Your Electrical Connection - Newton Power Station Retirees · 2020-01-23 · Your Electrical...

Stack - Hamon

Hamon completed the installation of both breeching elbows this month (pictures below). This

is where their liner installation scope of work will stop. Due to deceleration, Advatech has tak-

en the work scope of installing the absorber outlet ductwork between the absorber and the

breeching. This will occur in a future year after the support steel can be procured and in-

stalled. Hamon also continues with the electrical install inside the stack through their sub,

Bronder Technical Services.

FRP Fabrication - Augusta

There was a fire incident at the FRP fab area late last month. A rental man lift caught fire adja-

cent to one of the breeching elbows. Fortunately, plant employees noticed the fire and the fire

brigade was able to extinguish it. The liner elbow was not damaged, saving considerable mon-

ey and time in rework. Thank you to those involved in this effort. Augusta Fiberglass has com-

pleted disassembly of the 30’ diameter mandrel used to construct the FRP liner cans. They

continue on detail work on the absorber outlet ductwork.

Your Electrical Connection

September, 2012

Volume 10, Issue 9

Inside this issue:

Scrubber Update 2

Scrubber Update 3

Scrubber Update 4

Scrubber Update 5

Anniversaries Cele-brated

7


8

Safety Highlights 10

Ongoing Ameren Safety Improvements

10

Veterans Present a “Missing Man” Table

11

Good Luck Brian Abraham

12

Upcoming Events 12

Anniversaries & Birthdays

12

Roger’s World 5

Employee Wellness 9


6

Number of Days Since Last...

First Aid 86

Recordable 12

Lost Time 424

* Numbers based on September 24, 2012.

Safety Stats:

Scrubber Update +Kent Schafer

Your Electrical Connection Volume 10, Issue 9

Scrubber Update (Continued)

Absorbers - Stebbins

Stebbins has completed the Unit 1 absorber. See the pictures below showing the inside of the vessel. The Unit 2 absorber has been topped out and work is now focused on the inlet duct.

.

Pre-Engineered Buildings - Plocher

Plocher continues on punchlist items for the dewatering building. The HVAC equipment has arrived and has been placed on their concrete pads. Work has resumed to tie the ductwork and electrical into the units. Once completed, these units will be operated to provide a conditioned atmosphere for suitable long-term storage of the switchgear.



Electrical - Sachs

Sachs continues to install gear in the electrical building. Below are pictures of the ABB 480V switchgear and MCCs. They con-tinue to support the site civil work by installing grounding. They have also supported deceleration by hooking up many motor heaters from the construction power feeds. Future work to note, will be the dressing out of the 345kV FGD transformers that recently arrived.

Deep Foundations – Goettle

Goettle is back on site to finish the deep foundation scope that was not yet engineered during their initial visit. They are drilling shafts for the 345kV transmission towers and the gypsum conveyor. A portion of these will be auger cast piles. Below is a pic-ture of their new rig. The auger has a hollow shaft and grout is pumped down to the bottom of the shaft and then the auger is slowly pulled out as the grout fills the hole. Then the rebar cage is lowered down the hole through the grout. This method helps displace the underground water and maintain the integrity of the shaft walls.


Ductwork Insulation - PCI

As you all know, PCI had an unfortunate incident with the lost time injury where an insulator broke his femur. Once more de-tails come out of the investigation, an alert will be distributed. The last word was that surgery went well and the gentleman is home resting and awaiting therapy. On site, PCI continues to support ductwork fabrication through their insulating and lagging efforts.

Advatech Direct Hire

The FGD transformers arrived this month and were offloaded and placed on their foundations (pictures below). A special

thanks to the Coal Yard for their support of this effort. The Unit 2 recycle pumps have been rough set. Fitters have installed

the 60” recycle pump suction valves (picture below). Ironworkers are erecting structural steel around the Unit 1 absorber

(picture below). Ductwork steel foundation work continues around Unit 1 absorber. Boilermakers continue on ductwork fabrica-

tion and ductwork support steel erection.




