Junk Dead-Ender FitzPatrick: Ticking Time Bombs

Update:

This is a picture I took of Vermont Yankee when it was operating. I got the high reactor building in front of us...the shorter long green building behind the reactor building is the turbine building. On the roof of the turbine building on the right, is a small plume of reactor steam and other water vapor. The pipe this steam plume came out of is where the turbine oil leak came from.

Lube Oil Vapor Extractor

This is a BWR. The reactor water...the steam...comes directly in contact with the turbine lube oil. It is basically a large tank of lube with a positive displacement bearing pump. The oil pump takes a suction from the tank, pumps it to the bearing, then returns it to the tank. Basically low pressure steam is used to create a barrier from the turbine steam between the condenser, oil, generator and the outside air. This left over steam is sucked out by by a fan, goes through a cooler, then discharge to outside through a pipe on top of the turbine building. The steam contains hydrogen from the generator, the reactor produces a lot of hydrogen and reactor coolant other radioactivity...this is vented atop the turbine building. Most the equipment is in the basement of the turbine building. The elevation the oil has to flow  to get on the roof is 50 to 100 feet. A lot of pressure has to push this oil to the roof

So water vapor, hydrogen and small amounts to radioactivity gets vented out the pipe atop the turbine building. It is not monitored for radiation.  I had issues if we had a meltdown, this would be a uncontrolled release of radiative. The plume of vapor seen above the turbine during normal operation comes from the components I described.

"Entergy Corporation, which operates the plant, found the source of the oil on the roof of a turbine building, said Neil Sheehan, a public affairs officer for the NRC. The oil was coming from the vent for the hydrogen seal system.

"It appears about 20 to 30 gallons that leaked were then drained through the plant’s discharge drain system to the lake," said NRC public affairs officer Neil Sheehan. "The company has placed oil-absorbent pads on the turbine building roof and has also stopped all circulating water pumps to eliminate any further discharges"

 

Are there more issues like this in front of us with dead-ender and budget starved plants in the future?

It is extraordinary dangerous to depend on a protective trip (recirc pump) with oil cooling instead of tripping the plant and recirc pump on the approaching limits. This plant was spinning wildly out of control.

What does the above mean: "Breaker 710340 tripped and power was lost to L-gears L13, L23, L33, and L43"? Is it another bad breaker.

***Sounds like they discovered a oil sheen on the lake and traced it back to a huge lube oil spill in the turbine building. These guys use many thousands of gallons of oil in the turbine building. It must have been a huge oil spill in the turbine building. One wonders if they destroyed the bearings in the turbine? It is a huge fire risk here???  

Power Reactor	Event Number: 52045
Facility: FITZPATRICK Region: 1 State: NY Unit: [1] [ ] [ ] RX Type: [1] GE-4 NRC Notified By: DUSTIN SCURLOCK HQ OPS Officer: VINCE KLCO	Notification Date: 06/26/2016 Notification Time: 23:08 [ET] Event Date: 06/26/2016 Event Time: 21:15 [EDT] Last Update Date: 06/27/2016
Emergency Class: NON EMERGENCY 10 CFR Section: 50.72(b)(2)(xi) - OFFSITE NOTIFICATION	Person (Organization): GLENN DENTEL (R1DO)

Unit	SCRAM Code	RX CRIT	Initial PWR	Initial RX Mode	Current PWR	Current RX Mode
1	N	N	0	Cold Shutdown	0	Cold Shutdown

Event Text

OFFSITE NOTIFICATION DUE TO AN OIL SPILL "The United States Coast Guard reported an oil sheen in the vicinity of the station's circulating water system effluent. Investigation by station personnel has not determined the source. The circulating water pumps were secured to mitigate the potential source. The United States Coast Guard response Center, and New York State Department of Environmental Conservation have been notified." The licensee notified the NRC Resident Inspector. Notified DOE, EPA, USDA, HHS, FEMA. * * * UPDATE ON 06/27/2016 AT 02:52 FROM DUSTIN SCURLOCK TO DAN LIVERMORE * * * "The source of the oil sheen has been identified. The source, main turbine lubricating oil, has been stopped and cleanup efforts are underway." Notified DOE, EPA, USDA, HHS, and FEMA.

Power Reactor	Event Number: 52042
Facility: FITZPATRICK Region: 1 State: NY Unit: [1] [ ] [ ] RX Type: [1] GE-4 NRC Notified By: MARK HAWES HQ OPS Officer: VINCE KLCO	Notification Date: 06/24/2016 Notification Time: 16:06 [ET] Event Date: 06/24/2016 Event Time: 12:15 [EDT] Last Update Date: 06/24/2016
Emergency Class: NON EMERGENCY 10 CFR Section: 50.72(b)(2)(iv)(B) - RPS ACTUATION - CRITICAL 50.72(b)(3)(iv)(A) - VALID SPECIF SYS ACTUATION	Person (Organization): GLENN DENTEL (R1DO)

Unit	SCRAM Code	RX CRIT	Initial PWR	Initial RX Mode	Current PWR	Current RX Mode
1	M/R	Y	100	Power Operation	0	Hot Shutdown

Event Text

MANUAL REACTOR SCRAM DUE TO REACTOR RECIRCULATION PUMPS DEGRADATION "At 1215 [EDT] on 6/24/2016, James A. FitzPatrick (JAF) was at 100% power when Breaker 710340 tripped and power was lost to L-gears L13, L23, L33, and L43. These provide non-vital power to Reactor Building Ventilation (RBV), portions of Reactor Building Closed Loop Cooling (RBCLC), and 'A' Recirculation pump lube oil systems. Off-site AC power remains available to vital systems and Emergency Diesel Generators (EDG) are available. "Due to the loss of RBV, Secondary Containment differential pressure increased. At 1215 [EDT], Secondary Containment differential pressure exceeded the Technical Specifications (TS) Surveillance Requirement SR-3.6.4.1.1 of greater than or equal to 0.25 inches of vacuum water gauge. The Standby Gas Treatment (SBGT) system was manually initiated and Secondary Containment differential pressure was restored by 1219 [EDT]. "The 'A' Recirculation pump tripped at 1215 [EDT] and reactor power decreased to approximately 50%. 'B' Recirculation pump temperature began to rise due to the degraded RBCLC system. At 1236 [EDT], a manual scram was initiated. Reactor Pressure Vessel (RPV) water level shrink during the scram resulted in a successful Group 2 isolation. All control rods have been inserted. The RPV water level is being maintained with the Feedwater System and pressure is being maintained by main steam line bypass valves. A cooldown is in progress and JAF will proceed to cold shutdown (Mode 4). Due to complete loss of RBCLC system, the Spent Fuel Pool (SFP) cooling capability is degraded but the Decay Heat Removal system remains available. SFP temperature is slowly rising and it is being monitored. The time [duration] to 200 degrees is approximately 117 hours. "The initiation of reactor protection systems (RPS) due to the manual scram at critical power is reportable per 10 CFR 50.72(b)(2)(iv)(B) and 10 CFR 50.72(b)(3)(iv)(A). The general containment Group 2 isolations are reportable per 10 CFR 50.72(b)(3)(iv)(A). In addition, the temporary differential pressure change in Secondary Containment is reportable per 10 CFR 50.72(b)(3)(v)(C), as an event that could have prevented fulfillment of a safety function." The licensee notified the NRC Resident Inspector and the State of New York.