Evil Incarnate: USA Using the Fruits of Fukushima to Reduce Safety in USA

This is not a surprise. The terry turbine was almost designed to handle water, concrete and pieces of metal. It is a extremely sturdy design, that why it was chosen.

Basically the theme here with research, is it serving the public good or unethically bolstering corporate profits? 

If we got into the hole like Fukushima...think adaptive intelligence. If the procedure no longer worked for us, we would just wing it. These guys want to extend RICI beyond their initial component design. You would need no written rules or guidance to conservatively operate equipment beyond its design limitation based on the control rooms collective knowledge in a grave emergency. 

The way this plays out is if they can "take credit" for pump operation way beyond the design of the component and current licensing. The RCIC research does no good for the control room operator. We'd piss on the core if there was nothing else available. They are going to flip the extended pump operation into risk calculations. It will turn into the meltdown accident is less frequent across the board. What comes out of risk calculations with be any violation level would be the violation level would smaller and it will justify the plant to operate with more degraded equipment and longer at operation.

Bottom line, with high academic research funded by the US government for nuclear safety, do you want to put your money into making better components for the licensed operators or do you want your money creating the justification for poorer quality equipment and reduced regulations.

I want the RCIC to generate its own control power and make the machine as autonomous as possible from the plant. Basically start and forget it. Place all the control functions in the RCIC room and make the control a remote station. Ditch all the electrical cables except for normal non emergency operation. We could do this with a very small computer circuit or cpu. Maybe bullet proof wifi for the connection to the control room with controlling the machine.

Research based on making a better component for the control room operator or research solely based on extending corporate profits and interest? 

Where do I got this wrong? 

Didn't unit 3 still meltdown with a so called very good operating RCIC? This is crazy talk by the Academics. What does "take credit" for mean?    

Dr. Karen Vierow,

If there is one system that worked very well in Fukushima, it was the RCIC system. We'd like to take credit for the system.

Team conducts ongoing research to evaluate performance of reactor cooling system

Texas A&M

Randy Gauntt, manager of Severe Accident Analysis Dept. 6232

July 21, 2016 by Robert (Chris) Scoggins

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2016-07-team-ongoing-reactor-cooling.html#jCp

On March 11, 2011, Japan was rocked by an earthquake and tsunami that caused the shutdown of the Fukushima Daiichi plant's active nuclear reactors, disabled all sources powering core cooling systems and caused three of the reactor cores to overheat. The resulting meltdowns caused the release of radioactive material into the surrounding area, a disaster that has spurred investigations and research into the performance of the safety systems installed in these reactors.

Despite the effects of the disaster, the Reactor Core Isolation Cooling (RCIC) system performed much better than expected within reactor units two and three, operating in unit three up to eight times longer than intended in those conditions. Understanding the cause behind the RCIC system's performance and applying it to U.S. reactors is where Sandia National Laboratories and the Department of Nuclear Engineering's Dr. Karen Vierow come in.

"I'm looking at the system from a couple of viewpoints," Vierow said. "One being, how did it run for so long without power and two, can we take credit for the system in our U.S. reactors to operate for extended times without power? The two times the safety system was called upon, it operated far beyond what we currently take credit for."

Vierow is collaborating with researchers at Sandia National Laboratories on this project, which was initially funded by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission until Vierow later received a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). Vierow's particular research application to discovering the secret of the RCIC System's performance lies in studying the cooling of the system in relation to thermal mixing in the containment. Vierow began to look at the thermal mixing and the condensation of steam in the reactor's suppression chamber to see where the thermal energy is distributed and how it effects the RCIC System.

Junk Nuclear Industry worldwide: Why is Falsification of Documents So Easy

I can't begin to tell you how much resources, money and reputations have been ruin worldwide by the falsification of documents in the nuclear industry. Why is this so easy? Why can't it be detected and eradicated immediately. 

Inaccurate documents are just as bad as falsified documents. Inaccurate documents should be treated identical to falsified documents. There is never any excuse to depend on a incomplete or inaccurate documents in the nuclear industry.  

I can tell you what is going on here, we have terrible degraded the global immunity system that is supposed to catch this when it first immerges. It is basically a no fault system for document falsification and the gross industry's tolerance of inaccurate documents.

It's all profits and paychecks before truth.

I think any component coming from the French Forge should be assumed to be inop.

They way to stop this is to knock heads together. Guys, it is the too big to fail philosophy. Any one plant or giant corporation like Areva is to big too shutdown or fail. The regulatory authorities worldwide have been made to weak to maintain standards, control document falsification and inaccurate documents. The giant nuclear corporations with their enormous power and influence has made government too weak.

You get it, all these guys are angling for the privatization of the regulatory function. It is the independent oversight authorities mostly disconnected from the community. These independent commission are too susceptical for the corporate to install their "yes men" as the heads of the independent commissions.

