a crane, essentially, that goes over

there and moves the fuel. [D] Is that what is happening here? I'm seeing a camera. Is this on the crane that's moving? [B] Yeah, that's on the mast on the crane. That's all the way down. Right now, there's another portion that you're not seeing. The spent fuel pool. That's where they're at right now. But there's a mast that goes all the way down into the core, and it'll latch onto the fuel, and we'll move the fuel. [D] This blue that I'm seeing, is that Cherenkov radiation or is that lighting? [B] Well, that's probably lighting over there. You'll see this, some Cherenkov. When we moved, when we pick up On the bundle here, you'll probably see it, but there is a blue glow that'll be around the fuel itself. [D] Is this a crane operator actually grabbing things? [B] That's right. You'll see it when we go over the next bundle, but there's an open claw, and then the camera is in the it'll sit down on the bundle, and it'll latch onto the bundle. [D] Really? Okay, cool. All these are different fuel. Man, it's crazy. It's just like the claw game, almost. They're just putting things in the little slots. [B] Yeah, they've all got specific places where they're supposed to go. We keep very close track of where everything's at. There's a lot of, I guess I'll say, poisons, especially in the spent fuel pool, where we make sure that we can put the fuel, and the fuel in the stays subcritical at all times. [D] This is the reactor? [B] This is the reactor. [D] Then this is the spent fuel pool. [B] Well, the crane is going over to the reactor at this point in time. It was in the spent fuel pool. Now you'll see it come over the reactor here. [D] Whoa, that was a cool reveal. That was pretty neat. So this is what the reactor looks like? [B] Yeah. [D] Okay, so I guess this is a question I have. So we've got cameras. Phillip, you were saying don't use like a non-cotton fabric. You're saying that's bad, right? [P] Not necessarily bad. Synthetic fibers tend to have more static electricity, and the static is what radon gets, it will adhere to it. When the radon attaches to it, [D] I'm not going to be able to get this out because the RP won't let me. [P] Right. It'll set off the radiation detectors. Then you can, most of the time, you can just let it sit for a little while and it will decay and you can get it out. It might be the next day, but- [B] That radon is all naturally occurring. [D] That's not from the plant. [B] That's not us. [D] The RP personnel that I learned about in the safety training, the people that have to scan you so that you can come out, they have to make sure that you're clean. A lot of times, radon is the stuff that gets on your bag, and that'll set off their detectors and you can't get it out. [P] Yeah. [B] Right. [D] Okay. [P] Same thing with your clothes. If you wear synthetic fibers, polyester, or nylon, stuff like that, it does the same thing. [D] Got it. [B] You're about to pull a fuel bundle out of the core, and I think you'll actually see this rank off effect here when it comes out. [D] Really? He's trying to grab it first? [B] Yeah. Actually, what they're doing is they're on the bundle, and they've each got unique identifiers, serial numbers. You can see it right here. They're going to verify that they're on the right bundle. Then once now he's sitting on it, and then he'll latch onto make sure that he's got a good hold of it, and then he'll bring it up. [D] This is what you used to do, isn't it? [B] I did this for a little while, yeah. [D] What do you call this person? [B] I was the reactivity manager over the fuel handler. [D] Fuel handler. Okay, cool. So he's securing? [B ]Yeah. [D] Is there some video we can get of this? [B] Absolutely. [D] Are they recording this? [B] They are. [D] So now he's flying the bundle, or she, whoever it is. [B] There's just a Cherenkov effect right there. [D] Oh, yeah. How far above the pool will we be? [B] See, really well in the hole right there, which is vacated. We're about to head to the plant. We're going to swing by RP. They're going to give us a RWP, a Radiation Worker Permit. We're going to sign in to go into the plant. We're going to understand our dose limits and all that type of stuff. Then when we get up, I'll take it up to the floor, and then when we get you and I are going to change the jobs that we're doing because we're going to go out on the bridge. You and I will have another RWP we'll log on to. I have written down the reasons why you should use the sponsor for this video. It’s gonna be the simplest sponsorship ever... It’s FREE. The thing I’m gonna tell you about is free... and it’s GOOD. It’s AnyDesk is remote control software where you can control a computer from a different location. Let’s see what else I wrote... (What the paper says) You can control computers from you phone. 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AnyDesk dot com slash SMARTER. Big thanks for AnyDesk for supporting Smarter Every Day. I’m grateful. I think you’re gonna love the product. I only talk about things here on Smarter Every Day that I genuinely use and love. AnyDesk is one of those. So... yeah! Consider it. AnyDesk dot com slash SMARTER I just had to take a bunch of training about foreign material dropping into the pool, and so I'm hyper aware of that right now. [B] It's the one thing we do. I mean, it's taking weeks to get you in here. The only thing we've done is really just train you for a week, pretty much, before we got in here, right? [D] Yeah, absolutely. [B] We want to make sure you're prepared. Yes and yes. All right, buddy. Hey, what's going on? [B] That's an interesting fellow right there. [D] Yeah? [B] He's our valve guy. [D] A valve guy? [B] Yeah. [D] You have a whole guy just for valves? [B] Yeah, we have a couple of guys just for valves, but he's our lead guy for valves. Sitting there and he's going... We've only got one right now. I'm like, Well, that's a little different than the ten. [D] Can I see your tattoo real quick? Yeah. That's awesome. That's cool. Thanks. Pretty good. I think this is RP? This is RP. [B] Yeah, this is our briefing station before we head out in the plant to make sure we understand what RWPs we're getting off. [D] That's good. When you go to log in, It's going to ask you to scan the front of your dosimeter first, scan that barcode, and you're going to scan. It's going to say, Bet scan the back. It'll be that barcode. It's going to ask you for a work order number. Type this number right here, that's 125, 129, 292. then it's going to give you a drop-down box. Hit the little arrow, and that's going to be the only number that's available. It ends in that 121, okay? [D] Yes, sir. That's going to be you all's RWP. It's going to get you all up to the refuel floor, traveling through Unit 1, Bill will take you all in the office. You can check in up there. Now, when you get up there, make sure you let them know your set points for your RWP is 5 millilre rim dose alarm and 40 millilre rim per hour dose rate alarm. That's fairly low to be going on the refuel floor. That would determine where they're going to allow you to go or if they want you all to be on a different RWP with higher set points. Okay? [G] Five and 40? Five and 40. All good? Just make sure that the technicians that you talk to up there know that. [B] Yeah, I will. All right. Let's get you one of these. [D] We can grab any of them. [B] Well, we want a smaller one. We don't want a screamer. [D] A screamer meaning a loud one? [B] Yeah. If you're in a high noise area. Okay, so we're going to go to a white trip ticket area. White. Anyone that says white is fine. Put your dosimeter in there first. There you go. Yeah. Then it's going to ask you to scan the back. Now, this is where you pull up your view of your RWP. Click RWP. This is what we talked about earlier in the training, right? [D] Mm-hmm. So every worker does this... [Beeping in background] [B] You are granted access to the RCA. [D] That's a pretty big deal. [B] And then you're going to put that right next to your DLR. [D] Sounds great. Here we go. I'm about to go in. So you've been saying for years you didn't ever think this would happen. [P] No, I really didn't think Bill would pull this off. [Everyone laughing like little kids] [D] So we're actually about to do it, which is a pretty big deal. Bill, are you proud that you pulled it off? [B] Let's not give me all the credit because if this goes awry, I don't want to be the one that goes down, man. [D] [Laughing] [D] But it's a pretty big deal to be able to take a camera into a place like this. [B] It is a huge deal. [Guy walking by]: Philip! That's what I'm talking about baby! Get in there! [B] It's exciting. [Everyone is laughing at dude walking by] [B] Is that Kevin? [P] Yeah Alright, so... Here's what we're going to do. We're going to go in the RCA. You're going to put your dad on here. Phil will go in last. Just make sure you're all good. You get the green light and we'll go in. Okay. Now you got your hard hat. [D] Yes, sir. [B] If glasses, ear protection, DOR, and your dad, right?

