Wednesday, May 07, 2014

Senator Shaheen's Help With Seabrook's Deteriorated Service Water Piping

Note: More turbulence-flow in a accident with core cooling DG operation?

Amazing coincidence going on here...I talk to the Seabrook’s senior inspector this morning at 9am and the inspection report comes out at 3 pm.

I am going to tell you what the real Seabrook was/is. It was reported the bp line was leaking drops of water last August. Seabrook watched it for weeks doing nothing before the little hole blew out and then the leak rate challenged plant licensing according to the inspectors. Seabrook’s first instincts were to wrap it in rubber and tie it off. I believe the inspectors said this was insufficient. The inspector had to call his boss and he had to step in. Then Seabook welded a metal patch all around the hole.
 
It doesn't sound like Seabrook is adiquately self directed.
 
I think above exactly expresses the real hearts the Seabrook’s staff...I am disappointed the inspection report didn’t carry this.   
May 6, 2014
Seabrook, NH 03874
SUBJECT: SEABROOK STATION, UNIT NO. 1 - NRC INTEGRATED INSPECTION
REPORT 05000443/2014002

Annual Sample: Increasing Frequency of Leaks in Service Water Piping in the Vicinity of

Installation/Fabrication Welds

a. Inspection Scope

During the period January 27 to January 31, 2014, inspectors reviewed a root cause evaluation (RCE AR 16379222) completed by NextEra staff for a service water pipe leak that occurred in August 2013. This problem was described in a licensee event report submitted to the NRC dated December 23, 2013. The inspectors determined the effectiveness of actions by NextEra staff to identify, characterize, correct and prevent reoccurrence of SW system leaks.

The inspectors assessed problem identification threshold, apparent cause analysis, extent of condition reviews, and timeliness of corrective actions. The inspectors reviewed documents listed in the Attachment to this report and interviewed NextEra engineering personnel to assess the effectiveness of the planned, scheduled, and completed corrective actions to resolve the identified deficiency.

The inspectors reviewed non-destructive test procedures, procedure qualifications including test personnel qualifications to determine compliance with the applicable American Society of Mechanical Engineers codes and standards. Also, the inspectors reviewed system health reports, work orders, procurement documents, drawings and photographs to determine if the nonconforming condition was appropriately identified, documented, characterized and entered into NextEra’s corrective action process. The inspectors reviewed root cause evaluation AR 16379222 and interviewed members of the evaluation team. The inspectors interviewed the qualified non-destructive test examiner to evaluate the ultrasonic test method used. Test results were reviewed with the test examiner to assess the remaining wall thickness for continued operation without encroaching on minimum wall requirements.

b. Findings and Observations

No findings were identified. The root cause evaluation and corrective actions were reasonable, appropriate and timely.

NextEra’s root cause evaluation addressed a history of SW degradation (corrosion/ erosion) resulting in wall thinning and pressure boundary penetration and leakage. The areas where wall thinning and leakage occurred was determined to be associated with the loss of protective coating and/or liner failure at fabrication/installation welds which typically results in turbulent fluid flow. This turbulent flow was particularly aggressive in the attack of base metals and protective coatings at these weld locations and configuration changes. The inspectors assessed the root cause determination, results of the extent of condition investigation of other locations within the SW system and other fluid (circulating water) systems with similar piping materials, operating parameters and configurations.

The inspectors noted that examination using ultrasonic testing was performed at selected locations with known change in flow patterns and velocity changes. The results of this testing identified areas exhibiting variable wear rates. An evaluation of these test results was made to determine pipe structural and pressure retaining integrity.

The inspectors visually examined several portions of previous SW pipe and fittings that had been removed from the SW system in prior outages due to identified leaks. The removed samples provided confirmatory evidence of corrosive/erosive attack from turbulent flow at root locations of field welds, configuration changes and pipe to fitting intersections. These locations revealed characteristic “pin hole” leaks at weld locations and a general “wastage” of pipe and fitting interior diameters. These locations were evaluated for compliance with minimum wall thickness requirements. Those locations which were identified as active “leaks” at weld locations or, where areas exhibiting loss of wall thickness and were encroaching on minimum wall requirements, were dispositioned for repair/replacement in the CAP.

The inspectors determined that this issue received appropriate management attention as indicated by the corrective action that was taken to perform a temporary leak repair by the installation of a weldolet encapsulating the leak location. At the next outage, (OR16) the weldolet will be removed and replaced with a more suitable “flush patch”. The patch will be coated internally with a corrosion/erosion resistant material. The inspectors discussed the licensee plans to systematically remove and replace the SW piping with a base metal that is significantly more resistant to erosion/corrosion attack. The inspectors examined numerous lengths of pipe and fittings which were staged.
The sin, this is the second leak in this length of pipe...it should have never happened if they were a competent nuclear plant operator. Worst, they would have measured the hole accurately within the first hours of the leak...then installed that weldolet.  

May 7
Had a wonderful discussion with senior resident Cataldo today. At one point I will trying to end the conversion...but he didn't want to stop talking. So we talked for another half an hour or so. We talked about the service water system...my side is the service water piping has had too many problems and should be replaced. Basically he said according to regs we can't force them to change out the piping. Going to have to wait until the inspection findings next cycle. Basically I said you guys don't have a big enough hammer to create fear...to get them to change their behavior. There is a repetitive nature to these problems.
I just wanted to let the NRC know somebody outside is very concerned about the reliability of Seabrooks service water piping...I am convinced the agency heard me out.
And they know I feel it is a problem at many plants. I like Mr Cataldo...that is not to say we see everything the same. (1.5 hour discussion)
Republished from Feb 28.