If we lived in a healthy world, Areva would have been banded from doing any nuclear power plant work worldwide. Right, Mitsubishi is in the same light. Mitsubishi should have gone directly, made a early complaint to the NRC, saying the steam generators are dangerous to the industry. Everyone is in this giant intimidation game and they can't say boo if they want to get a paycheck!!!

***Why is intimidation of employees too easy in the worldwide nuclear industry.*** Why is everyone so insecure?       

 

Steam generator anomalies to extend Fessenheim 2 outage

20 July 2016

A serviceability certificate for one of the three steam generators installed at unit 2 of the Fessenheim nuclear power plant, currently offline for maintenance, has been suspended by the French nuclear safety regulator. A number of anomalies were discovered last month in the steel of the component's lower shell.

Last month, EDF informed the ASN that parts of some steam generators at 18 nuclear power units in France may have anomalies similar to those found in the steel of Flamanville EPR vessel. At Fessenheim 2 this includes the steam generator's lower shells. Steam generators are heat exchangers between the water circulating in the primary circuit - at a temperature of about 350°C and a pressure of 155 bar - and the water in the secondary circuit that supplies steam to the turbines. There are three steam generators in 900 MWe pressurized water reactors, while the larger ones feature four.  

Outages impact production target
EDF yesterday revised its nuclear electricity generation target for 2016 to reflect expected extended outages at some of its plants.

The utility said output last month totalled 28.6 TWh, down 2.1 TWh compared with June 2015. Total output over the first half of 2016 was 205.2 TWh, 5.2 TWh less than in the first half of 2015.

EDF said it needs to demonstrate in the second half this year that "some components, mainly steam generators ... can operate in a fully safe mode". It added, "Taking into account ASN's examination schedule, extensions of part of the outages are expected over the second half of 2016".

As a result, EDF has revised its 2016 nuclear output target down from 408-412 TWh to 395-400 TWh.

An analysis in May of the internal production record for the component "established a divergence from the nuclear pressure equipment manufacturing standards", Areva said. They were forged at Areva's Le Creusot facility in 2008 and the ASN certified the component's conformity to safety standards in 2012.

EDF took Fessenheim 2 offline on 13 June for a scheduled maintenance outage and two days later sent an initial analysis of the detected anomalies to ASN which announced yesterday that it has suspended the test certificate for one of the Fessenheim 2 steam generators as its forging "had not been conducted in accordance with the technical dossier" submitted to it by Areva. These test certificates - issued following multiple inspections and hydraulic testing - are required for commissioning, ASN noted. The regulator added that, had it been aware of this non-compliance, it would not have originally issued the certificate.

ASN has requested Areva submit a file detailing the approach it intends to take in order to demonstrate the steam generator meets regulatory standards.

Junk plant San Onofre and Junk NRC

Everyone defines this as either redlining the steam generators or the vendor using wrong computer codes. Why can't it be both?

“In particular, the NRC reports indicated that MHI’s use of its computer codes in the design of the steam generators inaccurately predicted thermal hydraulic conditions in the steam generators, leading to tube vibration and wear, and a steam generator tube leak,” the statement continued. “The NRC inspection findings reinforced an NRC Augmented Inspection Team report in 2012 that identified MHI’s computer modeling errors.”

*There is special interest agendas on everything San Onofre. This seems to be a too blatant cover-up by the NRC designed to fail. The NRC is too sophisticated with cover-ups for this kind of thing.

It was a global 4.7 Billion dollar deal with all the parties

Certainty the NRC is up to their eyeballs with incompetence on Songs for a decade, they might be trying to cover-up that. They might feel if they told the truth, there would be a severe integrity hit on the agency with a "once every hundred year" fracting cheap electricity storm approaching the electric industry. 

Is Mitsubishi Heavy Industries more sophisticated than I believe, to be feeding the NRC with secret confidential SCE internal documents in defense of the legal suite? Is this a cheap legal suite as a negotiating tactic to get better terms. 

It is very plausible...

The NRC had/has the experienced engineering PhDs to quickly uncover "the steam generators being deliberately run too hot, too hard and too fast to make a quick profits. Too many NRC employees would have had information as such and a conscientious odd ball employee would have stuck up his head by now. I don't think a senior fire safety or electric engineer would have the professional skill to ferret this out.

(New) One wonders if SCE engineered intentionally tanking the plant through the improperly designed steam generators, then thought they could corruptly make a big bungle over killing the plant, decommissioning, paying for the improper steam generator job and purchasing replacement power. This guy was a profit dog for a decade or more and it tremendously ate up top SCE executive resources. Wasn't this a 3.5 billion dollar deal to hang on the ratepayers. There is no doubt the interveners and SCE were in bed with each other. The first swipe of the settlement was exactly that. I don't think anything about this revolves around stupidity. Its actually the opposite. It is the immoral use of high intelligence for a amoral purpose.        

If this is true, this is a breathtaking NRC cover-up...