[D] Yes, sir. [B] Good to go. [D] Great. Currently, I have zero millirem. [B] Remember, we're going in an industrial environment, so it can get a little loud, okay? [D] Yes, sir. [B] All right. You all ready? Let's go. [D] So we're in the RCA now? [B] We are actively in the RCA. That's correct. [D] It's very clean. [B] It is. Video. [B] Okay, so what I'm about to take you into is the secondary containment area, right? You'll notice that there's some locked doors and everything like water tight doors. We do this intentionally because this is our absolute last means if something bad happened, that's where we keep it all. We keep this area at a negative pressure just to make sure we keep all the containment products inside secondary containment if something were to have happened. That's why you see the doors like that. [D] That's an air and a water door. [B] A flow tight. Yeah, it's not really an air door. It's mostly a water door. [D] Okay, I see. Do we have to badge in to go? [B] Yeah, we're going to have to badge in. So I'm first in. We're going to walk up to the elevator through the operating spaces because there's less traffic over this. [P] Before we go any farther, when you see the floor drains, don't step on those. They're a lot of times contaminated. [D] Okay. So be looking for floor drains. [B] We have 185 control rods. It's 185 of these accumulators, which will assist the control rod to enter the vessel in the event of a scram. [D] Got it. So they're individual pressure tanks with check valves to maintain pressure? [B] Effectively, yes. [D] Okay. So it's contaminated just because water has gone down into it? [B] At some point in time. The surface is most likely not from where we're at, but inside those drains, there may be some contamination. We don't know. And getting into the drains and free-releasing it is very difficult. So we just say, Stay out of it. [D] Don't touch it. Got it. I'm getting no dose. [B] We're going to go up to the fourth elevation. We'll pick up our C zone close that I suspect they're going to ask us for, and then we'll head up to the refuel for it. [B] Okay. [D] What RP you on? Or how do you say? RWP? RWP. I'm on 252-00022. [D] Is that how I would say that to you? What RWP you on? Yeah, that's typically how it goes. [D] It's more like how long till lunch. That's what we normally talk about. Something like that. [D] This is a big motor. [B] Yeah, they're abandoned in place at this point in time. That's how we used to control the speed of the research before we had static control. So we moved over to the research drive. But these are some big old motor generator. [D] It's easier just to leave them there. [B] Yeah. [D] Abandoned in place. Interesting. So we're going to dress out here? [B] No, we'll take our stuff up to the refill floor and get briefed up there, but we're going to grab our booties and everything here. [D] Okay. Are you getting one for each of us? [B] I can, yeah. [D] I'm scared to touch anything. [B] That's good. Stay that way. [D] Stay that way? [B] No. I have no clear plastic. Do you have any clear plastic? [D] I have no clear plastic. Thank you. [D] Thank you. [B] Your license? I do that. [D] How are you all doing? Good. How are you? So you're the RP? Yes, sir. [D] If there's one thing I learned in that training is to say Mother, may I to you before I do anything. I don't really. That's what he is going to love these guys. Yeah. We've been briefing him up. This will be my test for him. What do you think they're going to do to me? You're going to get the We're trying to get all that stuff out of the way. You think so? Yeah.

Trying to get that on the bridge? Yeah. Got to see the cameras. Good luck. A lot of straps. Yeah. What's your name? [T] Trenton. [D] Trenton. I'm Destin. Nice to meet you. I didn't like that handshake. Let's do it again. That's a better one. How long you been here? In terms of years. Yeah, nuclear. [T] 2011. [D] Really? [B] Just me and Destin will be... Yeah, we're going to take the other guys up to the Crow's Nest, and Destin and I we'll be out on the bridge. [D] So you're RP? That's right. I'm going to get you ID. 18504. [D] Always be nice to people on the elevator. They might be your RP later. Now I got to ask you what your RP means. [D] My RWP is- Don't start stuttering now. [D] 121? Is that it? That's my work order. It's 125 129 292. [B] That's your work order. You're right. Your RWP is 121. [D] Yeah, 121 is my work order. [B] Your RWP. [D] RWP. Da gummit. What's your ID number on that? [D] My ID number is 37467. So you're being on 25. Like I said, you're being on 25, 200, Dose alarm is 60 millirem, the dose rate alarm is 250 millirem per hour. All right, this is what our RWP looks like when you go to look at it. Got your description. This is for refuel floor activities. It's for high radiological risk, so this will gain you entry into higher radiation areas, even though we don't have one post where you all will be at. But just in case moving things around the water, high radiological risk is a possibility, which is why your dose long thing is 60 millirem around. So the area where you'll be at on the bridge. If you look over there. The orange part? Yes. If you look at this top right Here. I'm going to go wait a bit. This is the bridge. See all these people on here? [D] Yes, sir. That's where ya'll be at. [D] Yes, sir. Dose rates up there are about one to two millirem an hour. So that's where we come to our dose rate alarm. Your dose rate alarm is set to 250 millirem an hour. On the bridge, you shouldn't get close to that at all. [D] Because of the water. Water's your shield, waters your mediator. We got stop work criteria. In the event of a dose alarm, our unanticipated dose rate alarm will notify RP. That's a microphone. Oh. I was just having a hard time hearing it. Oh, there we go. Yeah, stop work criteria. In the event of a dose or a dose rate alarm, immediately notify RP. Stop work will leave the area. We have air monitors on the north side. So if you hear those go off, and you'll hear them go off, that means everyone in the C zone or on the floor will evacuate and will help that transition We'll leave the floor entirely. [D] Will RP be on the Bridge? We will have RP in the zone, and they will be covering the Bridge. We have telemetry, so we can constantly monitor the dose rates in the area. So right here, you see these little dose rates? [D] Yes, sir. So that's for inside the 360 platform and that's for on the Bridge. So if you look back to our screen over here, you'll notice on the left camera, there's a 360 platform here. So we have RDS 31s monitoring the dose where the workers are actively working in the 360. So this just helps us see the progression of dose rates in the area from afar. That way we can let anyone know what's going on. [D] So you've got instrumentation right there, and we're going to be on the bridge right there where they are, correct? [RP] Correct. [D] And then so you're monitoring it in real-time, and because the RWP is active, you know that we're out there. [RP] That's correct. [D] Okay. [RP] Yeah. So everyone's covered all the way around, both ways and backwards. [D] Sounds good. Right now, I'm at 0. 1 millirem an hour, which is nothing. [RP] right. Now you're about to sign off out here and sign on to... Because you probably come up on what? 71? [B] It came up on 121. [RP] 121. We're going to sign on to 252-000-92. [D] Yes, sir. Then my rate alarm will go up.

[RP] Right. So your set points will change. You'll go to a dose alarm of 60 millirem and a dose rate alarm of 250 millilrem an hour. [D] Cool. Thank you. I appreciate. What was your name? [RP] Christian. [D] Nice to meet you, Christian. [C] Nice to meet you. Yeah. All right. Now, as you stop back by this window, we got a full brief on it. We do a reverse briefing. Yes, sir. The dose alarm and dose rate alarm, we usually typically what we do is say, Hey, what's your dose alarm? You repeat back to me what the dose alarm is. Which would be 250. Then I ask you, What's your dose rate alarm? [D] Sixty. You say 250. It's 250 millirem per hour? 250 millirem per hour. Yes, that's Dose rate. [D] What's my limit dose? Is it 60? It was 60, so I said that backwards. [D] Okay. Yes. The dose rate alarm is 250, and the dose limit is 60. Yes, sir. Millirem. [D] Millirem. Once a millirem, and once a millirem per hour. [D] Yes, sir. So the dress out is going to be a full dress out with the single hood on the bridge. That's to protect you because you're going to go into a contaminated area. The contamination levels in the area on the bridge is less than 1,000 DPM, per cm square, up to 2,000 DPM, per cm, going to sell this. Low-level contamination, minimal dressout. We have several different This is the same dress out, so this would be the minimal dress-out. [D] We're not going to be quite to the level he is, or is it going to be the level he is? This is the same dress-out as. [B] You want a hood and a skullcap? Yes. [B] Okay. We'll have to get a hood. Okay. Appreciate it, guys. Okay. My max is 60. My rate is 250. It's a single. Then you do want to send hood and skullcap. Right. Then it gets a little bit tougher, 80% of 60. [D] 80% of 60 is 40. Hold on. It's 60 minus 12 Which is 48. At 48, yeah. [D] At 48 is when I need to start looking for the door. Right. Okay. That'll be the time you have to be back away. [D] Yes, sir. Other than that, Christian brief you on the dose rates on the bridge. Now you have the information for the contamination levels on the bridge. You did a reverse briefing. Is there any questions or concerns? [D] I have a question for you guys. What do you guys think I'm going to get dose-wise while I'm in there? You're around about 0. 5 millirem per hour. 0. [D] 0. 5? What do you think my total is going to be? It's going to be based on time. 0. You're going to be in there an hour. Okay. Cool. Thank you. Appreciate it. All right. You're welcome. [B] You're not going to be in there an hour. [D] Mr. Somers, right? [S] Yes, sir. Yeah. Thank you, Mr. Somers. Appreciate it. Thanks, Christian. Jonah. Jonah? Nice to meet you guys. All right. Sorry. [B] All right. Welcome to the refill floor. Hey, what's up? [D] We're on the refill floor now? [B] floor. [D] Okay. [B] We'll go ahead and take you up for the crows nest. This is probably the best place to be. [J] What are you carrying in? [B] Are you going into foreign material? [J] Yes, that's what I was trying to figure out how to go about it. [D] Would you like this on my head? I met Jeffrey from FME, or Foreign Materials Exclusion. I didn't really understand what he was doing at the time, but he was starting a process that was happening in the background. He looked at all the cameras that I wanted to take out over the reactor, and he started working a solution for how to attach them to me. [B] Why don't we come up here? [D] We're in a really interesting place, but everybody's all business. [B] All right, so this is our refuel floor. You got three units up here. You can see all three units spent fuel pools. the bridges and everything like that. We're currently in refueling operations on unit two right now. They're right over the fuel pool and they're moving either blade guides or fuel over to the reactor at this point in time. They're actually in the process of shuffling their fuel. [D] Okay, so I didn't realize when I heard nuclear reactor units one, two, three, I didn't realize it was all under one roof. [B] Oh, yeah. [D] I didn't know that. [B] Yeah. It's a big building. [D] So that's a reactor. [B] That's right. [D] That's a fuel pool. reactor. And then what do I have going the other way? Oh, the square first. [B] The fuel pool and the reactor. [D] It looks... [B] Three, two, and three look identical to each other. [D] Why are these fuel pools next to each other? [B] So they were made originally when it was constructed. They just constructed Unit One and Two as mirror objects of each other.