I like an acknowledgement like this.
CHAIRMAN Resource
This is to acknowledge receipt of your communication to the Chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Thank you for your input. Office of the Secretary U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
To Me
Today at 10:46 AM
This is to acknowledge receipt of your communication to the Chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Thank you for your input.
Office of the Secretary
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
This is what I wrote.
Dear Chairman Macfarlane,
I find the below appalling. I reported it to the OIG electronically and to the NRC safety hotline.
Thanks,
Mike Mulligan
Hinsdale, NH
16033368320
"The Adams title on an official NRC document is meant to be disrespectful to our political system and to a US Senator! I consider it agency wrongdoing. The word“ plumbing” is meant to be professionally disrespectful and is meant to be a belly laughing insider joke to everyone who reads the title on ADAMs.
I am the guy who wrote up the complaint and submitted it to Senator Shaheen, who forwarded it for investigation to the NRC. Did I ever once say on my complaint it was a plumbing problem? It is Seabrook's service water system and it supports very important nuclear safety equipment.
I have explained it all on my blog: ‘The Popperville Town Hall’:
http://steamshovel2002.blogspot.com.




Allegation Department?

I am a transparency freak!"



Back at you babe, I sent a electronic message to the OIG and a copy to the Chairman.
So today March 1, 2013 I called the NRC Allegations hotline. I wanted to begin documenting my concern.  I explained my problem, told them the agency was being disrespectful to a NH Senator, and gave them the two ML accession numbers with the offending NRC document titles. Told them it is all explained on my blog "The Popperville Town Hall".  These guys didn’t seem to be interested in it. They were only interested if it was a nuclear safety problem.

You know, what is a nuclear safety problem? It is a huge nuclear safety problem if a independent agency was contemptible and disrespectful its legislators and congressional overseers. Then you would have a runaway independent agency uncontrollable to the higher political arms of our government!
The safety hotline did say I should report this to the OIG if I suspect NRC official wrongdoing...
The NRC frames it as a plumbing problem on their notification ticket dated 11/20/2013.  Where in the hell did the word "plumbing" come from? This NRC official can't spell deteriorating?
Seabrook's Crap Cooling Water system...
You know, professionally or with incompetence, was the agency trying to manufacture humiliation with Shaheen and me?  Everyone in the industry who reads the NRC response and seeing the "plumbing" wording are going to think we are incompetent with the nuclear language. Is the agency trying to humiliate Senator Shaheen...you can’t control us? Believe me, this wasn't a careless NRC mistake...there was an intention of humiliation. A lot of NRC officials had to approve this response. A great insider laugh over a grossly incompetent Senator Shaheen...these officials all got a good belly laugh over this?

