Junk Plant River Bend: Multiple Fuel Failures

Originally Posted on July 25...reposted. 

Man, with all this extra radiation spewed all over the plant for the rest of the life of the plant, this is going to be expensive.

New inspection report

River Bend Station began the inspection period at rated thermal power.  On May 11, 2018, operators reduced power to 65 percent for power suppression testing to locate and suppress a suspected nuclear fuel leak.  The unit was returned to rated thermal power on May 14, 2018.  On June 1, 2018, operators reduced power to 65 percent for power suppression testing to locate and suppress a suspected nuclear fuel leak.  The unit was returned to rated thermal power on June 6, 2018.  The unit remained at or near rated thermal power for the remainder of the inspection period.

During the first half of the year, the licensee experienced a number of adverse events in the area of equipment reliability.  These events included multiple fuel failures, a failure of the Division III Emergency Diesel Generator output breaker to properly close during surveillance testing, an inadvertent high pressure core spray system actuation during maintenance on a level instrument, and the discovery of tornado missile vulnerabilities in safety-related systems.  In response to these events, the licensee identified an adverse trend in the area of equipment reliability, which is documented in CR-RBS-2018-03001.