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| June 2007--President Bush in the control room of the Athens, Alabama Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant one month after reactor Unit #1 was restarted after a twenty year shutdown. Photo: Gerald Herbert AP |
Via RedSky News
ATLANTA – Federal regulators ordered an in-depth inspection Tuesday at a nuclear power plant run by the Tennessee Valley Authority in northern Alabama after deciding the failure of an emergency cooling system there could have been a serious safety problem.
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued a rare red finding against the Browns Ferry nuclear power plant near Athens, Ala., after investigating how a valve on a residual heat removal system became stuck shut.
The NRC has issued only five red findings — the most severe ranking the agency gives to problems uncovered in its inspections — since its current oversight program started in 2001.
NRC said the utility must pay for detailed inspections of the plant’s performance, its safety culture and organization.TVA spokesman Ray Golden said the utility had not decided whether to appeal the NRC’s finding.
“Safety is our highest priority,” Golden added.
Past problems have led to increased scrutiny. The Browns Ferry Plant is known in the industry as the site where a worker using a candle to check for air leaks in 1975 started a fire that disabled safety systems. It is similar in design to the reactors that malfunctioned earlier this year at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant in Japan after a powerful earthquake and tsunami. The TVA voluntarily shut down its entire nuclear fleet in 1985 to address safety and performance issues.
NRC2011 PressReleaseBrownsFerryNuclaer
This is the same dinosaur of nuke plant that they dusted off and put back into use in the 1980's, which was akin to refurbishing an eight track tape player in the age of compact discs. It's old (circa 1966) and dangerous, with a very problematic history and 20 years past its prime:
Link to declassified finding of facts document from the NRC.
If TVA cannot manage these plants safely and responsibly, which is the current issue on the public radar, but certainly not the only threat in our nation's nuclear plants, then shut them down!
This is the same dinosaur of nuke plant that they dusted off and put back into use in the 1980's, which was akin to refurbishing an eight track tape player in the age of compact discs. It's old (circa 1966) and dangerous, with a very problematic history and 20 years past its prime:
They were designed in the late 1960s. Their design has never received a U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) operating license. Only four reactors of this design were ever ordered anywhere in the world and of the four reactors that were ordered, only one operated for a short time (less than three years). Two of these four reactors, (the ones you are going to bet on) have been sitting in a partial state of completion for almost 40 years on the banks of the Tennessee River in northeast Alabama. While they were sitting "mothballed," people without nuclear training were allowed into the reactors to strip key components and scrap metal for salvage from critical systems within the reactors.Stephen Smith describes TVA's Bellfonte Plant as a "nuclear Ford Pinto."
Link to declassified finding of facts document from the NRC.
If TVA cannot manage these plants safely and responsibly, which is the current issue on the public radar, but certainly not the only threat in our nation's nuclear plants, then shut them down!
What wonderful news!
ReplyDeleteNOT.
Who's taking bets on how long TVA will hem and haw before fixing inherent flaws in their system?
They absolutely will Skinny. They have already started this out in a very bad direction by not reporting what went wrong when it went wrong.
ReplyDeleteThey get caught and blame it on equipment defects.
Thankfully the NRC, not known for its bite, said oh no you don't and nailed them with the red classification.
This is very serious and people should be paying attention to this.
Or getting the hell out of range for good.
I think it's only a matter of time before there is a significant incident at this plant.
The consequences will be horrible.
Chief Nuclear Officer Preston Swafford:
ReplyDelete"Obviously we're disappointed with the NRC's findings on this matter," Swafford said. "The safe operation of all our units is our primary concern, and we take any regulatory report of a violation very seriously."
If that's the case then why didn't they report the valve failure to the NRC? Oh, that's right, they assumed it would eventually resolve itself.
That's dangerous and reckless risk taking from where I sit, not glowing for now.
Low cost energy from nuclear is a sham!
ReplyDeleteWall Street won't even invest in these plants because they are expensive and frequently run well over estimated costs. So who is paying for the cost of construction instead?
Not the incredibly wealthy utility giants.
WE ARE! THE TAXPAYERS!
TVA claims it has the lowest utility rates in the region, but when you figure in the cost to the taxpayer, it's a wash.
A lot of people don't understand this and they should. There really is more to see past the nose on your face.
These links explain it all:
Power Plant Financing Plan
Urging Nuclear Accountability in Washington
You know I really don't look good in Day-glo...
ReplyDeleteScary stuff.
ReplyDeleteI wish it was a movie, but it isn't.