Did I ever once mention the word plumbing in my complaint?  
A lowly Shaheen aid might have first generated the word plumbing...but agency didn't protect the Senator from embarrassment. The agency intentionally amplified the word-speak mistake with the intent of demeaning a US Senator over "Constituent "services"! Seeing how it was my "Allegation"...if the Allegation department would have called me up I would have straightened out the agency with the word plumbing. 
The title should  have spoke like "re: Seabrook-Service Water System". The exact title words on Adams:
(ML14037A126)Senator Jeanne Shaheen E-Mail re: Seabrook-Piping/Plumbing (Response)
So are you saying if it was the discharge of a plant toilet or the service water inlet of an emergency diesel generator, it would be both titled “Seabrook-piping/plumbing”? It is just crazy bureaucracy. Something is wrong with this rule! A professional would tend to open up the link more if it included “service water system”.
God damn it, am I talking about Pilgrim or Seabrook? Honestly, plumbing... I admit, “deteriorating” is a terrible word to spell. You see where this is heading, I erred with blaming the wrong parent corporation and they blamed the wrong plant and state.
“Subject: Senator Jeanne Shaheen E-mail, re: Constituent concerning issues with deteorating plumbing around the plant at Seabrook,"
Honestly, on ML14007A715, the ticketed (Constituents Correspondence) document...what the hell is wrong with the NRC? They can't even keep the Senators and state's names straight in their heads...what plant is in what state. Jesus? This is on the title page...the NRC thinks I am talking about the Pilgrim plant and Massachusetts. Does the EDO and the chairman think this...this has gone through their offices...do they know which plant is in which state? There are answering Senator Shaheen and they name it in the document the"Pilgrim Plant". These are the document experts with big degrees! "Signature of the EDO"...is he stupid? And all the officials who read this document? Come on! I'll bet you it comes from a unpaid intern.
Subject: Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant
We are not talking about a plumbing system. The Seabrook's service water sytem supports a host of extremely important nuclear safety system...that direly supports the community's protection. It collective is the most important nuclear safety system in the plant.
These are the games teenagers play. Is the agency is purposely playing stupid with the intent of hurting Senator Shaheen in the nuclear power arena! This is a small example with how out of control the NRC has become with government oversight.
More than anything else, the agency is a word, language and a communication expert!
“Senator Jeanne Shaheen, E-mail re, Constituent concerning issue with deteorating plumbing around the Plant at Seabrook.”
That is a special agency process says the notification ticket.
File notification says it is a "Allegation.
Here below is the NRC's responce.
February 14, 2014
The Honorable Jeanne Shaheen
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510
Dear Senator Shaheen:
On behalf of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), I am responding to a January 7, 2014, email from Sarah Holmes of your staff forwarding an email from your constituent, Michael Mulligan. Mr. Mulligan provided a detailed account of his concerns associated with the service water piping system at the Seabrook Station nuclear power plant. The NRC is well aware of Mr. Mulligan’s concerns and has discussed them with him in the past. Please be assured that the Seabrook Station service water system currently meets NRC regulatory requirements and is capable of performing its safety function.
Because the service water system cools important plant equipment that is continuously operating, much of the system is always in service. Therefore, the licensee regularly monitors the condition of the system via flow tests, as well as periodic examinations of portions of the interior of the piping and measurements of its wall thickness. The NRC has conducted several of its own inspections of the condition of this system over the years, and has taken enforcement action when the system was not in compliance with our requirements.
Due to the design of a majority of the piping system (carbon steel lined with cement for corrosion protection), NextEra Energy Seabrook, LLC (NextEra or the licensee) has experienced degradation of the lining of the piping and subsequent corrosion of the pipe wall in some areas, principally downstream of pumps and valves where the water flow is turbulent. Where lining erosion was experienced, NextEra removed the cement lining and installed alternate materials. In select areas, the licensee has experienced some problems with these alternate materials that have resulted in pieces of the lining breaking..
(Well, they botched the initial readings on the nature of the “conical” pipe wall flaw and the NRC inspector calls the staff incompetent over this event's reportability. You notice the NRC doesn't mention that the outside hole is much smaller than the inside hole...that the deterioration occurred  unknown very quickly and Seabrook never anticipated the defect worsening until the weep leak and worst the later the larger leak. I guess being stupid is not agaisnt the NRC's rules!
Basically, if they followed the rule they would have been required to shutdown with hours...instead of a weeks of leaks to get special permission to stay up at power. The staff of this plant should have made the service water system durable enough to never be challenged by pipe corrosion. 
These guys have a long history of service water leaks and they habitually make non conservative calls over the reliability of the system and the degradation's reportability. Anticipating problems is consider a sin in NextEra! 
The excessive flow in the system and destructive turbulence around some components is a serious initial design defect. These problems are going to reappear over and over again unless the design of the system  is changed.
No doubt the agency has had inspection activities of recent at Seabrook. These activities are not sufficient to get a major behavior change and attitude out of NextEra. Recently the plant’s Union President spoke publicly about  the dire culture changes occurring through the parent corporation's financial problems and budgets.
I think Seabrook’s troubling behavior is intensifying and shows absolutely no signs of abating.
 Lets just say, I am always entertained by the agency's touristy happy-land spin on events at the nuclear plants.
I am telling you guys, there is a huge difference between meeting the minimums intent of the rules and doing the “right thing”. It sits way above financial or “being in group” considerations!)  
...free and/or corrosion of the underlying carbon steel piping. The NRC inspected these issues under the agency’s Reactor Oversight Process, dispositioned the individual performance issues in accordance with the NRC Enforcement Policy, as applicable, and documented these inspections in NRC Inspection Reports. In the long-term, NextEra is in the process of replacing critical sections of the piping with an unlined stainless steel alloy that is corrosion resistant, which will ensure the service water system continues to perform its safety function.
Regarding the particular incident in late August 2013, referenced by Mr. Mulligan, where a small (less than ½ inch diameter) through-wall hole developed in the service water system, NextEra made a temporary repair to the pipe using a technique that was reviewed and accepted by the NRC. Specifically, the licensee submitted a request to the NRC to be relieved of compliance with the applicable American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) developed code and provided the information to justify why this temporary repair method was technically acceptable as an alternative to the method prescribed by the applicable ASME code. The NRC concluded that the licensee’s relief request was acceptable and that the system with the temporary repair was capable of performing its safety function. This spring, NextEra will either make a permanent ASME code-compliant repair to this portion of the service water system or replace the affected section of piping. The NRC did have concerns with the technical adequacy of the evaluation performed by NextEra when the leak first developed regarding the ability of the system to perform its design functions (i.e., an operability determination), and took appropriate enforcement action. However, at no time was there an indication of falsification regarding this operability determination by the licensee.
The NRC will continue to monitor the condition of the service water system to ensure that proper maintenance, testing, and repairs are performed and that the system remains fully capable of performing its safety function. If you need any additional information, please contact me or the
Office of Congressional Affairs, at (301) 415-1776.
Sincerely,
/RA/
Mark A. Satorius
Executive Director
for Operations
Here is my response to Gov Shaheen:
Sarah, 
I really appreciate the Senator Shaheen passing my message onto the NRC. Really, thank you! It does a lot of good allowing the NRC, licensee and other nuclear plants' staff seeing a senator and us bantering this around a bit. I am certain Seabrook’s staff is really paying attention to the NRC response.

But there is another reality under this. I am just going to be blunt. There is a greater truth under this that the agency is just skimming over. This agency has absolutely no fear that the Senate or the House can enforce honesty and full truth telling with this agency.

What is amazing with the agency from the recent past is the amount of time these highly experienced and highly educated professional experts have spent on me...a member of the public. It would really cost big bucks if I was forced to pay for these professional expert time! We are talking about literary hours of phone time. But I never get to see the actual evidence to make my independent judgment with what it means. It is always their self-interested interpretation I am dealing with. There is a kind of technical or agency spin that always goes on.