Report: San Onofre Shutdown Due to Steam Generators

The cause of a leak in 2012 that led to the permanent shutdown of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station was steam generators being deliberately run too hot, too hard and too fast, according to a report released Tuesday by an independent watchdog organization.

But Southern California Edison countered that the source of the report was misinformed.

The analysis asserts that operators of the plant in northern San Diego County intentionally red-lined the system beyond its breaking point until it was overloaded and began to shake itself to pieces, according to the Public Watchdogs organization.

The study was conducted by Vinod Arora, a former fire protection engineer at SCE, co-owner of the power plant with San Diego Gas & Electric, according to a statement released by Public Watchdog.

The group said the conclusion was based on confidential documents that were released by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission under the Freedom of Information Act.

“Edison knew they were pushing San Onofre’s steam generators past the original design limit, but did it anyway for the sake of short-term profits and to correct other design deficiencies as a result of SCE’s unverified analytical assumptions,” Arora alleged.

“SCE was forced to make those assumptions because of time pressures to deploy the generators quickly,” Arora said. “As a result, SCE failed to perform the necessary research or ask the critical questions required to understand the impact of their design changes between the original and replacement steam generators.”

Shaking steam tubes, or what SCE called “critical in-plane vibrations” from tubes filled with superheated pressurized radioactive water, caused the tubes to bang together violently as a result of dry steam, according to Arora.

He said the impact of the abrasion and metal fatigue from the tube collisions ultimately created dangerous leaks.

Previous investigations have faulted the design of the steam generators, manufactured by the Japanese firm Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. Edison, which has retired San Onofre’s two reactors, is seeking financial compensation from the company.

Rosemead-based SCE released a statement saying the release issued today by Public Watchdog “relies on comments by a former SONGS employee that is simply misinformed.”

“As far back as September of 2013, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission identified flaws in how Mitsubishi Heavy Industries used its computer codes to design the failed steam generators at SONGS. The NRC further issued a ‘Notice of Non-Conformance’ against MHI for its flawed computer modeling in the failed design,” the statement said.

“In particular, the NRC reports indicated that MHI’s use of its computer codes in the design of the steam generators inaccurately predicted thermal hydraulic conditions in the steam generators, leading to tube vibration and wear, and a steam generator tube leak,” the statement continued. “The NRC inspection findings reinforced an NRC Augmented Inspection Team report in 2012 that identified MHI’s computer modeling errors.”

Update 7/20

When I was under the same kind of gun in 1992 just before I got fired for raising a host of safety issues, the big dog executives were coming to me with their secrets. I was continuously in the media at the time and everyone at the plant thought I had a special "ins" with the sitting governor (I did). If the big dog executives had a grudge on their boss or wanted to get promoted, they would leak damaging documents or secrets to me trying to get their targets fired. I took out numerous big dog executives through these leaks and I knew most of it was sour grapes and settling long past grudges. I was a pariah at the plant at the time. I was frightened when these executives approached me. They would begin a dizzying friendly conversation, then begin "I know you have powerful friends outside the plant". Believe me, I got it, the leak to me was settling a grudge or wishing promotions. But it conformed with the revolution I was trying to do. I always felt dirty after the deed was done. I mean, as a whistleblower, I never fully understood the exact agenda of the approaching executive, I did the best analysis as I could, then would say what the hell. This stuff was always very dangerous to me if I got it wrong and there was a huge legal/jail risk to me. But what the hell? 

It is highly plausible to me a disgruntled steam generator specialist or senior engineer buddies trying to save Mr. Arora's  job would be leaking documents or derogatory information to Mr. Arora. Least told him were the bones were buried to get even. They all knew he was heading out the door.
The "in charge" senior engineer at Songs in control of the steam generator job and all engineering at the huge facility...he was known by the lower employees as a monster from the years prior to this. He'd fire you on a dime to keep everyone else in line. I was coached secretly by insiders about the  songs steam generator job months ago trying to understand why it happened. The top engineer at the site was jumping serially from one plant or faculty for years with this reputations until Songs.            

Vinod Arora: Was it sour grapes or something else?

