what the Brightwater tunnel gear is doing at Satsop

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Remember the rusty tunnel-boring machine and concrete tunnel segments sitting in a gravel lot at Satsop?

2010-07-25 Satsop nuclear plant, Brightwater tunnel-boring machine

Here's what's going on:

Vinci/Parsons/Frontier-Kemper, one of the joint ventures boring tunnels for King
County’s Brightwater wastewater treatment project, is donating most of the tunnel boring machine “Helene” to the Northwest Laborers-Employers Training Trust Fund.
[...]
The training trust is adding the tunnel boring class to its SHAFT (Safety Hazard Awareness for Tunnels) program.

“We’ve been doing tunnel safety training for five years now,” Warren said.

Warren said students won’t be digging any tunnels in the new classes, since the TBM won’t
be operational and it will be located above ground for safety reasons. Instead, they will
get classroom sessions mixed with hands-on training with the TBM to simulate how the machine works.

Donations of tunnel components are coming from King County and the Washington
Laborers-Employers Cooperation and Education Team. The county is providing 100 feet of concrete tunnel wall segments while the trust is contributing 100 feet of ring steel and wood lagging.