I really appreciate the agency using my real name...they usually call me “it”. I love transparency!

But I got to tell you in the conditions on the NEISO market and the grid...we actually have a shortage of electricity in NE today. Somebody sneezes in Maine and the price of market electricity increases by a factor of 6. In the winter of 2013, the Pilgrim plant had bought new defective and leaking safety relief valves. They were reducing power and had two shutdowns over these poor quality nuclear safety components. Our grid was so fragile...not enough natural gas pipe line capacity...when Pilgrim powered down, it threw the NE grid into a crisis and we almost had widespread blackout in very cold weather.

During Aug 2013 with Seabrook’s leaking service water piping, it could have been the same if we were in a prolonged summer heat spell. I certain the uncertainty with Seabrook last Aug along with a fragile electric market, this kicked up the market price of electricity.

It is going to be a really expensive for us if these remaining nuclear plants aren’t performing proper maintenance ...they start tripping and powering up all the time. These guys nationwide have performed 100’s of millions of dollars of poor quality maintenance. The Pilgrim plant has become very unreliable in the last year...the NRC is on their case.

And there are growing implication that repeat powering up and down of these nuclear plants, that are driven by poor maintenance and upkeep, are damaging nuclear equipment and components...Palisades CRDMs and Pilgrims highly radioactive crud problems. Is Seabrook with the crappy service water piping heading that way?

Believe me, just meeting the minimum requirements of NRC nuclear safety rules in order to save a few pennies...is not near good enough to protect the interest of New Hampshire, our greater New England and our beautiful nation.  
The NRC usually would include my letter to Senator Shaheen. If the agency chose to not publish it...this is a typical action to protect the reputation of the NRC officials and plant inspectors. 
The only way you are going to get at some of the truth with what is going on at Seabrook...it to get the actual people to swear under oath and interview them. We think the plant is undergoing a lot more stress than what is admitted and the employees are being intimidated. Recently Seabrook was having a Union contract dispute with NextEra...the Union president explained to the news media the new pressures Seabrook was undergoing. Mainly the cheap prices of natural gas were financially pressuring NextEra and Seabrook.

Union President on Seabrook’s financial pressures:
Thanks,
Mike Mulligan
Hinsdale, NH
16033368320
...Just trying to put this in a context; let’s say you reduce the piping wall thickness to all the systems and components in the plant. We are thinking metaphorically. They got millions of components...certainly a million components in Seabrook. That will cause them to breakdown and trip all the time. It is very dangerous business reducing the reliability and durability globally in all the components...that is Pilgrim and Palisades.
And if a lot of substandard non-safety equipment continuously causes them trouble...it will dilute the site’s resources paying attention to the safety equipment.
We are talking about a tremendously complex machine with an enormous amount of components and a tremendously complex organization that is needed to support a nuclear plant...indeed a huge fleet of nuclear plants.
And if this is done right, it creates tremendous benefits to society and the utility!
These guys loose themselves in the complexity all the time...
It is hard for people to understand the scale of these things...
I am done for now. Again, thank you for your attention with Seabrook!

Mike
This below is a excerpt from my letter to Senator Shaheen.
Seabrook Nuclear Station's "Crap" Service Water Piping System
"Seabrook nuclear plant was brought on line in 1990 with cheap and non-corrosion resistant carbon steel service water piping. Within two years, piping integrity problems began showing up with pitting and local corrosion. And this problem has only gotten worst and it’s running out of control as I write. It is corrupting the staff of this organization.
In 2011 they replaced a 30 year old 8 foot section of 24 inch (huge) width pipe on the service water strainer by pass line. I think because of corrosion issues. It seemingly had a secret failure of some sort in 2011, as the NRC didn't disclose it in their most recent inspection report (2013001). They replaced it with new carbon steel piping that was lined with so called super epoxy material Belzona. It failed within three years during August of this year. This is called progress. How do we know if the Belzona isn't’ going to clog again the emergency diesel generator cooling water orifices?:"

Monday, May 05, 2014

Interesting Information to Me

5 utility companies that are now takeover targets

Opinion: The Exelon-Pepco deal may kick off a wave of M&A
Among this group, the worst-performing stock over the past five years, coincidentally, is Exelon, with a negative total return of 2%. And that’s including reinvested dividends. The company pays a quarterly dividend of 31 cents, for a yield of 3.46%.                               
Excluding Exelon, here are the five utility stocks with the worst five-year total returns, despite strong performance this year. They just might be on utilities’ takeover-target list.





Sorry, I got confused over the green-blue colors. The 300% decline occurred over natural gas...nuclear production cost remained steady over many years.

The slow motion Tsunami...

Production cost declined 300.3%  from 2008 to 2012 for nuclear plants...

If it was a matter of survival, would they cut another 300% from production cost.

