Holdfast Training Services Trial Blog

Current situation with Steam Sterilisation Plant.

We have now gotten to a bit of a Mexican standoff with the SSP.

Pretty much all the work on site has been finished, however due to the modification that will have to be made to the design, to correct the problems encountered during testing, we cannot hand the plant over.

Due to the fact that the plant is a large and complex steam system it cannot simply be “turned off and locked up” until the design of the modification has been completed and is ready to be implemented, as the various seals and gaskets will fail on restart.

Grimberg, the lead contractor are clearly in the best place to maintain the system on tick-over as they are fully aware of its quirks, and also it keeps all responsibility with them should there be anything wrong. They have been asked to provide a per diem quote for the caretaking of the plant for a couple of months, and they are clearly aware of the strong position that they are in.

The quote that Grimberg offered and their lack of negotiation flexibility has offended the senior management so much that they have been told to P@SS OFF, and get all their staff/trailers off site. This clearly makes the situation more tense, and a lot more difficult to get the last few bits of work out of Grimberg (namely O&M manuals, which Grimberg seems to be hoping will go away and compost under a desk somewhere, it is requiring quite a lot of very specific feedback, but I am still managing to maintain an amicable relationship with Grimberg’s PM).

In the end I expect that some agreement will be found as it makes no sense to “spoil the ship for a hapeth of tar, ” and also the people that we will almost certainly get to do the work of the modification will be Grimberg, so we do need to keep some working relationships with them.

This is an interesting study into the final throws of the lifecycle of a project, and really indicates the importance of a sound tendering process which fully evaluates all project possibilities, and gets quotes for these as well as the expected work. However no matter how much foresight is applied there will be the unforeseeable and clients/budget holders must have their expectations managed, especially on such a complicated/experimental job.

Other things that I have been working on:

Liquid Nitrogen Cryovent system. USAMRIID

We have managed to get to a solution that is acceptable to all sides with the question of the industry standards of a Cryovent system. We will be using pre-insulated copper piping, the exact placement of the vents will be made by the Cryo Associates and shown on shop drawings. We are acknowledging that this is a change, and paying for the upgrade for copper to pre-insulated copper, realistically this won’t amount to much as the installation cost will be similar ball park. This solution was rushed to due to the necessity of allowing the work to move forward, and these areas be closed in.

Close-in inspections USAMRIID.

We have conducted various close-in inspections, at which we have found things ranging from the stud being cut through to allow a pipe to be placed, to holes in the firewall, to pipes not being fixed for more than 5m of run, and so swinging like pendulum. It does appear that MTJV try at every turn to use the USACE as their quality control, and just see what gets through.

Backward placed heat exchanger USAMRIID.

One of the heat exchangers in the USAMRIID was placed fully back-to-front, apparently “because it was easier to get it in that way, and it doesn’t make any difference anyway.” Whilst it is true that it makes no real difference it has been noticed and mentioned higher up to the client and so now needs has to be corrected for a political rather than engineering viewpoint, no skin off our nose, but the subcontractor is hurting.

On site tests : Pressure Tests of air handling units, Ducting and compressed gas systems.

Every system that is being installed has to be pressure tested to ensure they meet the rigorous standards required for bio-containment, this is really quite a significant undertaking on its own. The process involves a centrifugal pump with a baffle plate that can change the airflow. The airflow in measured accurately by the use of a calibrated orifice plate, and the pressure achieved in the duct is measured by a U tube Manometer. It all looks pretty Heath-Robinson but it works effectively. Dependant on the length (and thus area) of duct being tested an allowable flow rate is calculated.

Pall Filters meetings.

The discussion with PALL filters is still rumbling on, as it appears that testing/maintenance of the filter skids without the use of Isopropyl alcohol will be difficult, however the client is reticent at allowing IPA use due to the fire risk etc. We have coordinated various meetings between the client and PALL to see if a solution to the problem can be found.

Off site tests: HEPA filter skid – Factory acceptance testing.

There are various tests of the equipment before it is installed onsite. This is a HEPA filter skid that is due to be used in many areas of the USAMRIID building. Due to the knowledge gained previously working with PALL filters on slightly similar skids in the SSP we visited the local factory where they make the stainless steel components and assemble the skid. Impressively they had mounted the pressure gauges the wrong way round, and we could see other more significant design problems which would make the maintenance difficult. It is great to be able to catch these early, and so keep the project as a whole running more smoothly.

Officer Professional development day

Attending an Officer Professional Development day was a good opportunity to meet the other uniformed officers who operate within the district. It did hammer home what a civilian organisation the Corp of Engineers really is, and how few uniformed personnel they actually have.

Also of interest

Memorial Day.

Memorial Day is the equivalent to Remembrance Day, however the Americans really go all out for it. It is a national holiday and pretty much each town has a parade of some sort. We went into Washington DC to watch their parade. It went on for a continuous 2 hours mostly made up of high school marching bands, and only at the very end actual military guys. There were thousands of people out in support along both sides of the main street in Washington DC for a stretch of 2 miles. Also Buzz Aldrin was there on a float. It was an amazing show.

Muscle Car Weekend

Matt, Ulli, Rob, Robin, (his Girlfriend), Sarah and I all attended a Muscle Car weekend at Ocean City; a collection of hundreds of absolutely amazing cars, with more BHP than weight in KGS. They really shift, and they were doing unofficial burnouts in the high street, fine in the early evening but it does begin to get a little tiresome at 0300. It also really showed how much time and money people were willing to spend on their hobbies out here, the cars were literally shined to within an inch of their lives, and some were up for sale, showing price tags around the $50000 – $100000

Home Brew.

We have got a home brew set from the shop just down the road, and are trying this out (we will keep you posted…), it makes the house smell like a brewery!

Queens Diamond Jubilee

I am trying to get the Americans a bit excited about the Jubilee, but oddly they don’t seem as interested by this as they were by the royal wedding!

Sarah’s work visa.

Sarah has finally got a work visa through, and now has a Social Security Number, and so is finally in a position to get a job. Hopefully all the networking she has been doing will rapidly pay off and she will find a good job.

Heat and humidity.

The heat and humidity are really jacking up, now as soon as you do anything physical you break a real sweat.