Then at some point in time during initial construction, they said, We want to add a third Unit Two, and then just mirrored Unit Two again. It was just from an original design. [D] I see. Interesting. This was made when? [B] Back in the mid '60s. [D] Mid '60s. That's amazing. I can see into the pool. I can see the tops of... I need to flip my camera to a tighter camera, I think. Let me do that. There's a nuclear reactor around that ring. It's in the center of that. That's unit one? [B] That's Unit 1, correct. [D] Here's the fuel pool for Unit 2. Now, is this spent fuel? [B] The square is the spent fuel, that's correct. [D] Okay, and then the reactor is right there. Right now, are we taking fuel out of the reactor or are we putting it in? [B] It's a little bit of a combination of both. We have 764 bundles in the core, and we only get about 350 new bundles every refueling average every couple of years. We actually reuse the fuel for about six years. They call it a shuffle. You may be moving a once burnt fuel is what we call it, one cycle, moving it to a different location in the core. [D] Got it. [B] Right now, the main priority for fuel shuffle one is to move the fuel in an appropriate location so that we can access the parts of the core that we want to do maintenance on. [D] That makes sense. Can you walk me through? I see a lot of people in this room. doing different things. This looks like there's a lot of equipment over here that's not being used at the moment. Is this a monitoring station? [B] Yes. [D] Okay, so it's monitoring radiation. I don't see any people here. I see these people here. They look like they're getting ready to do something. [B] Yeah, so you got a bunch of groups that are working here. You've got some, I'll say, work management individuals down here from different groups. [D] That's what these people are doing? [B] These guys are helping track the fuel moves that they're on, making sure that they're on the right bundles, etc. They're also tracking the work that's going on the refuel floor, reporting to our outage control center. [D] That's why people are coming in and signing in with her. [B] That's right. They're just tracking the work of what's going on. That's really what they're doing. You got a bunch of boiler makers out there that their job is to essentially remove or disassemble the vessel. [D] Is that who you're seeing here? [B] There's a couple of boiler makers down there. There's a bunch of miscellaneous stuff. If anything that requires any crane movement or anything like that outside of the bridge, you got boiler makers involved. You got floor material, individuals out there that are tracking what form of material is going where. [D] Okay, and then up on the bridge, they're over the reactor now. I'm seeing some people right at the edge of the reactor. [B] Yeah, those guys are actually part of our in-vessel inspection team. And what they is they go and they have cameras that they put in the core. Look at our nozzles, look at our welds, look at all that stuff to make sure that there's no wear, essentially, and that the life of the core is maintained. [D] Got it. That's an individual on the bridge right there. Is that the individual getting the fuel rods? [B] That would be the fuel handler himself, yes. [D] Okay. Then there's support people beside the fuel handler. [B] You've always got a fuel handler. He's got a peer check that's with him. Then you have a licensed senior reactor operator to authorize the fuel moves that are occurring. [D] Wow. Is there a physicist somewhere? Is there a really smart nuclear physicist around the room somewhere? [B] Well, there are nukes that are watching all this, but they're in another room. [D] That's what they're called, nukes? [B] Yeah, we call them nukes. [D] Okay. [B] The reactor engineers, and they're in another room outside of here. They just stay and limit their dose that they're receiving, right? [D] I see. [B] I could take you to them later, but they're in another room over there and they're watching all of this. They have worked with our corporate fuels guys to figure out what the appropriate way to shuffle the core is. [D] Got you. Okay. And so these people over here, if you look at my camera screen, those people just went into the C zone. You call it the C zone. That means contaminated? [B] Yeah, contamination zone. That's correct. [D] Okay. So somebody's coming out. So he's about to come down and derobe. What do you call the act of taking off your... Someone handed him something. [B] Yeah, well, we had to get something into the C zone area, so he passes what's in. And once it goes in, it's okay, but they can't take it back out. [D] Okay, I noticed the bridge just moved. And what is happening now? So is he... He's above the reactor itself. [B] Yeah, it looks like he's going down to get a fuel bundle at this point in time in the pour. He probably has one latched on. He's coming right now through the cattle shoot. [D] Oh, he can go straight through. [B] Yep. [D] You call that the cattle shoot? [B] Yeah, it's just a generic term that we utilize. [D] It's a gate? [B] It's a gate that we can come through. He'll have the fuel at the end of that crane, and then he'll put it in the appropriate location to spend fuel pool. [D] What is the coordinate system for where the fuel is located. [B] There's a map down here I'm happy to show you.

[D] Yeah, I'd love to see that in just a second. I want to watch what he does here real quick. [B] They get over the location that they want to go either in the core of the spent fuel pool The bridge will automate to where it's supposed to be at, and then he'll call out the core location or the spent fuel pool location that they're at. Then his peer check will agree with them. They'll lower it. Before they latch or unlatch, the SRO will give their authorization that it's appropriate. [D] I actually see the hole he's about to... Do they light up the holes where they're going? [B] Yeah, there's some lighting down there so they can see where they're working. [D] I can see what he's trying to align to. [B] Here's one of our refueling SRO's leaving right now. [D] Should we talk to him? [B] Sure. [D] Sure. [B] Hey, Sarah. [D] I just back down that ladder because I saw you back down the ladder. [B] That's fine. Do you know why he did that? [D] No, why? This sign right here says, Hey, this is a ship's ladder. The incline isn't appropriate for you to walk up it normally, so you've got to maintain three points of contact. That's He should have seen that you had all this equipment on you, and he should have said, Hey, Austin. Can you just say Austin? Destin. I'm so sorry. He should have said, Hey, Destin, make sure you secure your equipment and maintain your points. for safety. [D] I'm What's your name? [S] Hi, I'm Sarah. [D] I'm Destin. [S] Nice to meet you. [D] Sarah, I'm torn right now because, A, I want to appreciate you for doing that, but also I can tell that you're talking smack to Bill. [S] No, not well. [B] Coach Coaching's coaching. That's how we take it. [D] It's coaching. Okay. [S] No, it's up and down. Like 100%, this is normal. [D] Got it. [S] Is this your first time in a nuclear power plant? [D] Yes, ma'am. One second I'm gonna turn this off Sarah, what's your role at the plant here? [S] I'm a Senior Nuclear Reactor Operator, and I'm a fuel handling supervisor. I just came off of Unit 2's Refuel Bridge, and we're in the process of refueling Unit 2. 202 fuel moves in fuel shuffle number one. I'm providing direct oversight of the fuel handlers. So there's two people here where the mast is, and then there's Allison, who's got the red gloves She's my counterpart. She's just taking shift. She's the fuel handling supervisor providing the oversight of the fuel movers. [D] She's in charge? [S] That's right. They're operating underneath her license in her direction. [D] She's a reactor operator? [S] She is a senior nuclear reactor operator. That's right. [D] Forgive me. What's the difference in just a normal reactor operator and a senior? [S] You have a technical specification responsibility that you maintain that the plant is operating within its license. [D] Sarah, you had to train to be a reactor operator. That's right. What's your background? [S] I went to Mississippi State. I was a biology chemistry major, and I joined the National Guard. I deployed to Iraq I came back, and my husband had come to Huntsville, so I transferred all my hours to UAH. I finished up my degree there. [D] In what? [S] In biology and chemistry. They were not hiring in Huntsville, so I decided to work on my PhD in biotechnology. And finally, TVA came for a job fair, and they were not looking for engineers. They were looking for biology, chemistry majors. I hired on here at TVA as a chemist, a chem tech and I celebrated 16 years here at Browns Ferry just in February. And so I worked for nine years as a chemistry technician. I became a supervisor. And then three years ago, I went to a transition into Operations, which is a two-year training program. And I've been a senior nuclear reactor operator for about 18 months. [D] That's awesome. Congratulations. [S] Thank you so much. [D] There's a lot there. [S] There is. Yeah. [D] So how long will it take them to do the refueling in total? [S] Well, we break it up into small pieces. Browns Ferry actually holds the record at one point in time for a refueling outage of taking the vessel apart, changing out, putting it all back together. I think maybe 12 days. Bill can correct me. We have the record on that. However, this refueling outage is scheduled for about 30 days because when you shut a nuclear reactor down, you have to do all this maintenance that you can't do while online. Imagine driving your car. You can't change tires while got to stop it, lift it up, change out the tires. So we're doing all that maintenance that we can't do while online. [D] Okay, so that one's an outage. [S] Yes. [D] But this one's operating, right? [S] A hundred %. [D] It literally is 100 %. [S] Literally 100 %. A nuclear reactor loves being at 100 % and just hot, fast

