A Hot Summer

It is currently hotter than Tucson right now in the Tri-Cities area in Washington, and it is slated to be over 100 degrees F for the forseeable future. Good thing I did everything there is to do in the Tri-Cities already.

Okay, not really. But it is a small town kinda out in the middle of nowhere where everybody knows your name, even if you haven't met them yet. But... I've hiked Badger Mountain, which is the thing that everyone says to do if you're from out of town. It's a good short hike, and the view is amazing. I went tubing down the Yakima RiverI've gone to see the local minor league (A- rated) baseball team, the Tri-City Dust Devils, and seen their fireworks show. (They lost, but I had fun). I've gone to the newish mall in Kennewick that everyone was excited about a few times and have gone to the movie theater there. I went to go see the B Reactor, whose massive core contains more than 2000 process tubes for converting uranium-235 into plutonium, some of which was dropped on Nagasaki in the Fat Man bomb. That process created the waste we're still trying to clean up. The reactor itself, though, is a technical marvel - built fast and dirty and without any kind of precedent like it.

So... how's the internship going? I'm learning a lot more than I thought I would about business side of engineering (i'm shadowing a procurement team) and about how things as mundane as the difference between "finger-tight" and "tool-tight" can hugely impact safety and efficiency. There's still a ton of paperwork, but that's the nature of the beast. I've been working a lot with cranes, winches, and big pulley wheels while working with a guy who has a Christopher Eccleston accent (Northern English, for those who aren't fangirls), and a redhead, which is pretty cool. I've also got the chance to meet and talk to some of the higher-ups in the project, like the heads of engineering, and the HR people have semi-successfully set up teleconferences in order to introduce us to some of the higher ups in the company. Regardless, I'm meeting a lot of really interesting, extremely intelligent people.

On the side, I've hooked up with my housemate's running group (where I am apparently fast), found both the local used bookstore and the Barnes and Noble (which are depressingly far away [on a bike]), and have been helping care for two dogs (older poodles), so I have definitely kept busy.

Pictures to come as soon as I find my misplaced SD to USB converter. :-/ Sorry folks.

On that note, I will not have any pictures of me on the job. There are all kinds of rules about what I can take pictures of and where I can show it since I'm on a government-funded nuclear project that has already gotten plenty of bad press, and I don't want to step on any toes.

I'm going to try to be better at posting than last summer, but given that I'm not perfect and I'm extremely lazy (especially in the summer), that will be a bit of a challenge.

Anyway, have a good 4th of July, and be sure to shoot off your pyrotechics safely!

Internship Update

It's been a few weeks at the new job and I'm finally starting to see how things fit together.

First off, I've had to learn a new language.If someone in the know asked me what I did, I could tell them that I'm interning with MH for LAW at WTP as part of BNI's NS&E GBU, which translates to interning with Mechanical Handling for the Low Activity Waste facility at the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant in Richland, Washington, which is part of Bechtel National Incorperated's Nuclear Security and Environment Global Business Unit.

In plain English, I'm helping design a nuclear containment and decontamination facility. Pretty cool, right?

Everybody there has been very nice to me. There are three other interns in my section, and around 20 interns overall here, which is great. They have us doing real work which will actually have some impacts on the construction of the facility. Since this is a government job (the customer is the US Department of Energy), there is an excess of paperwork to do. Every bolthole, screw, and valve has to be documented. It's tedious, but everyone's gotta do it. I've been working on a pretty nifty calculation and sitting in on procurement meetings in addition to all that, though. My boss is awesome and has done a great job of making sure I feel included in what goes on and that I don't get bored.

One of the things that seems extremely different here than any other company I've heard of is the extreme emphasis on safety. Every meeting starts with a safety topic (and everyone seems to have one ready to go), so safety is always in the forefront. Something must be working, because when I visited the site, I saw a sign that said that there had been 175 days since a lost time accident, which is unheard of. (I'm working town, in the office, so I only have had the chance to actually see the site, which is about 20 minutes out of town, one time). Even the surrounding town is very insistent on their street signs and crosswalk buttons and even has caution flags for when people are crossing the street.

So where am I? The office is in Richland, Washington, which is part of the Tri-Cities area, in the South East corner of the state. Despite what you've heard about the rest of Washington, I've traded one desert for another by spending my summer here instead of Tucson - it's still a dry heat. That being said, everything is extremely green and agricultural here. The person I'm staying with even has chickens.

I'm staying out in the middle of nowhere in the middle of nowhere - and it's great. I'm getting in shape really fast. I've been biking around a lot (probably at least 20 miles every weekend) because it's 3 miles to the main road and another 2 to get into town. I've also been paint-balling, gone to the movies and the mall, and done some hiking. I'm enjoying the change of pace.

I have a tendency to forget that I don't live in a bubble. I tend to forget that I didn't get here on my own, that I have a huge support network, that there are so many people helping me succeed. So, thank you all for being there for me, for helping me get this opportunity.

Some info on the plant, and some more info on the plant.