POWER May 2022 - 31

MARNIE SURFACEBLOW
slay them if they're already dead. " Maya whispered in reply,
" Then, ma'am, I shall dispose of them and say an appropriate
prayer. May I start now? "
Marnie stood up, grabbed her hard hat, and turned to
Stan. " Take us to your control room. I saw something in this
alert list I need to ask an operator about, and my assistant
Maya has a mission. "
Marnie and Maya review alarms and evaluate operating trends in the
control room with Brad.
Marnie Surfaceblow, vice president and lead field engineer
of Surfaceblow & Associates International, flipped
through the pages of monitoring system alerts, and
frowned. " What do you mean you aren't getting any good
out of this system, Stan? I'm seeing all sorts of alerts begging
for attention: 'economizer outlet header overheating,'
'feedwater heater 4 emergency drain valve not closed,' 'wall
blower IR-7 inactive'? "
Stan rolled his eyes and shook his head. " We already
know all those things from our DCS, and we don't even have
a number 7 wall blower! Maybe you can get rid of that alert
at least. "
Maya Sharma, age 28 but already a senior field engineer
and Marnie's assistant, asked, " But sir, is it not lesser cost
to have the vendor fix this? "
Stan smiled grimly. " That sort of work comes out of our IT
budget. That takes three months and a signature from God
himself to get approval. But hiring you under my services
budget, well that's easy. "
" I ... see, " replied Maya. " Does your data collection system
also alert you that this sootblower number 7 is out of
service? " Stan nodded. " Then, please sir, give me a list of
all data points that do not exist, and I will disable them and
reduce the alarms the operators must answer. "
Stan shrugged. " Sure, but it's not that many. If you had
more experience ... "
" Stan, " Marnie said evenly as she looked up from the
printouts, " Ms. Sharma was lead shift operator at a 4-GW
coal plant for two years. She has personal experience in the
human factors problem of unnecessary operator alarms.
Even getting rid of just one an hour will help. And on the other
subject, these intelligent monitoring systems can reduce
operator stress, but if you don't listen to what they're telling
you, you're part of the problem, not part of the solution. "
Stan turned to Marnie with a quick retort, and seeing the
look of experience and wisdom in her piercing green amber
gaze, he realized she was correct. He turned back to Maya
and said, " I'll get you a list of all the dead points ma'am, and
maybe you can get rid of some of them. "
" I will slay them all; do not fear. " Stan met the dark eyes
of the young woman, saw her intense and serious resolve,
and nodded his head.
" Technically, " Marnie whispered to Maya, " you can't really
May 2022 | POWER
From Conference Room to Control Room
It was a plant control room like a thousand others-uniquely
arranged with manual readouts and controls, digital screens
and computers, and innumerable personal items of the operators.
As she took off her hard hat and attempted vainly to
fix her hair, Marnie smiled as she noticed a Red Green Possum
Lodge ball cap stuck to a monitor with duct tape. " So,
I'm not the only one, " she thought gleefully.
Marnie waited patiently for Stan to lead the introductions-after
all, as plant manager his imprimatur on their visit
was vital. As Marnie passed out her business cards, she
gratefully noted from the corner of her eye that Maya was
writing down names and job titles. Although Marnie could
remember innumerable engineering and science facts about
any type of power plant, people's names were ... difficult.
What she did know, however, was that a young operations
and maintenance specialist, Brad Clinton, was the man of
the hour. Marnie plopped down in a convenient chair.
" Hello, Brad. Stan tells me you're the expert on plant
lubrication systems, and I wanted to know why your new
monitoring system flagged an alarm yesterday for the regenDALE
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31
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POWER May 2022

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