Merry Christmas!!!!

[gmctd]

And safe Holiday season to all!

[airtime]

Right back at 'ya, JD. My greetings to everyone else also,
God bless you and you families!
AT-

[CleviteKid]

Hey there jd,

Thanx for the good wishes. For those of you who think YOUR diesel is acting up a little, be glad you don't have problems like those at the South Texas Project nuclear plant in Matagorda County, Texas. One of their 10,000 horsepower V-20 (as in twenty cylinders) Cooper-Bessemer Standby Diesel Generators broke a connecting rod and tossed part of the rod, a piston, and two bolted-on crankshaft counterweights through the side of the engine block, and left over 1000 pounds of iron and steel parts laying on the floor next to the engine. This incident wiped out the engine controls, and broke open the main oil gallery. As a result, the engine continued to run at full speed (600 rpm) and full power for another 6 minutes, lubricated only by the melting babbitt on the bearings, until it could be shut down manually. All the bearings and half the connecting rods are damaged beyond reuse, and rather than attempting to refurbish the crankshaft, a new one is being ordered for replacement.

I have spent most of my time since Dec. 11 at the plant, and was working on the analysis on Christmas Day. If there are any members of TheDieselPage.com working at STPEGS, please be assured that Dr. Lee is working with your Systems Engineering and Design Engineering staff to understand this failure and explain to the N.R.C. why it will not happen again.

Happy New Year,

Dr. Lee http://www.handykult.de/plaudersmilies.de/party/party.gif

[gmctd]

500hp per cylinder - I would liked to have observed that engine stopped, running, and in its state of destruction.

Was anyone present and watching when it cratered? 500hp deciding to make it's own exit. That must have been a scene right out of an Arnold Schwartzenegger movie!

You certainly have a seemingly interesting and fun job. Hope it's not like everyone sez - "it's all the paperwork that ruins the fun of it".

If you're taking some 'unclassified' pics, that would make an interesting "Dr. Lee" post - might even win the December Photo Contest.

Please tell me you flew out (and back) - I have to be in San Angelo for a bit, and I sure would have been unhappy missing a chance to see you and the SAA Special as you passed thru the Big H here.

Safe Holidays all.

[CleviteKid]

You are right jd, I was flying back and forth between Miami and Houston, and driving to Bay City and beyond. The SAA was safe in the garage at home.

There was an operator in the diesel room when all heck broke loose, but she (yes, she) was away from the region of destruction, and helped figure out how to shut down the runaway engine.

If you go to last newitem on today's Palacios Beacon (http://www.palaciosbeacon.com/home/news.shtml#newsitem1047596541,6640,) you can see a picture of the repair crew. Above the head of the man on the right is the broken-out side of the block above the access door. This will be replaced with a cast steel block metal-stitched into place.

Dr. Lee :cool:

[gmctd]

Noted all that electrical 'business' below that 'uh-oh' - looked like some whacked out conduit, also.
Thanks for the post - see if I can catch that final report on the NRC site.

Happy New Year to you and the Missus, Doc.