Nuclear Matters

Production Costs

Friday, May 02, 2014

Loose Parts In the Steam Generator and Core at Wolf Creek (oops)

This was released today. As a by the way, the outage before the last Palisades found foreign material sitting on top of one of their SG on the secondary side. They plugged a few tubes the the material was siting on, and then left it sitting on top of the SG because it was too big to take out.
Palisades?
What is the difference between foreign object wear and loose parts?
ENO Response
2. During the 2012 refueling outage steam generator inspections, the three tubes
listed in table 6 for steam generator (SG) E-50A as "LP Preventive Stabilization"
were plugged because loose parts could not be retrieved. Even though wear due to
these loose parts was not present, the three tubes were plugged as a preventive
measure should future wear occur.
To further clarify the 2012 refueling outage inspection results, the following
inspection report changes were made:
Two changes were made to Table 2, "Active Damage Mechanisms." The first is that
the location "Historical foreign object (FO) wear" was changed to "Loose Part (LP)
wear." Second, since historical FO wear, now labeled LP wear, is an active damage
mechanism in both E-50A and E-50B, E-50A was added to the LP wear location.
To better categorize the bases for SG tubes plugged in 1 R22, Table 5, "Tube
Plugging Summary by Damage Mechanism," was revised to change the row "Wear
- Loose Part" for SG E-50A from "3" to "0." A row was added to the Tube Plugging
Summary column labeled "Preventive - Loose Part (LP)" with a "3" in the SG E-50A
column.
Wolf Creek Special Report ...got pictures
 
Note: a rounded nut...there is a lot of damage for three days operation.

August 27, 2002

MEMORANDUM TO: Docket File
FROM: Jack N. Donohew, Senior Project Manager, Section 2
Project Directorate IV /RA/
Division of Licensing Project Management
Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation


Wolf Creek Nuclear Operating Corporation (the licensee) conducted a refueling outage at Wolf Creek Generating Station (WCGS) that began on Friday, March 22, 2002. On May 10, 2002, in coming out of the outage, there were indications of an unusual noise followed by an alarm in the plant loose parts monitoring system for Steam Generator D. The plant was shut down on May 13, 2002, and the steam generator was entered to find the loose parts.

Enclosed are three e-mails dated May 17 and 20, and June 20, 2002, from the licensee. The May 17, 2002, e-mail provided (1) a copy of a special report issued by the licensee to the WCGS employees describing the loose parts found in the steam generator, and (2) pictures of the two parts found in the steam generator. The special report and the pictures can be found in ADAMS Accession No. ML022270414.

The May 20, 2002, e-mail provides answers to the six questions sent by me by e-mail to the licensee. The responses to the questions prevented the need for the staff to have a telephone call with the licensee to discuss the loose parts founds in the Steam Generator "D." The licensee’s answers follow the phrase "Answer)" in the e-mail. The Westinghouse letters referenced in the [...]’s in the licensee’s answers were not requested or reviewed by the staff.

The June 20, 2002, e-mail provides the licensee’s agreement to have the information provided in the previous two e-mails docketed. This memorandum dockets the information received from the licensee on the loose parts found in Steam Generator "D." No further action was needed to be taken by the staff.

Docket No. 50-482
Enclosures: 1. E-mail dated May 17, 2002
2. E-mail dated May 20, 2002
3. E-mail dated June 20, 2002

From: Kenneth Karwoski [mailto:KJK1@nrc.gov]
Sent: Friday, May 17, 2002 1:04 PM
To: Jack Donohew
Cc: Louise Lund
Subject: Wolf Creek Loose Part

Jack,

This is to remind you of our conversation.

 I would like to have a discussion with Wolf Creek to discuss their loose part with the intent that a summary of the call would be made publicly available.

Specifically, I would like information related to the following:

What provided the initial indication of the part (e.g., loose part monitor alarm)? When was the initial indication?

 Answer) The initial indication of the presence of loose part(s) was an "unusual noise" heard on Channels 11 and 12 on the plant Loose Part Monitoring System (LPMS), relating to steam generator D. This "unusual noise", followed closely by the LPMS alarm, occurred on 5/10/2002 at 0115 hours during a return to power after a reactor trip.

When was the plant shut down?

 Answer) The plant shutdown commenced at 1710 hours on 5/13/2002 directly subsequent to a Westinghouse presentation of the results of their just concluded evaluation of the LPMS tapes transmitted to them.

 Were the parts on the primary or secondary side or both?

 Answer) Two loose parts were retrieved from the primary side of steam generator D, consistent with the Westinghouse conclusions from their evaluation of the LPMS tapes.

 What was the extent of the damage?

 Answer) The known guide tube support pin damage is based upon the retrieval of the support pin nut and locking device (disc) from steam generator D. Although one possible failure mode is that the guide tube support pin shank did not fracture but that the nut, locking disc, and dowel pin came loose leaving an intact support pin in place in the guide tube, the evaluation for continuing operation assumed, more conservatively, that the assumed unrecovered loose parts included: 1) The guide tube support pin shank, 2) the guide tube support pin dowel pin, and 3) Fragments from the guide tube support pin nut.

There were no indications within the S/G of serious damage to the tubes, tubesheet, welds, or the divider plate caused by the loose parts.

Generalized peening to various degrees of the entire bowl region/bottom face of the tubesheet and divider plate was observed. All tube plugs were found in the proper tube hole location. The skirts of the tube plugs were peened to various degrees. Most of the entire inner surface of the channel head bowl was peened to various degrees. There was no indication of a foreign object present in any of the tubes. There appeared to be indications of scratching and displaced metal on the ID’s of various tubes. Whether this was caused by the objects found in the channel head, or from tooling associated with tubing NDE and other channel head maintenance operations was not determinable. It must be noted that the objects removed were larger than the tubing ID. The level of damage was considered not as severe as that of a comparison plant.

What was the acceptance criteria? What is the basis for the acceptance criteria?