and normal all the way. [D] So I would have thought that I would be seeing something come out of there, but it's got a cap on it, right? [S] Well, So this is the spent fuel pool. Over here where all that stuff is on top of it are the shield blocks, and the reactor is hidden all the way down there inside a drywell, and then the reactor head on top of it. So this thing right here. [D] The big sphere? [S] The big dome. [D] Okay. [S] That is the drywell head for Unit 2. And around the corner is the reactor head for Unit 2. [D] Got it. [S] That would sit inside of it. [D] But we're not going to see that because that's in the C zone. [S] I don't know. Bill might be able to take you along this way in the clean area, and you might be able to get a view over there. [D] Okay, interesting. The fact that you're refueling is the one time you get to see the reactors open. So this is a very special time that we're here. [S] That's right. When you are riding this bridge and you're looking down into the vessel, it's really, really neat. It's just there. You guys are here at a great time. The water's really still. We're not doing a lot of inspections right now, so you're going to have great views down into it. [D] Really? [S] Yes. [D] Do you have any recommendations of things I should look for if I'm going to get on the bridge? [S] Oh, I mean, you're going to look for the blue Cherenkov radiation. You're going to watch for how the people operate. So don't just think about the mechanics of it. Also think about how you're seeing people operate, how we work together as a team to make sure it's safe, error-free, making sure communication is crisp and clear. [D] So the communication is very clear? [S] Always. [D] It's like aviation where there's a call and a call back thing? [S] We actually have three-way communication. You send it, they say it back, and you tell them if it's right or wrong. [D] Really? [S] That's right. [D] Okay, that's awesome. And what is the name of the lady that's the senior reactor operator? [S] That's Allison Vagoya. She and I actually were in class together. And her background, she's an engineer. She's providing direct oversight of the fuel handlers. And so there's... Bill's here. He's going to tell you everything about it because Bill did my job before he changed into being a supervisor of INC. So he'll be able to tell you everything. He's ridden that bridge. He's done this job. But Allison is going to be providing oversight to make sure that we have no mistakes at all. [D] Okay, so, Sarah, I've got a I have a question for you. So you've done all this stuff you've done. You're a reactor operator. [S] That's right. [D] You've moved fuel rods. Are you comfortable with a nuclear reactor in your backyard here in North Alabama? Do you feel safe? [S] 100%. I have three. I take pride in it. When people are like, Oh, there's a nuclear power plant? Where? I'm like, Oh, Southwest of Athens. Do you like having electricity? Two million homes. I roll up into some place and they're like, What do you do? I'm like, I'm a senior nuclear reactor operator. You're welcome for the lights. [D] But you feel like it's all safe? People make mistakes. Something I've wondered about, if this is a manmade system and people made this and people do make mistakes, how do you know it's safe? Is it because of the procedures or operations? Why are you comfortable with it? [S] We sweat the small stuff. I just corrected you on how to use a ladder. Did you think that- She did, yeah. Did you think that you were going I've been a bit told about a ladder? But that's it. And we're always watching out for each other. Bill's three levels above me, but he takes it as a piece of thing of, I should have looked out for someone like that. [D] So it's culture. [S] It Is. One of the great things about nuclear power is being able to raise concerns without the fear of retribution. And us knowing that we live here. This is our home. We had to take care of it. [D] Tell me more about that, being able to raise concerns without... [S] It's called SCWE. It's the Safety Conscious Work Environment. It's something that the nuclear power NRC mandates that we have. If we had any concern, we can always bring it up. If you don't feel that anyone is acknowledging your concern, you go to the next level. If you have to do it anonymous, go straight to the NRC, you can. But no one is going to turn you away on a safety concern. [D] That's awesome. Thank you, Sarah. [S] You're welcome. [D] You went to Mississippi State? [S] I did. [D] You didn't smuggle a cowbell in here anywhere, did you? [S] No, but it would be great if I did. [D] Okay, great. [B] This is your core map, and it's got every fuel bundle location in the core. You can see the crosses. Those are where your control rods normally sit at. [D] How many fuel rods are there? [B] 764 bundles on each core. [D] 764? [B] That's right. [D] That is way more than I thought. [B] Yeah, there's a lot. [D] That's way more than I thought, okay. You said the crosses are the Cruciform control rods.

[B] That's right. [D] Okay. This is rod... How do I say this? [B] It's just an X, Y, and X, Y map, right? That'd be rod 4732 is what we call it. 4732. [D] What the unit? [B] Just core location. It's an arbitrary unit that we put up of mappings. [D] I see. Got it. When we're out there, what are we going to see? Are they going to say, Go get this rod and go put it in the spent fuel? [B] Yeah, they'll say, Coming to core location 1740, and then you'll have another guy agree with the location that they're going to go to the next control rod or the next time fuel bundle. Then they'll go over that location, say we're on top of location, and they'll lower the mast to sit on top of the fuel bundle. Then they'll look to make sure that the fuel bundle in the location, the serial number we showed earlier, all that matches. Then once everybody concurs, the SRO will say, I agree, you can engage on the bundle. Then they'll engage, bring the bundle up, and then they'll talk to the next location to go in the spend field pool. [D] Who is doing that? Who's keeping up with what rod's removed when? [B] There's a FATF that we have. This is what Jessica is keeping track of. They have a manual one on that bridge. They've also got a... The bridge is automated now, right? So there's actually- [J] This information is loaded into it. [B] Yeah, so there's a computer on the bridge that will help utilize to make sure that it's- [D] So Jessica, I noticed... I'll see that mic for just a second. So these are fuel bundles moving from one location to the next? [J] It's showing them that they're going to pick this up from a reactor location, and then they are taking it to a location in the spent fuel [D] So that's a location that means something to you. [J] Yes, this is where that fuel bundle, this is its home, and this is where it's going to rest. [D] I see. And it'll be there for two years or something like that? [J] Not necessarily. It could be going back to the floor. It's just on this first fuel shuffle. This is where it's going to rest. It could be picked up and taken back and forth. [D] I see. Okay, Bill and I are about to go up on the bridge, which is a pretty big deal. He's getting our work order number. [B] Scroll down to RWP 92. This is what we were brief to, right? [D] Yeah. [B] 62, 50. We'll hit yes and yes. All right. [D] All right. So that reset my dosimeter. [D] It did. Okay. [B] All right. Then we'll come over here and we'll get dressed out. [D] I'm constantly thinking about where I set things down. All right, so I'm getting dressed now, right? [B] Yeah. Thank you. We don't wear our hard hats inside the C zone. [D] Okay. [B] Where we're going, so you can take that off right now while we're getting dressed. [D] Thank you. I'm good without the ear pro for now? [B] Yeah. [D] Okay, great. Christian's a smart cookie, isn't he? [B] Well, they all are. [D] Man, I wanted to... Everything got itchy all of a sudden. [B] Well, you got a couple more seconds. You can scratch yourself. [D] Can I scratch? [B] Yeah. You're not in the C zone yet. [D] Oh, great. [B] Scratch away. Everything got itchy. So how do I look? Then hood over the top of this? [B] Yeah, hood over the top. You look pretty good. Got my dad, got my TLD. We're good. [D] My TLD. Okay, cool. All set to go. You're all gone. You're ready to go? Yeah. Validate your R on RWP 25-200-092. [B] Correct. Your dose alarm is? [B] 250. Dose alarm is 60. Dose rate alarm is 250. Millirem per hour. [B] That's correct. So you are good to go. [D] Thank you. I need to take it out? [C] No. So it's right here against your chest. So what you'll do is you'll just... [D] Okay. [C] You need to get the green light to go through. [D] Roger that. [C] Just like that. [D] Yes, sir. So you all go, try that out. [B] You ready? [D] I'm ready. [C] All right, you got the green light, so you can progress [D] I'm going to hand this to you, Bill. Okay. Thank you. [C] Do you all have any questions? You can hand them to me, people. There's another radiation protection mission inside the flail. [D] Actually, I'll give that to you. [B] Okay. Yeah. [C] Thank you. [D] Thank you. [B] All right. You are in officially a C zone. [D] We're in the C zone, The contaminated zone. [B] That's right. [D] So this is the top of the reactor? [B] Make sure you hold the handrail. [D] Hold the handrail, yes, sir. [B] This is actually the drywell right here. This is the drywell cover. This right here is our FME buffer zone, right? These are our FME guys that are going to help us out to make sure that we