Safety Concerns at Shuttered Nuke Plant By MATT REYNOLDS  ShareThis SANTA ANA, Calif. (CN) - Southern California Edison forced a fire inspector to quit after he raised concerns about the safety and security of its San Onofre nuclear power plant, the man claims in court.      Vinod Arora, an inspector and engineer, claims SoCal Edison, majority owner of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, constructively fired him in 2012 after he raised concerns about plant safety amid disharmony between Edison and Mitsubishi - the company hired to design and deliver two replacement steam generators.      Edison announced last summer that it would permanently retire two nuclear reactors at the plant. Decommissioning the plant cost thousands of jobs and estimated losses of $10 billion.      In a July lawsuit , minority shareholder San Diego Gas & Electric blamed Mitsubishi for the shutdown, claiming the Japanese multinational sold the plant $135 million steam generators that began leaking radiation in their first year of service.      Arora worked for Edison as a fire inspector for almost six years before he resigned in 2012.      Under the Energy Reorganization Act, Edison was forbidden from retaliating against him for reporting his concerns, he says in the lawsuit.      Arora's troubles began, he says, when he wrote a report critical of the plant's maintenance director Bob Sholler, after longstanding concerns about fire risks associated with welding, grinding and cutting work at the plant.      That was in January 2012, around the time when the leak and cracks in the generator tubes were discovered. The plant stopped generating power shortly thereafter.      Arora claims that rather than address his concerns, Nuclear Oversight Director Oscar Flores marched him over to Sholler's office and demanded that he apologize.      Arora says that a few days later he warned supervisors that their failure to monitor a reactor was increasing the risk of a fire. Though a 2001 fire had shut down one of the reactors for 5 months at a cost of $100 million, the supervisors ignored his warnings, Arora claims.      Later in 2012, Arora says, Flores and his immediate supervisor Russ Nielsen confronted him with "insults and harassment" after he pointed out "competing priorities" over safety between Edison and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.      Arora claims he wrote a notification seeking to resolve the issue, but his superiors forced him to cancel it.      When he tried to take action after an anonymous report stated that 1,300 workers had not completed cyber-security training, Flores and Nielsen again admonished him, according to the complaint.      The harassment continued, Arora says, when he wrote emails to Mitsubishi and Edison warning about potential problems in one of the reactors. For his trouble, he claims, Flores and Nielsen tried to drum up phony charges against him by forcing him to take psychological and drug tests.      When those efforts failed, Edison ramped up its efforts to discredit him, Arora says.      "It was no coincidence that Arora begin receiving employment write-ups entered into his personnel file containing false accusations of missed work and being late to work without permission from his superiors. SCE [Southern California Edison] corporate investigators began to monitor Arora's actions and watch him carefully throughout his daily activities," the lawsuit states.      Arora had injured his right arm and elbow when he fell from a turbine deck during a January 2012 inspection. Though the injuries did not interfere with his work, Edison used them as a pretext to force him to resign, writing him up and setting "unreasonable deadlines" for his work, according to the complaint.      Arora seeks damages for constructive termination, breach of implied contract, breach of faith, intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligent infliction of emotional distress.      He is represented by Thomas McIntosh.      Edison, the only named defendant, did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment after business hours Wednesday.

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Make EPA like the NRC?

Now you can see the extremist structure the NRC is modeled for? It is Republican model and un-American. It disenfranchises the peoples of the USA. The Republicans floated this same model for Deep Water Horizon. Its structure is designed by the corporations. I am sure the Democrats gain benefits for allowing it?    

GOP platform proposes turning EPA into a commission

By Eric Wolff

07/19/16 10:00 AM EDT

With help from Alex Guillén, Bernie Becker, and Elana Schor
REPUBLICAN PLATFORM TRANSMOGRIFIES EPA INTO A COMMISSION: The Republican Platform 2016 offers a fresh plan for an old GOP target: it calls for converting the EPA into a bipartisan commission. As Pro's Alex Guillén writes, the platform says that air and water has been getting cleaner over the last few decades, and that trend will continue with no further regulatory action. Republicans are proposing a "modern approach to environmentalism ... We propose to shift responsibility for environmental regulation from the federal bureaucracy to the states and to transform the EPA into an independent bipartisan commission, similar to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, with structural safeguards against politicized science."

Deep Water Horizon report

To remedy this conflict of interest, Congress should create an independent agency with enforcement authority to oversee all aspects of offshore drilling safety (operational and occupational) as well as the structural and operational integrity of all offshore energy production facilities, including both oil and gas production and renewable energy production. The roles and responsibilities of BOEMRE should be separated into three entities with clearly defined statutory authorities.

Junk Plant Palisades: 21 Employees Falsifying Fire Watch Inspection.

This site has gotten in trouble with security officer paperwork falsification in the past. Entergy nuclear is riddled paperwork falsification violations nationwide and many sites have had similar problems. Over this, fleet wide they had a host of mandatory training on employee integrity and falsification issues. Say a plant gets caught with falsification issue, in special mandatory fleet wide training, they comprehensively go over the details with a particular plant's falsification issues and fully discuss the violation. They have repeatedly in "Confirmatory Letters" have been required to have this special training. One thing absolutely proven in these Confirmatory Letter integrity training sessions fleet wide, this confirmatory letter and mandatory fleet training has been proven over and over to be absolutely ineffective with preventing new Entergy fleet falsification issue. 