Answer) The acceptance criteria for continuing operation with guide tube support pin damage and the assumed unrecovered loose parts, including the associated bases, through the end of the planned operating cycle, is documented in the Westinghouse evaluation [Westinghouse Letter LTR-MSI-02-62, Wolf Creek - Guide Tube Support Pin Loose Part JCO – Reactor Internals Evaluation]. This evaluation considered the safety concerns regarding the structural integrity of guide tubes with potentially fractured support pin shanks during operation and the potential effects on the nuclear fuel, the control rod drive mechanisms and drive line, and the applied impact and wedging loads upon the reactor pressure vessel and internals during operation from the assumed missing pieces.

The acceptance criteria and basis for the steam generator damage was documented in a bounding evaluation performed by Westinghouse [Westinhouse Letter LTR-SGDA-02-156]. The inspection and evaluation used industry experience from plants with damaged channel head components caused by loose parts. For the analysis, it was assumed that all of the tube welds were damaged and may be unable to perform their intended structural and leak prevention function. Resistance to tube pullout and resistance to primary-to-secondary side leakage was evaluated. Visual inspection of the mechanical plugs was adequate to establish confidence that the plugs will perform their intended plugging function through the end of the planned operating cycle. For the cladding, it was assumed that loose part impacts resulted in the cladding being breached in at least one location on the tube sheet and one location on the curved portion of the channel head and that the low-alloy steel is exposed to the primary liquid during the entire cycle.

What was the source of the part (if known)?

Answer) The two parts retrieved have been identified as the support pin nut and locking device (disc) from a guide tube support pin.

I have a phone call with Diablo at 12:30 p.m. on Monday. I will be leaving at 1:45 on Monday. I can support a call up to about 1:00 on Tuesday and I will be traveling the rest of the week.

Thanks,

Ken

415-2752

Thursday, May 01, 2014

Beavers paralyzes Route 63 in Hinsdale NH


View Larger Map


This is my coolest picture!




There is the beaver culprit. What caused it, 200 feet of elevation between the beaver pond and the culvert across route 63.  It is only 1/3 of a mile away. You only appreciate the incline by walking it down.

What do you say, between $500,00 to $1,000,000 damage on both incidents. The beaver ponds are on state property....what a waste of state monies.



Photo

Photo

Photo



At least two lakeside beaver condos....







This below is the last time it happened..about two mile south of this one.  
Flooding paralyzes western region of N.H.


 
 
Monday, October 10, 2005

KEENE — After more than a day and a half of drenching rain, rivers and streams overflowed throughout New Hampshire on Sunday, flooding homes, washing out roads, threatening bridges and prompting evacuations.

"This is classic river flooding," said Jim Van Dongen, spokesman for the state Emergency Management office. "It's been raining since Friday night and there is nowhere for the water to go."

One Hinsdale resident, 19-year-old Sean Weeks, was awakened by firefighters about 3:30 a.m. and told to evacuate from his apartment house — just next to the stone bridge.

"I looked out my window and all I could see - straight down - was water, right up against the building," Weeks said. "I saw all this New Orleans stuff happening and I was thinking, `This can't happen to me,' then bada-bing, bada-boom, it just happened."

Weeks came out just in time to see a house across the street collapse into the raging water. No one was in the house at the time.

By late afternoon, police allowed him to return home to grab an armful of belongings: clothes, a construction tool belt, a backpack and a rifle.
This washout wasn't cause by the heavy rains...another beaver dam let go 








Calvert Cliffs Going Wild On Us: An Indication of Severe Economic Stress on Electric System!

Alliant Energy earnings surge on frigid winter, shift from nuclear
Alliant Energy Corp. on Thursday reported earnings growth of 55% in the first quarter, driven by savings linked to terminating agreements to buy power from two nuclear plants as well as frigid winter weather that boosted energy sales.
The Madison utility holding company said net income rose to $108 million, or 90 cents a share, from $69.9 million, or 66 cents, last year. Sales rose 11% to $953 million from $860 million. 
The results were 12 cents higher than the forecasts of investment analysts who follow the company. Alliant has also increased its forecast for earnings for the full year.
Alliant is the parent company of Wisconsin Power & Light Co., a regulated utility serving southern and parts of eastern Wisconsin.
A key factor in the higher profit, the company said, 
was the termination of power purchase agreements with Dominion Resources Inc. to buy power from the Kewaunee power plant in Wisconsin, as well as another to buy power from the Duane Arnold nuclear plant in Iowa.
Calvert Cliffs nuclear reactor shuts down after another malfunction

Incident is one of several in the last few years; both reactors shut down in January

2:19 p.m. EDT, May 1, 2014
A malfunction at the Calvert Cliffs nuclear power plant caused an automatic shutdown of one of the two reactors there Thursday morning, the latest in a series of issues at the Southern Maryland facility.
Chicago-based Exelon Corp., which operates Calvert Cliffs, said the malfunction happened during electrical breaker testing. The Unit 1 reactor shut down as a result at about 10:15 a.m.
"All safety systems responded as designed and the plant came off-line as expected," Exelon said in a statement.
Calvert Cliffs' Unit 2 reactor is still at full power, Exelon said. It called the condition of the plant "safe and stable" and said it does not expect that electrical service to customers would be affected.
The incident was one of several shutdowns in the last few years at the plant, built in the 1970s. The most notable among them was both reactors going offline in January after an electrical malfunction — knocking out a major source of power as demand spiked in the bitter cold.
 
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission sent a team to conduct a special inspection after that event but concluded in March that overall, the plant "took appropriate actions."