can get on inside that FME buffer zone. How are you all doing today? [B] We're well. How are you? We're good. I'm going to get you all to sign this. Yes, sir. Please write as legitably as you can. [D] Hard in gloves. Do you remember me saying the foreign material exclusion people wanted to make sure I didn't drop anything into the reactor? Well, to do that, it required a lot of straps attached to a lot of gear attached to me, and we even had to wrangle another guy to come over and help us make it happen. You're going to take the other one? Yeah, I'm going to take this one. What's your name, sir? Philip. [B] Philip's been with us for a long time up here. [D] Has he? Now, by signing this paper, you all acknowledge all the rules and requirements of the F&B zone, correct? [D] Yes, sir. You all have no loose jewelry, no ear plugs on. You have chums on your glasses. [B] I do. [D] Yes, sir. All right. Now, when you all go in there, you all understand everything that is going on the bridge and the work that's being performed. [D] Yes, sir. And these are to remain on your wrist at all times. [D] Yes, sir. All right. You all understand everything to do to mitigate F&B risk? [D] Yes, sir. I took the training this morning. All right. [D] Yes, sir. Brian, right? Yes, sir. [D] Thank you, Brian. [P] What we do once they get back, this is over the spent fuel post, we'll acknowledge it and let them know we're coming on the bridge and down to us. [D] Okay, Phillip, you're going to be with us. [P] I'm going to hold this. this, and I'll hand it to you. [D] It's recording now, just letting you know. [P] Oh, are you going to put it? [D] Feel free to just point it places. If you find something interesting, feel free to point it, or don't. [B] Before you all walk in, I need to look at the bottom of your feet, make sure there's nothing stuck to it. [D] Yes, sir. Tell me when you'd like to do that. [B] Right before you walk in, first of the night. [D] Okay, so we're not in the zone yet. [B] We are in the C zone. We are not in that four material battery. [D] Two different levels. [B] That's right. [D] Yeah. Okay. [P] He's going to go over there and put it in the trainer. When he puts it in the trainer, we'll have about 30 seconds. We're going to get on the train. [D] Phillip, what's your role here? [P] I'm an OSK Boilermaker. [D] A Boilermaker? [P] Yeah, OST. Honest Service Technician. [B] He just talks like it's no big deal. This man disassembles the reactor vessel for So he knows what he's doing. He knows exactly what he's doing. [D] Okay. So he's humble, too. [B] He is very. [D] All right, Brian. [B] Good. Enjoy yourself, sir. [D] All right. Good Philips enjoying this. So that's the reactor right there. That's the reactor. [B] We got waived on by the SRO. Go ahead, Destin. You go in front of me. [D] Yes, sir. [B] You got the chain? Thank you. [D] Hello. That's been doing well. How are you? Thank you. We're at the cleaner. [D] Where would you like me? [B] Staying over here away from everybody. [D] Yes, sir. [B] You're in a really unique spot. I have never seen anybody, never taken anybody up here for this particular I've never seen this happen. [D] This is a big deal. [B] It's a huge deal. Right now, you're over the spent fuel pool. You can see we have coordinates. If you really look carefully, you'll see on the walls a map of where we're putting the spent fuel pool racks. [D] Over there. [B] Yeah. Just try to be careful not to lean over the rails with your camera. [D] Can I swap with you, Phillip? [P] Yeah. [D] So we just do it. How are you going to do this? [P] Man, I'm going to hand you this and I'm going to stay with you. [D] Okay. [P] You just keep that one around your wrist. I'll keep this one and I'll stay with you. [D] Yes, sir. I'm going to look at... We're pulling one out now? [P] No, they're washing one. [B] Now, hey, listen, that bridge will jar a little bit when it moves. [D] You're telling me it's going to move, don't freak out. [B] When it does, it'll hold on to everything because I don't want you to think- [D] Tell me when it's going to happen, please. [B] I can't promise I'll know that. [D] Okay. [P] When that fuel bundle comes up out of that, when that's sticking down in there, when it comes up out of there. He's going to move here in a second. [D] He's moving the bundle? [P] When it comes up out of the hole, see it coming up? [D] Oh, my goodness. I can see the Cherenkov. [P] Yeah. It'll come up to a safe hop, and then they'll take it and put it in a fuel rack. [D] It's free right now. I can see it's out of the hole. Phillip, was that a new rod or what was that? [P] That is an old one. [D] That's an old rod. How do you know? [P] You can tell how it's burned. See the blow around it? [D] Yes, sir. [P] See the tops? They're shiny over there. Them's new ones. You can tell the difference because they'll be shiny like that all the way down.