Deliveries

Recent deliveries include the 345kV transformers and all of their

components, mist eliminators, limestone pneumatic conveying

equipment, Unit 2 ID fan lube oil and seal air skids, belt filter

components, ductwork expansion joints, agitator components,

sump pumps, slurry spray headers, DCS equipment, and on

and on. Short and long-term storage locations are becoming

premium real estate.

Roger’s World ...Roger Bass

As the long, hot summer days come to an end, I find my-self not looking forward to the upcoming fall season. You might think that this is odd. The cool crisp evenings, leaves turning to their bright colors. Football games on Friday nights. Fall festivals with the smell of different foods wafting in the breeze. Some people looking for their favorite television program returning with new episodes. You would think this sounds like it should be a wonderful time of the year.

Not for me though, I know what’s really coming. They start out slow but build as the days grow shorter. Just when you think you can get away from them, they come back, again and again. Minute after minute, hour after hour, you try to get away from them, but they are every-where. Every place you turn, there is another one. Yes, that’s right, just like little Carol Ann said in the movie “Poltergeist”, “They’re here”. No, it’s not ghosts, it’s even scarier. It’s the political advertisement.

You can tell by the background music and the unflattering black and white picture. The music reminds me of the dramatic soap opera music right before you find out that the old lady next door is actually the rich millionaire that married the doctor that had the affair with the patient that had amnesia who had been kidnapped by+.. (you get the idea). You see the picture of the candidate, not the candi-date that is paying for the commercial, the opponent. I figure there are photographers that make a good living by taking pictures of candidates. Not to sell to the candidate, but to sell to the other side. It’s the picture that makes the candidate look bad. Maybe a picture of the candidate frowning or better yet, an evil grin. I am thinking a big

black mustache and maybe a top hat. Make him look like Snidely Whiplash (for those of you who remember Dudley Do-Right). Then the picture shows the candi-date who is paying for the ad; now it is bright colors, birds, butterflies and cheery upbeat background music.

Nowhere in the commercial does it give any information on what the candidate stands for, but that’s ok; be-cause the opponent has his own commercial doing the same thing. I think political candidates should have to give dollar for dollar the amount of money they spend on advertising and put it towards the national debt or a worthwhile charity. I read one article that said political advertising could amount to 9.8 billion dollars this year. That’s 9,800 million dollars. Imagine what 4.9 billion dollars could do for our country. There would still be plenty of political ads left to see.

As always, this is just my opinion, in my world.

Till next time, please be safe.

Our 7 year old grandson, Matthew, is always ea-ger to try new foods. One night at dinner, I served roast beef accompanied by a traditional side dish. Curious, Matthew asked what it was.

“Horseradish,” I replied.

We all cautioned him about its effects. But he politely helped himself to a small portion, which

disappeared in one swallow.

Seconds later, Matthew’s face contorted in shock

as he gasped, “Which part of the horse is it?”


Rob Monroe started his career August, 2007, working at Hut-sonville as an Outside Operator before coming to Newton as a Welder Repairman in January, 2012.

Congratulations Rob on your 5 years of service.

Rob Monroe Celebrates 5 Year Anniversary ...Julie Matson

Nick Gipson presenting Rob Monroe with his

anniversary gift.

Roger Bowen Celebrates 35 Year Anniversary ...Julie Matson

Roger Bowen recently celebrated 35 years of service at New-ton. He began his career in 1977 as a Utility Operator. In 1978, he became an Operator Helper and worked his way up to the Unit Operator position in 1982, which he currently holds today.

A shift honored Roger with a cake to celebrate this accom-plishment.

Roger and his wife, Debbie, live in Louisville and have 3 chil-dren; Michael, Sara (Mark) Kimmell, and Josh (Kendra). They have 5 grandchildren; Hannah, Aven, Cash, Addisyn and Paisyn.

Congratulations on your anniversary, Roger.

Roger Bowen with his anniversary cake.

His wife’s graveside service was just barely finished, when there was a massive clap of thunder, followed by a tre-mendous bolt of lightning, accompanied by even more thunder rumbling in the distance. The little old man looked at

the pastor and calmly said, “Well, she’s there.”