More Palisades nuclear plant security workers expressing worry  

VAN BUREN COUNTY, Mich. (NEWSCHANNEL 3) – Several security officers placed on leave at one of the country's oldest nuclear reactors say they're being treated as scapegoats by plant management.
This comes after the Newschannel 3 I-Team first uncovered an active investigation at the Palisades Nuclear Generating Station revolving around what plant officials describe as "fire tour anomalies."
"I'm on paid leave right now, and I have been for almost a month," said one of the plant workers, agreeing to speak with Newschannel 3's I-Team on the condition of anonymity.
"Now the company [Entergy] lawyer is asking us questions, saying the NRC will be speaking with us…and that we could be criminally liable," the worker added.
The officer also claims security workers at the plant were never trained to do fire tours.
"The training department never once trained us on fire tours," the officer said. "Security used to have a fire brigade that had a certain number of security members on shift, but when Entergy bought the plant they got rid of that…there's a whole fire brigade staff at that plant right now that have never trained anybody on how to do the fire tours."
22 security officers have been placed on paid administrative leave according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
According to a source with knowledge of previous Palisades labor issues and investigations, physical paperwork indicated that fire inspections had been completed by the plant's security officers, however, electronic records tracking movement in the plant showed the opposite, a discrepancy putting the fire inspection paperwork in doubt.
That source, tells the Newschannel 3 I-Team the supervisors at the plant who signed off on the paperwork were not placed on leave during the investigation, adding concern about the seriousness of the investigation.
"There's a significant lack of leadership in the security area there, that's for sure," said the source.
Beyond Nuclear, a group known for its opposition to nuclear energy, is not mincing words about the current Palisades investigation.
"Fire itself is 50% of the risk in terms of a meltdown," said Kevin Kamps, a radioactive waste watchdog for Beyond Nuclear. "It's as much of a risk as all the other risks put together, terrorist attacks, natural disasters, and accidents."
Kamps said he is also concerned about the Palisades track record, referencing several incidents in the 40 year old plant's recent history.
"We have such collusion at Palisades, in large measure we've got the NRC covering up for Entergy (owner of the plant), and the NRC has allowed for fire risks to go unaddressed for decades now."
The NRC, however strongly defended its actions at Palisades, and elsewhere.
"The NRC initially identified the discrepancies while conducting safety inspections and continues to closely monitor the plants investigation in response," wrote Prema Chandrathil, a Public Affairs Officer for the NRC. "We look at records, analyze the data, review the plants actions and are having daily discussions with plant personnel."
Chandrathil added the NRC does not have an immediate safety or security concern about the plant.
Some of the security officers, however, disagree, worrying about security at the plant with 22 people on paid leave.
"It's the supervisors who penciled in the security checks…they're all cleared I guess," said one of officers about the investigation. "But the head security supervisor has told officers on shift that a good chunk of people will not be coming back," the worker added.
Entergy, owner of Palisades, said the plant, says the company is taking the investigation seriously, and disputing those both inside and outside the plant critiquing the current state of security.
"Fire tours at Palisades are periodic visual inspections conducted by plant personnel to identify any early indications of fire," wrote Val Gent, a Senior Communications Specialist for Palisades. "These visual inspections are simply one component of our comprehensive  

fire protection program."
According to Gent, Palisades officials first became aware of the fire tour anomalies in early June, and began an internal investigation shortly thereafter.

New: It sounds to me like the NRC is taking credit for work they didn't do. A falsification in their own right. It is a clumsy act to protect a whistleblower and this policy is withholding vital information from the public. Basically I believe a whistleblower forced the agency hands by making a complaint. This implies the agency was knowingly allowing Entergy to violate fire safety rules, or worst, wasn't situationally aware of events on going at the plant. Weren't aware of the fire requirements and never inspected it. Basically paperwork oversight instead of 360 degrees of  real situational awareness.  

"The NRC initially identified the discrepancies while conducting safety inspections and continues to closely monitor the plants investigation in response," wrote Prema Chandrathil, a Public Affairs Officer for the NRC. "We look at records, analyze the data, review the plants actions and are having daily discussions with plant personnel.""

Junk Dead Ender Fitzpatrick: Power limitation Caused By Secret Damage To Equipment During Hard Plant Scram

So the plant can't exceed 85% because of some secret damage that occurred during the recent plant scram. They broke a huge component during the scram. The Fitze senior resident told me this today.

The NRC resident got a little antsy as I asked him; "I hear the plant broke equipment during the scram leading to the current 85% power restriction." 

Bet you its too expensive to replace just before the permanent shutdown.

Dead Ender FitzPatrict: Damage From Plant Trip llimiting Power

Basically Fitz started up from a very hard plant trip on about July 7. The control room after the trip became very confused. Fitz has been stuck at 85% for about 10 days. Does it say something about the industry and region 1 with Salem 2 and Fitz being stuck in the unprofitable power (13% and 85% power) zone due to equipment troubles.

The second largest nuclear three plant facility in the USA (Hope Creek and Salam 1 and 2) are turning grossly unprofitable with all their recent equipment troubles and enormous idle capacity. It is a gross embarrassment with a enormous capacity being power restricted or shutdown during the vital public service summertime operations. I don't understand why the PJM ISO doesn't disqualified Salem and Hope Creek as being a reliable base load unit for the grid?