[D] Okay, so those over there, they're shiny meaning- [P] They're all new fuel rod. [D] Those are brand new. These are all old? [P] Yes. [D] A lot of this is empty, right? [P] Yes. Or they're going to bring it out the floor and place them there. [D] So that blue glow I'm seeing is the Cherenkov radiation. [P] That is correct. [B] That's correct. [D] I've never been more aware of my camera. [B] I'm glad [D] and not dropping it. Okay, what is he doing now, Philip? [P] He just placed it in the fuel rack. [D] He's putting [P] See it going down in there? Yeah. Most people think the radiation's green, but as you can see, it's not. [D] It's blue. [P] Yeah. [D] Phillip said, Most people think the radiation's green, but it's blue. [P] On all the shirts, it's green, the red and green. It ain't really true. [D] Phillip, what's your story, man? I'm gonna level with you, man. You got an Alabama accent. [P] Yes, I do. [D] Where are you from? [P] Been here all my life. [D] Been here all your life? [P] Yeah. [D] Okay, what just happened, Phillip? It They released it? [P] He released it. Now, he's coming up. [D] Is that a camera on the end of it? [P] It is. We got two cameras. [D] Are we going to the reactor now? [P] Yes, we are. [D] Can you turn around this way, Bill, and just face that way? Yeah, let me Right here. [P] Let me call for you. [D] Swap cameras with me. [P] Swapping cameras again? [B] I can't tell what this is pointing, and I apologize. [D] That's okay. [B] Right now, we're centering up to go through the cattle shoot in order to get to the core. [D] Yeah. Holy cow. [B] You are now officially over a reactor vessel in refueling operations. [D] Oh, my goodness. That's a nuclear reactor. And they're just sitting there. [B] Those guys are doing their inspections with the camera. That's what they're working on. They're trying to get a camera down to inspect the welds on the vessel. [D] They're doing what? [B] They're working. We call them IVVI. They're doing inspections of the welds and all that type of stuff inside the reactive vessel barrel. [D] Really? [B] Let's get out of Allison's way. [D] Sorry, Allison. [B] So now, Destin, they're going over a core location. location to pick up a bundle. [D] I'm going to stay right here unless somebody tells me to move. How far down is that? [B] I'd say probably somewhere between 80 to 100 feet of water. [D] So earlier, Sarah had talked about the importance of communication on the bridge. And I have been in environments like aircraft before where they do this call and response or the positive communication. But I didn't expect it the way it was happening on the bridge because there were so many people spread out and they all had different tasks, and they were all being very clear about what they were doing. So it's like there was this tone on the bridge that was different. And I could feel that I was in the way, but I was off to the side. So they were letting me be there with Philip and Bill. But at the same time, you could just feel the professionalism of the people around you. And of course, I wanted to be that way because we're literally moving nuclear fuel rods in a reactor, which is awesome. Okay, this is footage from inside the pressure vessel. The reactor core is just down below us. This is what the team is actually doing. These are video cameras that are in the water with the nuclear reactor. Obviously, it's not running right now. It would be boiling. But this blows my mind that we're even able to see this. Let's take a look at what they're doing. Browns Ferry is in the middle of a nuclear refueling outage, right? So they're moving fuel rods. This thing is called the Refuel Bridge Crane, or sometimes called the main hoist. This person is operating the hoist, which can go up and down and rotate on its axis. The hoist is connected to the hole bridge, which can move in X and Y. Now, at the end of the hoist, there's a couple of cameras and a grapple. The first camera is offset just a bit, mounted behind the grapple with a bit of a wide view. It offers context for the operator so that they know exactly where they are. The second camera is right on the end of the grapple, so the operator gets a close up view of exactly the thing they're picking up, and they also get feedback on how the grapple is gripping the item. Let's watch them actually grab a fuel rod. Using a computer-controlled indexing system, the mast has automatically moved into the position that they specify with some type of coordinates that they typed in. They then fly in and they use the coaxial camera to verify they are where they want to be. They then approach carefully and look closely at the fuel bundle.

Using the camera at the end of the mast, they then verify the serial number on the top of the fuel bundle handle. And then once they're satisfied with that and everything's correct, they then lock onto the handle with a grapple. After When they verify they have a solid grip on the fuel bundle, they can then extract it. They can then do any number of things with the bundle. They can use other cameras to inspect it. They can move it. They can rotate it. They can even put it in an on it cleaner. For every four fuel bundles that are in the reactor core, there's a control rod in the shape of a plus or a cross. It's called a cruciform control rod, and it's inserted from the bottom of the reactor. That's what stops the reaction. Because these control rods are so long, if they ever remove more than two bundles, that control rod could wobble. So to control this wobble, they have these things called blade guides. Anytime there's two or more bundles removed from a certain grid, they insert these blade guides to hold the control rod in position. If you look down into the core, you can see these bright, shiny spots. Now, I thought those were new fuel rods, but they're actually blade guides. You'll notice that they're always in sets of two. The operators say that inserting a blade guide is wiggling a pair of pants and trying to get the two legs to line up with two holes. It's pretty hard, they say. Now, while all this fuel rod movement is happening, there's this other team that Bill told us about, the IVVI team, which stands for In-Vessel Visual Inspection team, they're using a bunch of cameras on jib arms. You can see one of those cameras here. You see it's got a long arm and it can articulate. They use these cameras to closely inspect the mechanical integrity of the reactor vessel and any of its components. Watching them to do this is so awesome, and it made me really respect the process that's going on here. Everything that's done has a crazy attention to detail about it, and it's clear that these nuclear industry workers really care about getting everything exactly right. Now that we understand what we're looking at and we know what they're doing, let's just watch the team in action. They're about to take a rod from the reactor core, and they're going to put it over in the spent fuel pool. I want to scratch my nose so bad. [B] Don't do it. [D] I will not. Phillip, what's he doing, man? Did he just grab it? [P] Yeah, I think he's got one on there. Yeah, he's coming up. [D] Is that a light in the pool? [P] Yeah, we have cavity lights. [D] And he changed the orientation? [P] He did. He just rotated it back. [D] Does orientation matter? [P] Yes, orientation matters. [D] Why does it matter? [P] Because when you put four in there, you got to have them orientated right. [D] I see the train caught. So, Phil, that's called the cattle gate we're going through? [P] Cattle shoot. Yes, sir. [D] Cattle chute. Wow. Is that a hot [P] It is very hot. [D] That's a very hot rod. [P] Yes. If that come out of the water we would no longer be here. None of us up here. [D] Really? [P] Really. [D] The water is protecting us from the neutrons right now. [P] At least six and a half feet or below. What location is K-O-F-Eleven South West. Is he right? [P] What they're doing now is verifying the location where they're putting it. They read the serial, the rack number. They can say they're putting it in golf. Big golf. Yeah. Well, golf 11 is where they're putting it in. [D] Oh, I see. I see the numbers on the rack over here. I see the letters. Yeah. I'm going to watch him drop it, and then I'm going to look at his letters. Yeah. [P] Numbers over here, letters over here. They keep up with the location that we put them. When we do a dry cast, we'll put them in and know which one it's to get.

[D] That was golf 11? [P] Yup. [D] So we were in golf 11. [P] 3 back. 13, 12, 11. [D] So now he's releasing. [P] Now, they're come up to the safe location to get back to the cattle chute. [D] So we're in the refuel pool, and we're going to the reactor, right? We're going through the cattle chute now. For most of my life, I haven't understood nuclear power, but it was here, standing safely over the top of an open nuclear reactor with fuel in it, that I started to realize something. One of the main reasons people fear this technology is they don't understand it, but everything was starting to make sense to me. And with that, I was starting to run out of things to be afraid of. Thank you, gentlemen. No problem. That's okay. Thank you, Allison. Don't want to hit that button. [B] What is it? The E-stop? [D] The E-stop. That's awesome. There's just a few more important things I want to show you. The first of which is in the equipment storage pool. What is this over here to the right? [B] That's your steam dryer. [D] And what is this? [B] That's your moisture separator. [D] Now, how does a moisture separator work? [B] Well, so it's essentially as the steam boils, it's got cylindrical torturous path for the steam, right? So only the superheated steam is going to make it out of the steam separator and the remaining, I guess we say condensation, if you want to call it the water, moisture content in the water will drop back down to the [D] So it's almost like a still, but just for steam. [B] That's right. [D] Really? But it uses some of the energetic properties of steam to separate it. [B] Yeah. All it is really a big hunk of metal and lets the steam do the work. [D] Oh, really? [B] Yeah. [D] I see. Wow. Why is it in the pool? [B] Well, because it sits on top of the reactor. [D] Oh, that's right. [B] Because we boil inside the reactor, and then we use that to make our steam high quality, and then we get it through the dryer and then after the steam lines. [D] Okay. I'm starting to understand. I had not considered this part of it. You make hot water in there, in the reactor, it boils, and it goes up. When it goes up, it goes into that? [B] That's right. [D] Then is that like a heat exchanger? It bumps? I'm noticing pipes. [B] No. All they are like cylindrical pipes. There's no- [D] There's no ceiling. [B] No. [D] It's just to make it go in a direction. [B] That's correct. It's a torturous path for the steam to go through. In order to allow the moisture content to drop. [D] I see. Okay. Then that hot water gets circulated out, and then that goes to the turbine, right? [B] The steam. [D] The steam, excuse me. [B] The superheat of steam. [D] Yes. Yeah, okay, because the top is steam. [B] Right. You want as low moisture content as possible, right? Going to the turbine. [D] This gentleman come through. [P] Just a big dryer filtration. [D] Big dryer filtration? [P] It comes up, it gets the steam drier and drier. [D] Really? It was now time to exit the contamination zone and make our way over to the turbine, which I was super excited about. But first, we had to have all our camera equipment examined to make sure that no pieces had fallen off while we were on the bridge. While they were doing that, we took off our radiation protection clothing, and after that, we had to sign out of that RWP for the bridge and back on to the one that we had been on when we entered the plant. We then had to do some radiation testing to make sure we were clean, and Bill took us down and over to see the turbine. [B] Back the way we came and then go in another elevator. [D] And you still have the gun. [A] Would you like to carry it? [D] No. [B] No. [A] I would not. [D] On our way over to the turbine, we had to go back through the room that had a lot of the control infrastructure for the control rods in it. We walked past that drain that we walked into when we went into the water tight door. We had to make sure we didn't step on the drain. Then we went through that water tight door and we ended up here. Where are we, Bill? [B] We're on the turbine deck right now. [D] Turbine deck? [B] Yeah, we're going to show you what the main turbine looks like. Typically, this is inaccessible when we're operating, right? You couldn't go to any of the other units.