PRELIMINARY NOTIFICATION OF EVENT OR UNUSUAL OCCURRENCE – PNO-I-14-001

This preliminary notification constitutes EARLY notice of events of POSSIBLE safety or public interest significance. Some of the information received may not yet be fully verified or evaluated by Region I staff.

SUBJECT: CALVERT CLIFFS NUCLEAR POWER PLANT DUAL UNIT TRIP FOLLOWING

THE LOSS OF THE ‘21’ 13KV BUS
On January 21, 2014, at 9:25 pm, a dual unit reactor trip occurred at the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant after a loss of the ‘21’ service bus. The preliminary cause of the loss of the ‘21’ service bus is that ice and snow caused a ventilation louver filter on the bus metal clad to push in and allow snow and water to contact the buswork. The loss of the ‘21’ service bus resulted in a loss of the Unit 2 motor generator sets for the control element drive mechanisms, which was the likely cause for the automatic reactor trip on Unit 2.
 
The loss of the ‘21’ service bus also caused an unexpected automatic reactor trip of Unit 1 when the setpoint for high pressurizer pressure trip was reached. The preliminary cause of the Unit 1 trip was a malfunction of the digital turbine control system during the electrical transient following the loss of the ‘21’ Service Bus and Unit 2 plant trip.

Additionally, due to the loss of the ‘21’ service bus, power was lost to one safety-related 4kV
bus on both units. One emergency diesel generator on each unit started as expected to supply power to its respective 4kV bus until offsite power was restored. The loss of the ‘21’ bus resulted in the loss of power to the Unit 2 circulating water pumps. Thus the Unit 2 main
condenser, the normal heat sink, was unavailable, and decay heat removal was accomplished by bleeding steam through the steam generator atmospheric dump valves and feeding via auxiliary feedwater. Unit 1 decay heat removal was via steam to the main condenser via the turbine bypass valves and feeding via main feedwater. The plant operators brought both units to a stable hot shutdown condition in accordance with plant operating procedures with no other complications. The NRC Senior Resident Inspector responded to the site. The Resident Inspectors have been following the licensee’s activities since the shutdowns.

Region I is dispatching a Special Inspection Team to the site to understand the facts
surrounding the event, specifically the unexpected system interaction which resulted in both
units tripping following a fault on a single Unit 2 non vital bus, the repetitive failure of structures to protect 13.4kV switchgear from weather related events (a dual unit scram occurred in February 2010 due to weather related issues), and an unexpected impact on a security system during the event.

The special inspection which was flimsy....
Prior to Unit 1 restart, the team concluded that CENG documented an adequate operability basis for post-trip pressurizer safety relief valve 1RV-200 seat leakage. CENG used an ODMI checklist and an OD to evaluate any operability impact of the approximate 13 gallon per hour leak rate, including that the leakage could increase and potentially lower the valve’s pressure setpoint or challenge the TS limit of RCS leakage. While in hot shutdown following satisfactory operation of both PORVs, Unit 1 operators identified and documented in CR 2014-000586 indications of PORV or pressurizer safety valve seat leakage (increased tail pipe temperature and quench tank pressure and temperature). Actions were taken to identify that 1RV-200 seat leakage was the likely source and reactor pressure was lowered to allow the valve to reach a lower temperature (as had been the practice a CCNPP). Upon re-pressurization the leakage had essentially stopped, however, the leakage returned several hours later. CENG planned to replace this valve and test it as part of the upcoming Unit 1 February 2014 refueling outage.

Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Godzilla Exelon Is Blatantly Blackmailing Illinois


Exelon CEO: 'We are not asking the state for a bailout'
Exelon Corp. is not seeking a bailout from Illinois to prop up its ailing nuclear power plants, Christopher Crane, chief executive of the energy company, said Wednesday in an exclusive interview with the Tribune.
So that is the real reason you become a Godzilla mega utility...you can play one state or region off another. You go war against the citizens and the state.
You can send your juice off to another creating a shortage and price spikes in the first.
“We are not – are not – asking the state for a bailout,” Crane said. “We are looking at different ways to contract/ sell energy from those plants into other markets, into other buyers, but there is not a state bailout.”
Chicago-based Exelon’s nuclear power plants have been hurt by competition from power generated by wind turbines and natural gas. Exelon on Wednesday also reported first quarter earnings of $90 million, or 10 cents a share, in contrast with a loss of $4 million loss, or a penny a share, in the year-ago period. Revenue rose to $7.2 billion, up from $6.1 billion...

The NRC too Independant...

"Because of Humphrey’s Executor, the President to this day lacks day-to-day control over large swaths of regulatory policy and enforcement in the Executive Branch—from communications regulation (the FCC) to labor regulation (the NLRB) to securities regulation (the SEC) to nuclear power regulation (the Nuclear Regulatory Commission). Those and many other independent agencies have huge policymaking and enforcement authority and greatly affect the lives and liberties of the American people. Yet those independent agencies are democratically unaccountable—neither elected by the people nor supervised in their day-to-day activities by the elected President"

Scalia Blasts `Unelected Agency Officials', But At Least They Work For The President

Justice Antonin Scalia delivered one of his signature dissents in yesterday’s EPA vs. EPE Homer City Generation, where the Supreme Court upheld the power of the Environmental Protection Agency to dictate state air pollution standards. Scalia starts with this trumpet blast:
Too many important decisions of the Federal Government are made nowadays by unelected agency officials exercising broad lawmaking authority, rather than by the people’s representatives in Congress.
Scalia’s complaint is that the EPA, with the Supreme Court’s blessing, has expanded its authority beyond the text of the Clean Air Act. He may be right (despite this embarrassing apparent error in his legal scholarship), but at least the EPA operates under the authority of an elected official, namely President Obama.
Large swaths of the federal government lie beyond the reach of any elected officials, in so-called “independent agencies” that occupy a dubious position under the Constitution and are drawing increasingly skeptical looks from some conservative legal scholars.