Junk Plant Salem 1 Stuck At 12 % since Thursday

Update 7/18

I remember the troubles I had with my first car. It was a 1965 two door Ford Comet. I loved this car. I was always repairing the dam thing. The end came when I kept blowing out alternators. I was on my third one. I had a short and nobody could find it. That is how I took it to the junk yard. It was the only car I cried over junking it.
 
Basically two plant shutdowns and a prolonged period of 12% power over a undiscoverable intermittent large electrical generator short. They are going to go broke if they keep it up!!! That is what is keeping them at 12%. They have already reached the special inspection threshold over scams and down powers for the quarter. This is startling incompetence over detecting what caused the resulting trips and figuring out where the short is coming from.

Bet you they are at least losing a million dollars a day plus the expensive contractors!!!  

The chickens are coming home to roost at the second largest nuclear facility in the USA...

Update 7/15

So Salem 1 has been stuck at 12% for a week. I don't think prolonged operation at low power is safe. They got unit 2 in a prolonged baffle bolt shutdown. We are going to see a lot more problems from these guys. They are not taking care of their plants sufficiently.  

So this is after their double header leak and:

The Salem 2 reactor automatically tripped off-line on June 28 after its generator shut down because of an alarm indicating some sort of problem.
After extensive troubleshooting, it was determined that rainwater had leaked through gaskets on the electrical system for the generator. The area where the problem was found is located on the plant site between the generator and the main transformer.
Operators installed an enhanced monitoring system to detect any future problems before they cause the plant to shut down.
Operators initially brought the plant back on July 4 for about eight hours, but when there was an indication there still might be a problem in the generator, the plant was shut down and new inspections conducted, according to Delmar. 

Unit 1 at Talen Energy's Susquehanna nuclear power plant has returned to the regional power grid after being shut down for three weeks to address a water leak.

Operators reconnected Susquehanna Unit 1 on Monday, according to a Talen news release. The Unit 1 reactor was manually shut down June 6 to address a water leak inside the unit's containment structure.

During an inspection of the area, Susquehanna staff identified and subsequently reported a second minor leak from a pipe beneath the reactor vessel to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

"Throughout the maintenance outage, our nuclear professionals maintained their primary focus on keeping each other and the surrounding community safe," said Jon Franke, site vice president. "We have worked effectively with our equipment vendors and other industry experts to develop and implement the plan to complete repairs to return the unit to reliable service."

Unit 2 at the plant remained fully operational, Talen said.

NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan said Tuesday that Unit 1 had been experiencing "very minor leakage" from a tube guide at the bottom of the reactor vessel. A tube guide is where a device used to measure power levels is inserted into the vessel.

Talen completed a weld overlay to repair the leakage, and Sheehan said agency officials did not identify any concerns with the fix.

Both Sheehan and Talen previously said

 

Junk Plant Indian Point: Another Trip

Chickens coming home to roost. Excessive shutdowns create tremendous stress on a plant and prematurely wears out safety equipment.

Indian Point 2 reactor shuts down during electrical testing

BUCHANAN >> One of two nuclear reactors at the Indian Point power plant in Westchester County shut down automatically Wednesday during testing of electrical systems.

The cause of the morning shutdown of Unit 2 was being investigated. Plant owner Entergy Corp. said it occurred as workers were testing electrical systems that are designed to automatically shut down the reactor if needed.

Entergy said no radioactivity was released and public safety was not affected.

The company said its other reactor, Unit 3, remained in operation and has been online for 203 consecutive days.

Indian Point is located in Buchanan, about 50 miles southeast of Kingston. It provides 2,000 megawatts of electricity to New York City and Westchester County.

Junk Dead Ender Pilgrim: More Of The Same

They should send these valves out to a laboratory to see if there are age related subtle defects in in the valves.

If there was ten inspectors sitting around being bored, one just wonders the amount of secret violation they would find.

Is there any engineering studies on testing relays ...failures...once past the self life?

This is inexcusable with computers today...

NUCLEAR POWER

NRC: Pilgrim let safety gear lapse 

Relays controlling safety valves should have been replaced 12 years ago, inspectors find.

By Christine Legere

Posted Jul. 5, 2016 at 6:58 PM

PLYMOUTH — Electrical relays at Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station, relied on to shut safety valves in the reactor building should an accident occur, had long exceeded their shelf life when checked by federal inspectors last week.

The role of the relays is to close so-called containment isolation valves to prevent a release of radioactivity into the environment.

Federal inspectors found the relays were 22 years old. According to the product vendors, those relays are supposed to be switched out every 10 years.

After the discovery, plant owner Entergy Corp. declared the relays inoperable because their age did not "provide reasonable assurance" that they would work if called upon, said Neil Sheehan, spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

“Based upon an NRC inspection sample, it was identified that scheduled replacements of the six safety-related components (relays) were not occurring,” Sheehan said.