But this is our main turbine. [D] This is the turbine? [B] That's correct. Three-stage turbine. [D] And it's It is not running right now? [B] It is not running. That's correct. [D] So the fact that we're here is pretty cool. [B] I think so. You got your high pressure turbine and your three low pressure turbine stages. [D] So this is the high pressure turbine right here? [B] That's right. [D] What's it wrapped in? [B] Just lagging. [D] For what? [B] Just to keep it cool or in case somebody touches it. [D]Insulation? [B] Insulation. [D] Yeah. What did you call it? [B] Lagging. [D] Lagging. [B] That's right. [D] Okay, cool. Following you, man. [B] All right. [D] So this is the high pressure side? [B] This is the low pressure side. [D] Low pressure. [B] We got three low pressure sides. [D] Wow. And so normally that thing's moving real fast. A lot of energy. [B] About 1800 RPM. [D] So this is what keeps my lights on. 1800 RPM is a lot for something this massive. [B] That's right. [D] So you have to start it because of rotational inertia. There's no way that you start with steam initially? [D] Yeah. You don't have a booster to get it going. [B] We have a jacking gear that we'll run it on. [D] A transmission? [B] Effectively. Well, really, the jacking gear just rolls. It's an electric motor that just rolls the turbine. So while we have steam getting ready to be applied to it, it doesn't bow the rotor. So really, it's steam that rolls this turbine. [D] Wow. It's huge. And so those lifting lugs are to take the top of it off. So is this a crane overhead? [B] That is, yeah. And somehow it just will actually expose all this and show some turbine and have the low pressure turbine available and we'll work on it. [D] So is there a turbine for each unit? [B] Yes, sir. [D] Which unit is this? This is unit two. I guess there has to be because we're producing on the other ones. [B] That's right. [D] I'm sorry for the dumb questions. I'm overwhelmed. [B] Not at all. [D] So this is unit two's turbine. Are the other unit one and unit two turbines in a different room? [B] They are very similar to this, mirrored to this, just inaccessible right now because they're operating. [D] What's on the other end? Is the generator down there? [B] That's the generator. So you can see. Actually, that's a good view. You can see some of your pole pieces in the generator right there. [D] Wow. That's amazing. Yeah, definitely. So in order to make a round thing run true, a lot of times you have an indicator that you put, anchor it to something else and you touch off. Then as the thing rotates, you can see if it goes up or down. I see one of those, but it's Where it is, it's confusing me. That's a dial indicator. Phillip, have you ever worked in the turbine area? [P] I have. [D] Have you ever worked on [P] Let me say what you're looking at. [D] Okay. Yeah. [P] I have not. [D] I have. I have not. That's great. [B] Yeah, I suspect they're checking bearing round this. [P] Yeah, it's checking for run out on the shaft. [D] Say it again. [P] What does that mean? [P] If the shaft were not perfectly round, then as it rotated, you would see a change in that distance that they're measuring. [D] How do they turn the shaft? It's massive. So how can they turn it in this motor? [P] This motor right here. It has a worm gear on it. That worm gear would drive a You can see there. It's interfacing right there. [D] Is that the jacking motor you were talking about? [B] That's the jacking motor, yeah. [D] Oh, wow. So this motor is specifically to turn the shaft so that they can test it. That is so cool. [P] This is two different sections of the turbine shaft, so they've got their dial indicator set up as a reference on one, and they're measuring the other. They're looking to see that those two shafts are lined up. [D] So they will spin one relative to the other? [P] Right. [D] So this is the exact junction between the turbine and the generator? [P] Yes. [D] Got it. Is there a clutch or anything there, or is it direct bolted connection? [P] It's directly coupled. [D] Really? When it spins up, when you guys bring up a unit, will you get any wobble or vibration? [P] There will be some, but it's minimal. It's contracted out. There's a crew that balances this thing, and it's amazing how closely balanced. [D] Really? [B] When we spin this turbine, we keep a very close eye on the vibrations on it.

We're typically around seven mils at worst. [D] Really? [B] On any bearing. There's 12 bearings that are through here. We watch every single one of them. [D] Really? [B] 7 mils is about where we get it. [D] That's amazing for something that's large. [B] Oh, yeah. [D] Where is it machined? Where do you buy a turbine like this? [B] This is GE's turbine. [D] Oh, General Electric. Do they own the turbine, too, or they made it? [B] They made it. [D] They made it and you guys bought it. [B] Yes. [D] Got it. I live in North Alabama, so we say turbine. If I lived in the UK, we would say turbine. When it comes to making energy out of steam, there's a lot of semantics that a lot of engineers like to get wrapped around the axial about. But we're not going to worry about that right now. I recognize that energy and power and all these, they have specific engineering units. But for now, let's just suspend all that and let's be kids talking about a really cool thing. Okay? So the cool thing about a nuclear plant is it makes steam. Almost all power plants make steam. Steel is compressed and it's expanding if you allow it to, right? Well, we can use that. So I've got these little models here. These are little cheap little turbine blade things that I bought. And I've got one right here that's got a single turbine blade in it. And I've got this little valve set up right here to an air compressor. And if I turn this little valve right here, I can actually allow this thing to turn. Now, this is a little different. This isn't expanding steam. It's just air running through this. So watch this. So I can create a gas that's moving into torque that turns a shaft, right? Now, it's just compressed air. This is not expanding steam. But let's think about this, for example. There's a lot of wasted air that's moving out of this thing, right? Well, what you can do for that is you can use multiple blades. So as the air comes in one side and it goes to the next one. And the next one, if you have these multiple blades stacked up, you can get more energy out of that gas. So I've got another valve here, so I can turn this thing. Okay, You get the idea. Multiple blades, I can get more energy out of the steam. So again, this is compressed gas. This isn't steam, but it's interesting. Now, let's look back at those images from this turbine blades that we saw earlier. This is a turbine blade from when Browns Ferry was first being constructed. You notice it's got this bow tie-looking shape to it. And then this is a turbine blade from a recent upgrade of the Unit 2 steam turbine here at Browns Ferry. You notice it looks like it's got little things in the middle and then big things out to the side, right? In the middle, we have high pressure, and as it expands, it's like going to a lower pressure. You need a larger surface area on those turbine blades so you can act on it and get the same amount of torque, right? So that's why it's growing. If you look back at the actual turbine blades, you can see that the center shaft is solid. And the reason for that is that's where the steam is inserted. It's inserted right here in the middle, and then it runs along the fan blades out each end of the turbine. And the reason it's a bow tie shape is actually fascinating. In my little model here, I've got a single turbine blade, right? You see that? So watch what happens when I apply the air. It's actually going to try to push it out. So watch this flywheel push to the side. You ready? See it? It's very subtle. And watch again. So it's actually trying to push out of the journal bearings here. So they mirror it, and that axial thrust is canceled out by the axial thrust in the other direction. So they flip the turbine blades on each side, which is fascinating. Now, Bill said there are four turbines in that building. One, two, three, four. And one seems to be smaller than the others. Let me show you how this works. So we have in the reactor that we saw earlier, we have neutrons, uranium-235, and these neutrons are in water in a very special way in the reactor core, but they're making steam, right? And they're making that steam at a thousand something PSI, but it's coming off of that at like, 900 something PSI after it goes through some valves and stuff. And so, 900. And what happens there is they take that steam and they put it in a high pressure steam turbine. So it goes into that bow tie thing, like we were talking about earlier, but this is the high pressure steam turbine. Now, as it goes through that, it goes through the middle and it expands out. After that, you've got this other steam that's coming out of this thing. It's 250 PSI, but it still wants to expand. So what they do is they take more steam turbines and they put them in the same room. Now, these are low pressure steam turbines, okay? So they take this 250 PSI steam, and then they put it on all the different