Anniversaries Celebrated In The Coal Yard

+Twyla Harvey


On August 8, 2012, the Coal Yard celebrated two 25 year

anniversaries with pizza and cake.

Ed Worthey and Leonard (Len) Meinhart both worked as tem-

poraries during outages before becoming full time employees

at Newton.

Len was hired full time on July 27, 1987, as a Process Opera-

tor Helper (POH) in the scrubber. The following April he be-

came an Operator Helper and then in October of 1988, he

went back to the scrubber as a POH. On April 27, 1997, Len

became a Janitor and continued as such until January 1,

2007, when he was the successful bidder of a Fuel Handling

Operator position. Len continues in that position today.

Len is the father of 2 kids; Michelle, who lives in Cincinnati,

OH, and our very own. Ross Meinhart. Len resides in New-

ton.

Ed was hired full time on August 3, 1987, as an Operator

Helper. On July 26, 1992, he was the successful bidder of

an Auxiliary Operator position; on December 26, 1999, Ed

was awarded his bid for an Operator Assistant position. On

October 14, 2001, Ed became a Fly Ash Operator and then

went back to Operator Assistant on February 15, 2004, On

May 9, 2004, Ed became an Assistant Shift Supervisor, and

on January 1, 2008, was promoted to Shift Supervisor I;

which he remains to date.

Ed and his wife, Ruby, live in Effingham. He has 2 daughters,

Sara, who lives in Vandalia and Amy, who lives in Newton.

Congratulations to both of you!

Ed Worthey receives congratulations, along with his service award, from his supervisor,

Randy Lingafelter

Len Meinhart receives congratulations from his

supervisor, Ed Worthey.

While trying to explain to our 6 year old daughter how much technology had changed, my husband pointed to our brand new personal computer and told her that when he was in college, a computer with the same amount of power

would have been the size of a house.

Wide-eyes, our daughter asked, “How big was the mouse?”


Anniversaries Celebrated in the I & E Department +Julie Matson

Seventy-five (75) years of company service was celebrated in the Instrument Electrical Department.

Mark Coad began his career on August 23, 1977 as a Records Clerk. He has held several positions throughout the years in-cluding: Stock Clerk, Repairman Apprentice, Repairman, Equipment Operator, Electrician Apprentice, Electrician, and the title he currently holds, I & E Technician. Mark’s daughter Carmen is married to Mike Kaufman and they have a son, An-drew. Congratulations Mark on your 35 years of service.

David Bough achieved 35 years of service on August 24, 2012. He has also held several different titles since he started his career at Newton. He began in 1977 as a Utility Operator and then became an Operator Helper working his way up to the Unit Operator position. In 1992, he worked in the Maintenance Department as a Repairman Apprentice. In 1996, he became a Repairman. In 1997, he joined the Instrument and Electrical Department as an Instrument Apprentice. He then became an Instrument Man in 2000. In 2004, he worked as an I & E Tech-nician and currently holds the job title of Instrument/Computer Electrical Technician. David has two daughters, Krista Fehren-bacher and Kimberly Bough. In his spare time, David enjoys photography and golfing. Congratulations David on your 35 year anniversary.

On August 27, 2007, Mark Williams completed 5 years of ser-vice as an I & E Technician at Newton. In 1989, Mark received an Associate of Applied Science degree in Industrial Electron-ics at Rend Lake College. Mark started his career as an Assis-tant Lab Technician at NuTherm International in Mt. Vernon, Illinois. He then moved to Continental Tire NA in Mt. Vernon in 1990 as an Electrician for his first 16 years and then was pro-moted to Lead Technician in 2006 prior to coming to Newton in August, 2007. Mark and his wife, Stephanie, have a 4 year old daughter, Abigail. Congratulations Mark on your anniversary.

David Bough receives congratulations from his

Supervisor, John Marschewski

Mark Coad receives congratulations from his

Supervisor, John Marschewski

Mark Williams receives congratulations from

his Supervisor, John Marschewski


Employee Wellness Day ...Connie Kerner

The Newton Power Station and the Jasper County Health Department, as community partners, will sponsor an employee wellness day “Stay Strong, Live Long” on Thursday, October 4 from 7:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M.