The Wall Street Journal points this out indirectly on its editorial page this morning, saying the decision is “a reminder that in this era of the ever-growing administrative state, control of the executive is more important than ever.” The founders made the presidency a powerful executive position subject to national election every four years to ensure that voters could effect a change if they were unhappy with how the laws were being enforced.

In Homer City, the majority, including Chief Justice John Roberts, held that the EPA acted within its authority when it included a cost-benefit analysis in the regulatory scheme it set up under the Good Neighbor Provision of the Clean Air Act. That provision requires states that send airborne pollution across their borders to install controls on power plants and other emitters if that pollution can drive a downwind state out of compliance with EPA limits. The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington D.C. struck down the law, saying it unfairly burdened upwind states and exceeded the EPA’s authority.


English: Supreme Court Associate Justice Anton... Scalia serves up another helping of snark. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

For the majority, this was a simple exercise in statutory interpretation. The Clean Air Act and subsequent legislation contain enough holes, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg wrote, to allow the EPA to determine a workable plan for cross-border emissions that included a reasonable consideration of costs.

Scalia said that was nonsense. In response to Ginsburg’s comment that it was difficult for the government to apportion responsibility among several states, he wrote: “Wow, that’s a hard one—almost the equivalent of asking who is buried in Grant’s Tomb.”
Ginsberg also seized upon the “negative implication” of missing language, found in other environmental statutes, that would have protected states against having onerous requirements handed down to them without prior notice. “Negative implica­tion is the tiniest mousehole in which the majority discov­rs the elephant of federal control,” Scalia responded.

Such fulminations obscure the fact that if voters are unhappy with how President Obama is conducting environmental policy, they have ample opportunity to send him a message in the midterm elections, and they can elect a pro-coal, anti-EPA president in 2016.

More disturbing to some are the independent agencies, like the Securities and Exchange Commision, the Consumer Financial Protection Agency, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, that operate effectively without any executive-branch control.

Judge Brett Kavanaugh of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals wrote at length about this dilemma in a 2011 decision involving the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste depository. In a decision rejecting a lawsuit challenging the EPA’s refusal to proceed with Yucca Mountain (it happens to sit in Sen. Harry Reid’s territory), Kavanaugh expressed thinly disguised doubts about the constitutionality of an agency, like the NRC, that can make decisions with the effect of law without any accountability to the voters.

In this case the EPA had been ordered by Congress to prepare an application for the Yucca Mountain facility, and even awarded $11 million in preliminary funding, yet any decision was subject to being overruled by the independent NRC.
Who in the Executive Branch is ultimately responsible and accountable for deciding whether to terminate the project for storing nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain? Under the text of the Constitution, the answer seems simple: the President of the United States. But it is not so simple. This case illustrates the point.
Kavanaugh goes on to explain — as if writing for a larger audience than judges and lawyers — how this absurd situation was created by the Supreme Court’s 1935 decision Humphrey’s Executor vs. U.S. In that case the court, over the strenuous objections of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, held that Roosevelt couldn’t fire Federal Trade Commission Chairman William Humphrey over differences on trade and antitrust policy. The decision — part of a series of anti-Roosevelt rulings, most of which have gone into the dustbin of history — created two species of executive agencies, those under presidential control and independent.
Because of Humphrey’s Executor, the President to this day lacks day-to-day control over large swaths of regulatory policy and enforcement in the Executive Branch—from communications regulation (the FCC) to labor regulation (the NLRB) to securities regulation (the SEC) to nuclear power regulation (the Nuclear Regulatory Commission). Those and many other independent agencies have huge policymaking and enforcement authority and greatly affect the lives and liberties of the American people. Yet those independent agencies are democratically unaccountable—neither elected by the people nor supervised in their day-to-day activities by the elected President.
Kavanaugh was careful not to say he was suggesting Humphrey’s Executor should be overturned. But he quoted extensively from the 2010 decision Free Enterprise Fund v. Public Co. Accounting Oversight Board, which comes close. That case eliminated a tw0-tiered system of independent agencies where one agency oversaw another.
Some choice quotes from that 5-4 decision, which drew strong dissent from Justice Stephen Breyer.
The people do not vote for the Officers of the United States. They instead look to the President to guide the assistants or deputies subject to his superintendence. Without a clear and effective chain of command, the public cannot determine on whom the blame or the punishment of a pernicious measure, or series of pernicious measures ought really to fall.
and:
One can have a government that functions without being ruled by functionaries, and a government that benefits from expertise without being ruled by experts. Our Constitution was adopted to enable the people to govern themselves, through their elected leaders. The growth of the Executive Branch, which now wields vast power and touches almost every aspect of daily life, heightens the concern that it may slip from the Executive’s control, and thus from that of the people.
Perhaps Scalia doth protest too much. At least there’s a referendum coming on the Obama administration’s pollution policies.