when only the finest welding will do...

   / when only the finest welding will do... #1  

daugen

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How to build a Nuclear Submarine - BBC2 Documentary - YouTube

this is an hour long BBC documentary on the UK's nuclear sub plant,
and at minute 22 there is an interesting seven or eight minutes on welding,
with some pics of welds. I enjoyed the whole thing but between minute 22 and I think 29
is where the relevant welding parts are.

I thought the young lady's early comment about "argon: two lungfuls of that and you're gone"
was interesting. When I graduate to argon use, I'll sure keep that in mind.
Might have a lot to do with welding in confined spaces too and whether the air handlers even worked yet.

All welds are xrayed. what they do with a "defect" there would have been interesting to hear about.

No different I suppose than welding on a plane or other super critical application. Like a high pressure LNG pipeline.
Not quite sure my Gravely's mower deck would qualify...:)
 
   / when only the finest welding will do... #2  
Drew, not that argon is poisonous to the human body, it is just the lack of oxygen will make you pass out, and die..
 
   / when only the finest welding will do... #3  
In the 1970s I worked in a tank shop building nuclear waste tanks. The inside of these tanks were 10-GA stainless steel. The safety department got on a kick when we went home for the night after Tig welding inside these tanks, we had to promise we would go home and place our feet in chair while laying flat of our backs for so many hours a night. This was their idea to get the argon to drain out of our lungs! :laughing:
 
   / when only the finest welding will do...
  • Thread Starter
#4  
In the 1970s I worked in a tank shop building nuclear waste tanks. The inside of these tanks were 10-GA stainless steel. The safety department got on a kick when we went home for the night after Tig welding inside these tanks, we had to promise we would go home and place our feet in chair while laying flat of our backs for so many hours a night. This was their idea to get the argon to drain out of our lungs! :laughing:

Uh, I hope those tanks didn't go to Washington and leak... :confused3: oh dear
well, I'm sure yours didn't....actually yours probably were sent there to clean up the existing mess.

Jim, sounds like being in an enclosed place when a fire extinguishing system goes off. Never a good idea.
 
   / when only the finest welding will do... #5  
We were contracted to this outfit. The tanks we built were to haul contaminated tools and clothing from the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Eastern Washington to Barnwell South Carolina burial site.
Chem-Nuclear Systems
 
   / when only the finest welding will do...
  • Thread Starter
#6  
The Truth About Barnwell

So Barnwell is where the feds are trucking some of the mess from Hanford, but apparently only low level material. Less than ten percent left after a hundred years.
I suppose that is comforting to the neighbors. Besides, if Shield Arc welded those tanks, well, you know they are just fine...
 
   / when only the finest welding will do... #7  
Uh, I hope those tanks didn't go to Washington and leak... :confused3: oh dear
well, I'm sure yours didn't....actually yours probably were sent there to clean up the existing mess.

Jim, sounds like being in an enclosed place when a fire extinguishing system goes off. Never a good idea.

Been there, done that, and did not like the feeling much... The mirage shimmer when looking at the lights was interesting.. We got outside and got some air..felt better after a while.
 
   / when only the finest welding will do... #8  
God it was so long ago now, and I've built so much stuff since then:confused:. We made several different types. Most were lead lined. Some the walls of the tanks were filled with concrete. They all had 10-GA stainless steel inside, but with different thickness of laminated 3/8-inch thick lead in the walls. Most were 7-inches thick. Then we laminated 3/4-inch thick high carbon steel sheets for the outside. These tanks were so heavy it took special low boy trailers made out of T1 to carry these tanks.
 
   / when only the finest welding will do... #9  
Drew, not that argon is poisonous to the human body, it is just the lack of oxygen will make you pass out, and die..

And it's heavier than air, so it doesn't drain out unless you stand on your head.

 
   / when only the finest welding will do... #10  
It's interesting that we should be talking about welding on submarines; it's been 50 years since the USS Thresher went to the bottom taking 130 + men with it. I think the cause was defective welds in piping.
 
 
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