This event will be held at the Newton Power Station in the EDC. The objectives of the Wellness Day include:

• To increase health awareness and disease prevention for Newton Power Station employees by providing health screen-ings, educational information, and related activities.

• Motivate participants to make positive health behavior changes.

• Teach self-care practices.

The Jasper County Health Department will offer free PSA screenings to men age 40 that are high risk and men >50 years of age. Free Fasting Cholesterol screenings to all employees. Other health screenings being offered by the exhibitors include blood glucose, blood pressure, pulse oximetry, hemoglobin, sleep apnea and more.

Air-Vac and ARCH will partner together t o educate you to the air ambulance resources, Champion Fitness, Gentle Dental and Integrated Counseling Services are new to our community and will showcase their services.

Returning this year are St Anthony Memorial Hospital, Crawford County Memorial Hospital, Richland Memorial Hospital, Sarah Bush Health Center, American Red Cross, Medicine Shoppe, Tarr Chiropractic, Employee Assistant Program, Jasper County Counseling, American Cancer Association, Marshall Clinic and your all - time favorites Olney Central College mas-sage class and Simple Rewards.

Good health is knowledge and we have learned that healthy employees improve absenteeism, work safer and have a better quality of life. The information at the employee wellness day can help make educated decisions about you and your family's health care. Below are pictures from the 2011 Health Fair.


Personnel focus on safety has been very good this year but requires no more than a moment for an accident to slip through our fingers. Our goal is for each and every individual to safely return home to their families at the end of the day. The Safety Committee met on Friday, August 31, for their monthly meeting. Through the end of August we had: August Stats = 0 First Aid and 0 recordable accidents YTD Stats at the end of August = 3 First Aids and 0 recorda-ble accident This month's meeting was called to order by Richard Sur-geon and notes recorded by Julie Matson. Safety JR activity for August was 2,372.5 hours and $102,030.75. Safety committee goals – remind everyone to talk about safety awareness throughout the day. There are numerous distractions all around us, the economy, low market prices resulting in low operating margins, plant environmental challenges, the list goes on, but we need to stay focused on our surroundings. It is just as important to remind our coworkers.

Richard gave an update on the Hazard Energy Control procedure that he, Randy Lingafelter, and Rick Wolford have been active participants. The procedure will be pre-sented to the safety committee for review. New action items include:

♦ Concern with the financial situation; this can result in patches instead of fixes thus creating unsafe repairs. We will not make unsafe repairs, (example coal pipes can be patched, main steam lines are not simply patched). High energy piping has codes and stand-ards to follow.

♦ The second item; an update will be given on the main service building roof.

♦ Third new item; no phone in the wet sluice building; while this is being looked into, a radio will also work for communications in the absence of a phone.

♦ Last but not least, Tech Services Department is trying to provide more information to plant personnel on pro-jects and the people it affects.

Next scheduled safety committee meeting, Friday, Sep-tember 28, at 0730 hours.

Safety Committee Highlights ...Greg Musch

Many of you may be aware of efforts across Ameren to rethink how we address safety across our organiza-tion. In late 2011, we lost Cathy Berlinger at Labadie when she fell through a handrail at the station. Shortly after, two employees lost part of their fingers in an event at Keokuk when a bearing fell. These events and the overall plateau of injury reduction across Ameren require us to rethink how we approach safety.

Early in 2012 Ameren senior leadership took the lead to develop a Corporate Safety Strategy that helps improve our safety culture and ensure there are no further life changing events. Ameren's safety culture has come a long way, but, we still continue to have serious injuries and employees taking unnecessary safety risks on the job. A team of 60 employees representing all of Ameren was put together with the task of identifying symptoms, causes and solutions regarding life changing events. In addition to several other AER employees, Roy Smith and I participated as team members. The meetings resulted in 7 initiatives focused on improving safety across Ameren. The seven initiatives are:

• Education and Culture

Ongoing Ameren Safety Improvements ...Richard Spurgeon

• Job Briefs and Job Observations

• Incident Investigation

• Incentive, Reward and Recognition

• Communication and symbols

• Corporate Safety Organization

• Bargaining Unit/Management Safety Leadership and Collaboration

The next phase will be for various teams to refine the initia-tives to be applied across Ameren. Kenny Johnson and I both serve on individual teams working on the initia-tives. Many of the recommendations are nearing approval by Ameren's Executive Leadership. Some aspects of the initiatives will take longer than others. Expect to see sever-al communications in various forms coming out in the next couple of months with information regarding the initia-tives. Improving safety is not a destination but a jour-ney. We owe it to our families, friends and coworkers to do everything we can to come home safe each day.


