Intern Check-In: Jake Dyson

Coal Combustion Residuals (CCR) intern Jake Dyson has spent his summer at Prairie State learning about operations and creating solutions.

Dyson has enjoyed going underground to shadow different departments at the mine.  He has also attended a variety of meetings to discuss issues such as water balance, environmental compliance, and noise control.

Prior to this internship, Dyson was not sure what to expect.  He now has an appreciation for the level of involvement the CCR department has in handling by-products of power generation.

Dyson’s favorite part of this internship has been seeing the geological background involved in CCR.  “It is interesting to see how geotechnical work and geologic assessments are essential to injection well and landfill planning.”

He has also learned some intricate details of the power plant.  “There are a lot of components that would not come to mind initially.  Plant operations are much more complex than an outside perspective shows.”

Dyson has remained involved with diverse functions including mine operations, landfill closure, environmental compliance recordkeeping, and daily problem solving.

While Dyson has enjoyed learning about the inner workings of a power plant, geology is his passion.  He plans to pursue a future career in the oil and gas industry.