As a precaution, the valves have been closed and deactivated while the electrical relays are replaced, Sheehan wrote in an email. “Our resident inspectors at Pilgrim will be following up on the repair work.”

The reactor was operating at 100 percent power when the outdated relays were found, and it continues to operate while relays are changed. Sheehan said there is no reason to shut down since leaving the valves in the closed position eliminates the possibility of a radioactive leak if an accident happened.

Pilgrim management is now reviewing how the

“NRC’s inspectors discovered that some nuclear plants in the Midwest were leaving safety components in service until they broke,” Lochbaum wrote in an email. “Then they would replace the broken components.”

I think this above is extremely dangerous. These aging plants are massively complex to the tune of 1 to 5 parts or components in the plant. The valves would have to be tested under the severe environment and stress in a accident. The worry is with these kinds of standard with a 5 million parts plant...The operators would get confused with the magnitude components failure showing up in the stress of a accident. Even a minuscule percentage  of 5 million parts failing in a accident, this would translate into many problems at a plant all at the worst time.  

Plant owners must have a program to ensure the reliability of safety components as plants age. “The program could be as simple as replacing components within the service lifetime recommended by the vendors,” Lochbaum wrote. “Or the program could be more sophisticated by monitoring component performance and replacing the components when performance drops below a pre-determined level.”

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission produced a draft “Regulatory Issue Summary” in May to stress the obligation of plant owners to monitor and replace safety components.

NRC staff had reviewed five years of operating experience from 2007 to 2011 at nuclear power plants in the U.S. as part of the drafting process.

In its summary, the agency said the NRC staff found a notable increase in the number of inspection findings and in licensee event reports related to plants not following safety equipment monitoring required by federal regulation. Among the infractions was the failure of safety-related components that had been installed in the plant for longer than the amount of time specified in the operator’s license or in vendor documents.

Lochbaum said Entergy deserves “partial credit” even though the discovery of the relays was made by federal investigators, because the company didn’t debate the NRC’s finding. Entergy closed the safety valves and set to work on the relays.

“When NRC inspectors found components at

“When NRC inspectors found components at other plants that had been in service longer than recommended, those plant owners took a harder stance,” Lochbaum wrote. “They argued that it’s unlikely that multiple failures could occur at the same time, so they should be permitted to wait for components to wear out and fail before replacing them.”

Entergy spokesman Jerry Nappi said in an email that plants like Pilgrim are designed with several layers of backup protection.

"Although there were no performance issues identified with these electrical relays during their most recent testing, Pilgrim Station notified the NRC that these relays are no longer being relied upon to perform their safety function because they should have previously been replaced in accordance with vendor recommendations," Nappi wrote.

Diane Turco, one of the founders of the Cape Downwinders and current president, expressed frustration over the plant, which she pointed out is currently classified by federal regulators as one of the three worst in the nation. Pilgrim is set to permanently shut down in mid-2019.

 "With Pilgrim continually degrading and one step from federally mandated shutdown, what is it going to take for the NRC to pull the plug on Pilgrim?" Turco said. "An accident?"

— Follow Christine Legere on Twitter: @chrislegereCCT.

Junk Plant Cook: Steam Explosion Damaging Turbine Building

05000315/316

update 10 pm

This is a lot better than a main steam line. These guys are notorious for vapor bubble eroding the piping. How thin was the pipe wall the last time it was tested? Was it scheduled for replacement?   

The Cook nuclear power plant in Bridgman has shut down its Unit 2 reactor due to a rupture in a moisture separator reheater. The problem occurred after midnight Wednesday. Cook plant spokesperson Bill Schalk says the rupture led to the release of non-radioactive steam. 

I know there are whistleblower out there who has issues with main steam line high energy line breaks (HELB), where the licensees aren't keeping up to plant designs. These plants have a host of barriers to prevent a damage to other safety equipment. Cooper is the plant. Basically and more troublesome, the NRC resident inspectors don't have the skills to evaluate MSL HELB accidents.    

Cook reported it as "no radioactive" release!

update 1:43pm

Sounds like they assume there is a radioactivity release. If a wall fell down, it bypasses radioactivity detection. Did the wall falling down damage equipment.

Got to hear out of the News, no release of radiation...

Cook Nuclear Plant Main Steam Line Break AST Radiological Analysis

This calculation evaluates the control room dose to plant operators and the offsite radiological consequences at

the Exclusion Area Boundary (EAB) and Low Population Zone (LPZ) for a main steam line break (MSLB) event using the Alternative Source Term (AST) Methodology.

Update 12:45

Mlive

Bridgman's D.C. Cook nuclear plant steamline ruptures

By Rosemary Parker | rparker3@mlive.com The Kalamazoo Gazette
Follow on Twitter
on July 06, 2016 at 11:23 AM, updated July 06, 2016 at 11:25 AM

BRIDGMAN, MI – A steam line rupture in the turbine building at D. C. Cook Nuclear Plant Wednesday morning damaged a wall in the plant's Unit 2 turbine building, but has had no effect on the nuclear reactor or public safety, authorities said.