low pressure steam turbines like this. So you can take that and you can run them in parallel paths. So you've got this thing you've built now where you've got uranium making You're pumping steam, and you're pumping 900 PSI steam into the high pressure turbine, and then out comes this 250 PSI steam. And there's other things going on, like separators and condensers that we're not going to talk about right now. But these lower pressure steam turbines, they're bigger. And the reason they have to be bigger is because they're at a lower pressure. And if you're going to act on a lower pressure on a larger surface area, you can end up getting the same force because pressure is equal to force by area. You get it. You're smart. You know what's going on here. So if we have all of these turbines on the same shaft, and then we put a generator right there at the end, voila, we have a nuclear power plant. We've gone from hot rocks making steam, and that steam can go to making torque. And then we're putting all these different turbines on the same shaft. It's really cool, by the way, how they balance the torque along this. I think that's fascinating. Maybe we'll talk about that later. All that goes to a generator here, and you get electrons out the other side. So nuclear power to electrons. It's fascinating. So high pressure turbines, low pressure turbines, generator. So high pressure side, low pressure generator. Is that right, Bill? [B] That's right. [D] Okay. So dumb question. Why is high pressure upstream. So does the steam run down as it goes? [B] It's lower quality steam on the low pressure side. [D] But it doesn't run along the turbine. It runs in and out. [B] No. These are actually steam valves, CIVs down here. So it'll actually run in and out and under the generator. [D] Got it. [B] Or under the turbine, excuse me. [D] The last thing Bill is going to show us is the generator that's hooked up to the end of one of those long turbine shafts, which is amazing. But before he does that, I want to tell you something. There's going to be a long cut on the second channel when I get through with the security review process and all that. But there's like hours of footage, like three and a half, four hours of footage that I'm going to put over on the second channel. Go check that out. Smarter Every Day 2. It's amazing. There's a lot of stuff not included in this video that will be on the second channel. Please go check that out. Okay, let's go see the generator. [B] This is an operating generator. So the generator is really from here to the wall over there. [D] It's just hard to hear you. [B] That's fine. The generator's from here to the wall. And this is what's generating that 1,300 to 50 megawatts electric that you saw in Quinn's office earlier. [D] So that meter in Quinn's office is coming right off of this. [B]That's right. [D] That's cool. So it's quieter than I thought. [B] That's not too bad. It's a little loud. [D] So what did we see in the other room? You said you couldn't go in that room normally. [B] The turbine. So that's the turbine that fits the rotor. It's got a common rotor. [D] So the turbine is that way. [B] That's right. So three things to make electricity, right? [D] Yeah. [B] Rotating, element, magnetic field, current carry, conductive, right? You got hole pieces inside this generator. You got a magnetic field on the rotor that's spinning, cutting lines of current down to the generator. Now, through the ISO, the bus is out to the grid. [D] So this thing right here is what makes 60 hertz power? [B] Yes, it is. Absolutely. [D] So how do you synchronize this to the grid? [B] That's an excellent question. So typically what will end up happening is this is running at a certain speed, right? And I always like the phrase nuclear power equals 120 times the fun. That's an equation for us. Np equals 120 f. The speed of the machine times the number of the poles is equal to 120 times the frequency, right? So what we're able to do, what that really means is frequency is directly related to the speed of the machine. So I can control the speed of machine before we're synchronized to the grid to make it come up a little higher. If you think about your ice cream for three days they see, right? [D] Yeah. [B] We can make it come up a little bit faster, and then we'll synchronize the grid. We have this thing called a synchroscope, and it'll spin around, and When it's at 12:00, it means the phase from the grid and generator are synchronized and we'll close it. [D] That happens right here. [B] Well, the breakers down below us, they do it up in the control room. That's what's out putting the energy into the grid. [D] As we headed to the exit, I was just struck how much Bill knows and how complicated this plant is, and I asked him about that. There's a lot of things to know here. [B] There are. [D] Is it intimidating for you? [B] When I first got in the nuclear power, it was very intimidating. I had a study really hard. But the more and more you work here, understand

what's important, the easier it is. Everybody has a little piece we understand, too. Right? We're not working their team. Somebody who's more than somebody else in the process of learning something. Even when you think you know everything, I promise you, you don't. Yeah, nobody here knows everything. [D] The last thing we had to do was exit the radiologically-controlled area, which meant we had to make sure we didn't have any radiation contamination on us, which I thought was going to be pretty easy. So we took apart the camera gear and handed it over to be checked, and we failed. Oh, come on. These things. 4,500. [D] Is that a lot? No, it's just too high. Let's put your other one in. [D] Okay. Put this one in? All right. Maybe, hopefully, we'll get at least one camera out. So we went back and we cleaned everything, gave it a really good wiping down to have it rechecked, and we failed again. Now, possibly radon. It's possible radon gas. This was most likely that radon that's emitted naturally, and the fact that the testing machines are so sensitive, they're picking it up. George and I are slowly trying to get the cameras out. [G] Bye, little camera. [D] Yeah, cook it. Almost. We ended up disassembling the cameras because things could make it out if they were smaller, physically, for some reason. So once we disassembled everything and made sure everything was cleared to go, we passed. Yeah, we made it. Now that we had officially left the RCA, logged out of our RWP, keys and turned in our dosimeters, we started to make our way out of the secure area. A big thank you to Bill. Angela keeping us safe. Phillip. Thank you, Clarissa. Thank you, George. I can't point at George because there's stuff that way. [B] Thank you for visiting us. [D] Thank you very much. Bill's got to get home. Alright, real quick I just wanna show you something that I was thinking about when I went to shoot the outro here look at this is something I keep on the wall here at Smarter Every Day It's some little posters that my Daughter made years ago and I was just sitting here looking at that and thinking man like we went from just making videos like that to being able to go into a nuclear power plant and I think the reason that happens Is over a long period of time developing trust and I just want to say thank you to TVA for trusting me with this story also thank you to Idaho National Lab because it's apart of the nuclear power deep dive series We're going to get to learn all kinds of stuff and so I was looking at this little poster and I was like I'm just a dude in Alabama Over years people have started trusting what we do here on Smarter Every Day and I want to say thank you to you as the viewer because you, watching these videos and taking me seriously, I don't know why you do that but you take me seriously I'm grateful because, that elevates my reputation so when I call somebody their like yes, we will let you do this and it's a really big deal so I'm grateful for the trust that you have placed in me I'm grateful for the trust from the TVA, organizations like this It's a big deal and we get to learn some amazing things. Nuclear power is a thing I've always wanted to learn about and we've just been given that opportunity in an amazing way and we're going to continue to do that we're gonna learn about how they arrange the fuel opperate the plant we're gonna learn so much more and were also gonna learn at Idaho National Lab about the future of nuclear power It's an amazing thing, I feel so blessed to have this opportunity I'm excited about it, another thing I just wanna say is thank you to everybody that supports Smarter Every Day on patreon, you never have to support on patreon if you don't want to, but just know It decouples me from the algorithm and lets me make the content I want to make the goal is inteligent, respectful, humble content so, let me show you a thing we do every year I send out stickers to the patreons of Smarter Every Day like physically mail them to you the first year we were the super sonic baseball team we've been the exploration team, last year we were the discovery team that was the year the cicadas came out and also we shot a rocket that year one of the cool sticker we had 1 year this is probably my favorite so far, this was the James Webb Space Telescope space team so I usually send a big sticker and small sticker to everyone who supports on patreon make sure your address is in there and it's a really cool thing, we get to order stickers in bulk and mail them out, and that's a really big deal for Smarter Every Day because, yes we're supported by sponsors here at Smarter Every Day, but also the patrons make it happen because I know I've been able to say no to sponsorships I'm going to do videos this way at this pace cause I think this is what a good video would be like I don't want it to be sensational I don't want to chase the algorithm so thank you to everybody that supports on patreon

you allow that to happen and I'm grateful, forgive me for saying so many words here I'm just trying to express my gratitude. If you're interested in learning more about nuclear power we're continuing the Smarter Every Day deep dive series in nuclear power here and I'm so very excited So feel free to subscribe if you're into that sort of thing if not, no big deal Smarter Every Day's always free and available for you and I'm grateful that you've chosen to spend this time perhaps on your couch with your family on your phone at lunch break what ever your doing right now just know that I'm grateful that you are learning about nuclear power with me because it's something I'm very, Oh! the power just went out! oh man, I need to go call Browns Ferry! [Laughing] The lights just went out I'm assuming this is a power distribution problem, not the nuclear plant. Okay powers back on looks like it was a broken cross arm on a power pole so distribution is hard too power is amazing, the fact that we have lights in our house awesome. That's it, I'm Destin, you're getting Smarter Every Day Have a good one, Bye