Newton Energy Center Veterans Present a “Missing Man” Table ...Tim Dion

Millions of Americans have fought for our freedom in far-flung corners of the globe. Many thousands of those men and women did not return. Every year, on the third Friday in September, the nation pauses to remember those who have given the ultimate sacrifice on our behalf. This year, the veterans at Newton Energy Center decided to set a “Missing Man” table for the day, as a way of remembrance for those lost.

Our government is actively seeking confirmation of the fates of those who have not returned from combat. There are roughly 83,000 Americans (men, women, military and civilian) whose remains have not been recovered from various conflicts. The fate of dozens of those lost are confirmed each year. Among the 40 cases resolved so far this year, one local family was able to close a chapter in their lives as their loved one, 2nd Lt. Charles “Butch” Moritz of Effingham was confirmed killed in a training accident in England during World War II. To learn more about the process of how these cases are resolved and for other resources regarding the National POW/MIA recognition day, check out the Department of Defense Prisoner of War Missing Person Office website: http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo/

One military tradition honors the missing or prisoners of war by reserving a special place for them at the dinner table. Whether it is setup at a formal dining occasion, or on display in a mess hall on a daily basis, a table similar to this one is maintained in their honor. This display was assembled using items contributed by Newton Energy Center Veterans. Please remember those who are lost, and promise to uphold the pledge that they are not forgot-ten.

The Symbolism of the Missing Man Table

The table is round -- to show our ever-lasting concern for our missing men.

The tablecloth is white -- symbolizing the purity of their motives when an-swering the call to duty.

The single red rose, displayed in a vase, reminds us of the life of each of the missing, and their loved ones and friends of these Americans who keep the faith, awaiting an-swers.

The vase is tied with a red ribbon, sym-bol of our continued determina-tion to account for our missing.

A slice of lemon on the plate is to remind us of the bitter fate of those cap-tured and missing in a foreign land.

A pinch of salt symbolizes the tears en-dured by those missing and their families who seek answers.

The Bible represents the strength gained through faith to sustain those lost from our country, founded as one nation under God.

The glass is inverted -- to symbolize their inability to join us for a toast.

The chair is empty -- they are missing.

Your Electrical Connection Volume 10 Issue 9

* Any omissions in this section are entirely unintentional.

Ameren Stock Price (as of 8:26 AM CDT September 24, 2012)

$32.81

Oct. 7 Rick Wolford

Oct. 11 Bart Thompson

Gary Washburn

Oct. 17 Tom Wetherholt

Upcoming Events October Anniversaries & Birthdays

Oct. 1 Homemade Cookie Day

Oct. 4 Health Fair

Oct. 11 Blood Drive

35 Years Oct. 13 Pete Geltz

Oct. 18 Fred Miller

Oct. 20 Glen Clapp

20 Years Oct. 1 Greg Musch

Oct. 6 Cheryl Walters

Oct. 12 Skip Moore

Good Luck to Brian Abraham

+Twyla Harvey

A going away cake and coffee was held on August 16, for

temporary Chemist, Brian Abraham.

Brian started at Newton Energy Center on September 19,

2011, as a temporary Chemist. On August 17, 2012, Brian

worked his last day at Newton; taking a job with Ameren Illi-

nois as an Engineering Representative. He started his new

job on August 27, in Belleville.

Brian always had a friendly greeting for everyone he saw at

Newton and we wish him the best of luck with his new posi-

tion.

Brian Abraham enjoyed his going away cake on

August 23, with Tech Services.

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