Fiery Junk Plant Oconee Main Transformer, Switchyard and Lines

They will talk about the safety consequences, but they never really disclosed what strategy set the system up for failure? Is this guy giving us the real picture?

Remember the 'Andrea Gail' had to take bigger and bigger chances driven by poor catches and financial pressures.

"We just replaced the unit 2, spent some big bucks did a very good job, we are actually using the unit 2 as the spare,

Electrical Engineer
Oconee Nuclear Station

Sorry to hear about it.
Hopefully it is fixable and easy to implement.

I was noticing plants were cutting back $, manpower.  I was seeing them cutting corners and changing priorities.

My fear was they were cutting back on the safety systems.  And some of the worse part was what they were doing with the $ they saved.

:
Yep. That was us, huge deal, resources are thin, it has our focus."

Reposted from 3/7/2016

The Perfect Storm:


If Oconee and the NRC allowed the Oconee switchyard lines to swing in the breeze until failure, are they treating similar equipment in the same manner?

This is going to start as a NRC Special Inspection.

Because of the unprecedented 2.206 by NRC electrical engineer officials, do you think for one moment this facility is going to be treated normally?

In the vernacular, this is called extremely infrequent Perfect Storm...    

Power Reactor	Event Number: 51770
Facility: OCONEE Region: 2 State: SC Unit: [1] [2] [3] RX Type: [1] B&W-L-LP,[2] B&W-L-LP,[3] B&W-L-LP NRC Notified By: ARCHIE NEWBERRY HQ OPS Officer: HOWIE CROUCH	Notification Date: 03/06/2016 Notification Time: 16:09 [ET] Event Date: 03/06/2016 Event Time: 15:20 [EST] Last Update Date: 03/06/2016
Emergency Class: ALERT 10 CFR Section: 50.72(a) (1) (i) - EMERGENCY DECLARED 50.72(b)(2)(iv)(B) - RPS ACTUATION - CRITICAL	Person (Organization): CATHY HANEY (R2RA) BILL DEAN (NRR) BILL GOTT (IRD) MARVIN SYKES (R2DO)

Unit	SCRAM Code	RX CRIT	Initial PWR	Initial RX Mode	Current PWR	Current RX Mode
1	A/R	Y	100	Power Operation	0	Hot Standby
2	N	Y	100	Power Operation	100	Power Operation
3	N	Y	100	Power Operation	100	Power Operation

Event Text

EMERGENCY DECLARATION DUE TO FIRE/EXPLOSION IN THE MAIN TRANSFORMER At 1512 EST, a fire/explosion occurred in the Unit 1 Main Transformer which resulted in a reactor trip. At 1520 EST, the licensee declared a Notification of Unusual Event. Offsite assistance was requested. At 1633 EST, smoke and flame were no longer visible. Fire brigade personnel were applying additional foam to prevent a re-flash. No personnel injuries occurred. Offsite assistance was requested with three local fire departments responding. All rods inserted on the trip. Steam generator feed is by the normal path. The plant is in its normal shutdown electrical lineup. The licensee has notified state and local authorities and the NRC Resident Inspector. Notified DHS SWO, FEMA, and DHS NICC. Notified FEMA NWS and Nuclear SSA via email. * * * UPDATE FROM DAVID HALE TO HOWIE CROUCH AT 1711 EST ON 03/06/16 * * * At 1658 EST, the licensee declared an Alert based on EAL Alert A.1. The cause of entry was that the fire damaged an overhead power line that supplies emergency power to all three units at Oconee. Offsite power is still available to all units. At 1708 EST, the fire is declared out. The licensee has notified the NRC Resident Inspector. Notified DHS SWO, FEMA, DHS NICC, USDA, HHS, DOE, and EPA. Notified FEMA NWS, FDA and Nuclear SSA via email. * * * UPDATE FROM DAVID HALE TO HOWIE CROUCH AT 1805 EST ON 03/06/16 * * * The licensee made notification of the RPS actuation as a result of the transformer fault. The licensee has notified the NRC Resident Inspector. Notified R2DO (Sykes). * * * UPDATE FROM DAVID HALE TO HOWIE CROUCH AT 2026 EST ON 03/06/16 * * * At 2016 EST, the licensee terminated all emergency declarations. The licensee has notified the NRC Resident Inspector. Notified R2DO (Sykes), IRD (Gott), NRR EO (Morris), DHS SWO, FEMA, DHS NICC, USDA, HHS, DOE, and EPA. Notified FEMA NWS, FDA and Nuclear SSA via email.