Junk Plant Monticello: Corrupt Root Cause Analysis All Over The Place

(05000263: this is a very old and obsolete plant)

LER 2016-01-00, "High Pressure Coolant Injection System Cracked Pipe Nipple Caused Oil Leak"

Presumably these plants have up to five million parts and components in these plants. What if they treated all the components like this?

I consider this a regulatory failure and it indicates a profound weakness in the NRC. The NRC should have made them fix the “tolerant of leaks problem” before the oil pipe burst.

I consider this a regulatory failure and it indicates a profound weakness in the NRC. The NRC should have made them fix the “tolerant of leaks problem” before the HPCI oil pipe burst. It sounds like they got a maintenance prioritization problem. This problem might be much more widespread. It sounds like they are becoming overwhelmed with unfixed maintenance problems at the plant.  

This plant is undergoing extreme financial stress. These guys recently bungled a extremely expensive power uprate and the state regulators denied full founding of the billion dollar upgrade. Excel is mortgaged to the hilt. Excel only owns one nuclear plant and it is a single plant site. The NEI says a plant like this is extraordinarily financially vulnerable. It worries me Monticello is pulling a Fort Calhoun. They spend a ton of money on the plant just before they turn off the lights. Excel is a weak electric utility.  

High Pressure Coolant Injection System Cracked Pipe Nipple Caused Oil Leak \

The High Pressure Coolant Injection (HPCI) system was inoperable during a pre-planned maintenance activity when a significant oil leak in HPCI system oil piping occurred because of a cracked oil pipe nipple. The leak was of sufficient size that if it occurred outside the pre-planned maintenance, HPCI would have been declared inoperable. The organizational root cause was that management and individuals were tolerant of leaks on the HPCI system. As a result, station personnel did not effectively advocate prompt repair of the HPCI oil leak. An organizational root cause evaluation was completed to address the assessment and prioritization of repair of known oil leaks on the HPCI system. The root cause determined that management and individuals were tolerant of leaks on the HPCI system. As a result, station personnel did not effectively advocate prompt repair of the HPCI oil leak.

Results of the extent of condition review identified two other pipe nipples and two elbows with thread leakage (no crack present)

This below is basically RCA malpractice and fraud. A competent investigator or evaluator would focus all his attention on the maintenance prioritization system problem.  This mindset is very dangerous!!! Is the evaluator intimidated by management into going into the more valuable deeper and expensive causes? 

An extent of condition was completed for all known leaks for the HPCI oil pipe system.

See, they treat HPCI historically like shit. The NRC did a "detailed" inspection of HPCI in late 2015. Why did he miss the leaking oil?

May 8, 2015  

SUBJECT: MONTICELLO NUCLEAR GENERATING PLANT NRC INTEGRATED AND POWER UPRATE INSPECTION REPORT 05000263/2015001 

Green. The inspectors identified a finding of very low safety significance and an NCV of 10 CFR Part 50, Appendix B, Criterion XVI, “Corrective Action,” for the licensee’s failure to promptly identify conditions adverse to quality, such as deficiencies, deviations, and nonconformances. Specifically, on February 11, 2015, the inspectors identified a safety related seismic support for high pressure coolant injection (HPCI) turbine trip instrumentation that was not rigidly attached, supported, and restrained in accordancewith plant construction code and installation specifications, a nonconformance which the licensee had failed to identify since initial plant construction. Corrective actions for this issue included repairs to the seismic support to rigidly connect the instrument line restraint and installation of a standalone support for the instrument tray. This issue was entered into the licensee’s corrective action program (CAP 1465906).

Oh, this plant is a struggling and the weak little buddy for the NRC. They got these guys under the arms of the NRC.

Lots of initial plant licencing problems the agency is just catching now.

My bad, Xcel owns more than one nuclear power plant. Praire Island is a very trouble site.

RED WING, Minn. -- Xcel Energy is awaiting word from the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission to proceed with an 18-month study on the future of Prairie Island nuclear plant and the economics of potentially shutting down the two-reactor facility before its operating license expires in 2034.