Everstar

⏰ Now we’re going to #freedave from outage-prep stress. T-14 on the outage. The final vendor manual for the new digital turbine control just arrived — two weeks late and different from the pre-release spec the team has been using to write the startup test procedure. 𝐃𝐚𝐯𝐞'𝐬 𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐰𝐚𝐲: Four engineers crash to get the procedure done, two working from the pre-release spec and two from the final manual without realizing it. Acceptance criteria get written inconsistently. The vendor gets called twice to clarify discrepancies. Review comments go back and forth. The outage might already be off schedule. 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐆𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐧: Ingests both manuals side by side, catches 14 deltas between them before a single procedure step gets written. Six affect acceptance criteria. Drafts the full procedure from the correct source. But it flags the overspeed protection criterion — different between manuals — for Dave. Dave has watched this turbine for 22 years. He knows it tripped at 108% during a load rejection in 2011 and again in 2018. He tightens the criterion to 107% and writes the basis. He signs the procedure. Ready-to-enter happens on schedule. 513 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐝 by now. That's 64 working days. Dave just bought the company nearly 1% of his career back in two weeks. 𝐇𝐞’𝐬 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐨𝐟𝐟 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐲𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐲. Our little contest closes tomorrow. If you've introduced yourself as a “Dave” and shared your story, you're in. If not, do it now. 5 winners, 1 month of Gordian free. #FreeDave

🥱 Dave gets invited to every meeting he shouldn't have to attend. Every month, the plant health committee needs someone who can connect the dots across systems, departments, and the last fifteen years of maintenance history. 𝐃𝐚𝐯𝐞'𝐬 𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐰𝐚𝐲: Six hours of prep the day before. Two hours in the meeting as the room's institutional memory. Every month. Without fail. 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐆𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐧: The system health workflow runs automatically. Recent work summarized and cross-referenced, equipment trending by system, open actions with status, historical context clickable. Dave reviews it, adds what only he would know, and walks in prepared instead of exhausted. Dave still adds what the data can't. He looks at the briefing and says: "That pump's been touchy since the 2017 impeller replacement." He spots two CRs on different systems that both trace to the same vendor's replacement parts. He initiates an extent-of-condition review before anyone else saw the pattern. Dave's been this committee's memory for fifteen years. After he retires, that memory is gone — unless the trending data and cross-references are in the system. Today's briefing package creates a record the next system engineer can build on. Now we’re at 33 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐝. Dave didn't work this weekend; 𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐟𝐢𝐱𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐜𝐤. His wife is suspicious. Are you a "Dave"? Introduce yourself and tell us about the Dave that taught YOU. 5 winners, 1 month of Gordian free. Last chance will be Thursday’s post. #FreeDave

💸 Before you spend $500K on a reanalysis, make sure you actually have to. While you’re at it, #freedave. The plant is pursuing an extended power uprate. Leadership needs to know if the existing containment analysis holds at EPU conditions before committing to a full reanalysis. 𝐃𝐚𝐯𝐞'𝐬 𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐰𝐚𝐲: Half a day finding the calculation, then a slog through manual parameter comparison. He has to write memo under time pressure before the Thursday 2pm meeting. 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐆𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐧: Containment parameters cross-referenced against EPU conditions. Comparison table — containment design pressure, LOCA mass and energy release, peak temperature, post-LOCA hydrogen, ECCS back-pressure. Quick recalculations using design basis info and Python libraries. Flags for further analysis where needed. Dave reviews the table, calls the containment engineer, and walks into the meeting with a recommendation: "Do QA runs for M&E release and hydrogen. Pressure margin is tight but holds. Here's the scope." That's a $200K decision made on data, not gut feel. Someone has to find the margin before the plant commits. That someone is always Dave. When Dave retires, his comparison table and scoping rationale are on record. The next engineer starts from Dave's analysis, not from scratch. We’re up to 27 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐝. That's more PTO than Dave took all of 2025. Dave left at 2pm. 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐤𝐞. Are you a “Dave”? Introduce yourself — share your favorite nuclear reference. 5 winners, 1 month of Gordian free. #FreeDave

🛑 We can #freedave with the tool that knows when to dig deep… and when to stop. A proposed MOV actuator replacement needs a 50.59. 𝐃𝐚𝐯𝐞'𝐬 𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐰𝐚𝐲: FSAR archaeology, criteria walkthrough, documentation, and reviewer back-and-forth. 11 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬. 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐆𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐧: Applicability, screening, and Criteria 1 through 7 walked with sources and rationale. Then on criterion 8, Gordian stops and asks Dave. "The replacement actuator uses a different torque calculation methodology. Here are both interpretations of the criterion with supporting references. Dave, you decide." Gordian doesn't check the box. It shows Dave the evidence and gets out of the way. Dave reads both interpretations, makes the call, documents the basis, signs the evaluation. 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬. That judgment call is now in Gordian. When a similar mod comes up when Dave isn't around, another engineer can see exactly how Dave reasoned through the ambiguity. It's not just the answer that's captured. It's the reasoning. 8 hours freed so far. That's one full Dave-day at a normal job. Dave has never had a normal job. Dave left at 4. 𝐇𝐞'𝐬 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐚 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭. Are you a Dave? Introduce yourself and tell me one (non-sensitive) thing only you know at your plant. 5 winners, 1 month of Gordian free. #FreeDave