Viktoria Mitlyng, senior public affairs officer for the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Chicago area office, said the steam pipe rupture happened on the secondary, non-nuclear side of the plant, where the the turbine is located.

"As far as we know no one was hurt" in the pipe rupture, Mitlyng said. The incident happened at 12:38 a.m. July 6.

The steam line that ruptured was fairly large, she said. She was not immediately sure the extent of damage to the turbine room wall.

The plant operates two units. Unit 1 continues to operate at full power Wednesday; Unit 2, where the incident occurred, was taken off line manually until repairs are made.

NRC inspectors are on site evaluating the plant's response to the situation, and investigators are looking into what caused the steam pipe rupture.

At this point there is no evidence of foul play, Mitlyng said. 

Attempts to reach a representative of the plant by telephone were not successful.

Rosemary Parker is a reporter for MLive. Contact her at rparker3@mlive.com.

***These guys typically electrical short tons of electrical equipment.

Here is a 1986 game changer in the nuclear industry:

Surry Accident Raises A-Plant Deterioration Issue:

By Michael Specter December 22, 1986

The industrial accident that killed four workers at Virginia Power's nuclear plant here two weeks ago has forced industry officials and federal regulators to confront the deterioration of the United States' aging nuclear power stations.
 
The workers were conducting routine maintenance Dec. 9 when, with a pop heard throughout the sprawling plant, a pipe at Surry Unit 2 ruptured, twisting metal girders and dumping 30,000 gallons of superheated water in the turbine building. Eight men, including the four who later died, were injured.
 
Since Surry opened in 1973, the walls of the pipe, which is expected to last the 40-year life of the reactor, have in some spots gone from a half-inch thick to thinner than a credit card, and no one knows why. Tests on the corresponding pipe in Surry's other nuclear unit revealed similar erosion.

Sounds like a burst of a big steam line. Could it be the main steam line. I doubt any plant in the USA has ever gone down the explosion procedures over a steam pipe break. Most of the times this comes from either the high or low pressure "heaters". Basically then walled pipes.    

Power Reactor	Event Number: 52065
Facility: COOK Region: 3 State: MI Unit: [ ] [2] [ ] RX Type: [1] W-4-LP,[2] W-4-LP NRC Notified By: BRANDY WARK HQ OPS Officer: DONG HWA PARK	Notification Date: 07/06/2016 Notification Time: 01:02 [ET] Event Date: 07/06/2016 Event Time: 00:38 [EDT] Last Update Date: 07/06/2016
Emergency Class: UNUSUAL EVENT 10 CFR Section: 50.72(a) (1) (i) - EMERGENCY DECLARED 50.72(b)(2)(iv)(B) - RPS ACTUATION - CRITICAL 50.72(b)(3)(iv)(A) - VALID SPECIF SYS ACTUATION 50.72(b)(2)(xi) - OFFSITE NOTIFICATION	Person (Organization): PATTY PELKE (R3DO) CHRIS MILLER (NRR) BILL GOTT (IRD) CYNTHIA PEDERSON (R3RA) BILL DEAN (NRR)

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

Event Text

MANUAL REACTOR TRIP AND UNUSUAL EVENT DECLARATION DUE TO STEAM LEAK IN TURBINE BUILDING "On July 6, 2016, at 0038 [EDT], DC Cook Unit 2 Reactor was manually tripped and at 0050 [EDT] an Unusual Event (N-7 'Unanticipated Explosion') Emergency Declaration was made due to steam leak and associated damage to the turbine building. "In accordance with Emergency Plan procedures, notifications of Berrien County and State of Michigan were completed. The licensee has notified the NRC Senior Resident Inspector. The Unusual Event was terminated at 0207 [EDT]. "This notification is being made in accordance with 10 CFR 50.72 (a)(1)(i) due to declaration of an emergency class. Original notification to NRC made at 0100 EDT via ENS. This event is reportable under 10 CFR 50.72(b)(2)(iv)(B), Reactor Protection System (RPS) actuation and 10 CFR 50.72(b)(2)(xi) Offsite Notification, as a four (4) hour report, and under 10 CFR 50.72(b)(3)(iv)(A), specified system actuation of the Auxiliary Feedwater System, as an eight (8) hour report. The DC Cook NRC Resident Inspector has been notified. Press release is planned. "Unit 2 is being supplied by offsite power. All control rods fully inserted. Decay heat is being removed via Steam Generator PORVs [Power Operated Relief Valve]. Preliminary evaluation indicates all plant systems functioned normally following the Reactor Trip. DC Cook Unit 2 remains stable in Mode 3 while conducting the Post Trip Review. No radioactive release is in progress as a result of this event." Notified DHS SWO, FEMA Ops Center, DHS NICC. Notified FEMA National Watch and Nuclear SSA via email.