America's Nuclear Nightmare: 'A Dozen Fukushima's Waiting to Happen'

[DeSwiss]

America's Nuclear Nightmare: 'A Dozen Fukushima's Waiting to Happen'



ROLLING STONE
POSTED: April 27, 10:36 AM ET | By Julian Brookes


Courtesy of the U.S. NRC

Shortly after an earthquake and tsunami struck Japan, in March, triggering the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl, America's leading nuclear regulator trekked up to Capitol Hill to assure jumpy lawmkers that, no way, it couldn't happen here. While Germany shuttered old plants for inspection, and China put new plants on hold, Gregory Jaczko, the chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, told Congress there was no need for immediate changes at America's 104 nuclear plants.

However, as Rolling Stone's Jeff Goodell reports, there was a problem with Jaczko's testimony, according to Dave Lochbaum, a senior adviser at the Union of Concerned Scientists: "Key elements of what the NRC chief told Congress were 'a baldfaced lie.'"

Lochbaum, a nuclear engineer, says that Jaczko knows full well that what the NRC calls "defense in depth" at U.S. reactors has been seriously compromised over the years. In some places, highly radioactive spent fuel is stockpiled in what amounts to swimming pools located beside reactors. In other places, changes in the cooling systems at reactors have made them more vulnerable to a core meltdown if something goes wrong. A few weeks before Fukushima, Lochbaum authored a widely circulated report that underscored the NRC's haphazard performance, describing 14 serious "near-miss" events at nuclear plants last year alone. At the Indian Point reactor just north of New York City, federal inspectors discovered a water-containment system that had been leaking for 16 years.

What gives? The NRC, America's nuclear watchdog, is essentially captive to the profit-driven industry it's charged to regulate. Consequently, a former nuclear executive tells Goodell: "We have a dozen Fukushimas waiting to happen in America."

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/america-s-nuclear-nightmare-20110427">MORE

Also: http://www.tennessean.com/article/20110411/NEWS11/104110335/Storage-used-nuclear-fuel-rods-TVA-plants-elsewhere-stir-concern">Storage of used nuclear fuel rods at TVA plants, elsewhere stir concern

"History is a pack of lies about events that never happened by people who were never there." ~George Santayana

[aquart]

1. And not one realistic way to stop it once it starts?

[kristopher]

2. And "it" is a lot closer to starting than most people believe.

If you have a little time go here and review the NRC record of Davis Besse (the reactor with a hole in its head).
http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/ops-experience/vessel-head-degradation.html

It takes a bit of time, but read the overview and look carefully at all the photos to get an idea of what they are talking about.

The NRC report makes it sound like this event shows that their safety inspection protocols work, however that doesn't appear to be true either. This is the letter notifying the NRC of the problem. I've somewhere read a first hand account that said the inspection team had completed their work and were taking down their equipment when one of the technicians bumped into the nozzle next to the one the equipment had been attached to and it moved. That accidental bump appears to be what actually stopped another core meltdown.

From the earliest piece of correspondence on the event:

During recent ultrasonic examination of vessel head penetration (VHP) nozzles required by NRC Bulletin 2001-01 "Circumferential Cracking of Reactor Pressure Vessel Head Penetration Nozzles," dated August 3, 2001, the licensee identified that five VHP nozzles required repair due to cracking in the nozzle adjacent to the J-welds which attach the VHP nozzles to the vessel head. The repair procedure involved machining the cracked portion of the tubes and placing a new weld between the tube and the vessel head.
On March 5, 2002, during VHP nozzle repair activities, the licensee identified an unexpected rotation and lateral movement of one of the nozzles during the machining operation. On March 6, the licensee removed the VHP nozzle and discovered significant metal loss in the head adjacent to the VHP nozzle. The area of the metal loss is not easily observable because of permanent insulation on the exterior of the vessel head.
The licensee has begun to assess the extent of the damage and has formed a root cause team to investigate the cause of this phenomenon. Repair or replacement options are being considered.
The resident inspectors are monitoring the licenseeís ongoing assessment activities. Region III (Chicago) will conduct follow-up inspections which will focus on extent of condition, causal factors, and repair or replacement activities.

Who do you think the next piece of correspondence from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on the matter is to?

Letter from Brian W. Sheron, Associate Director for Project Licensing and Technical Analysis, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, to Alex Marion, Nuclear Energy Institute, regarding Reactor Pressure Vessel Head Degradation at Davis Besse Nuclear Power Station

You can read this in the "news and correspondence" file under "2002" at the above link or go directly there with this link:
http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/ops-experience/vessel-head-degradation/news/2002/index.html


Nuclear Energy Institute
NEI's Mission: The Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) is the policy organization of the nuclear energy and technologies industry and participates in both the national and global policy-making process. NEI’s objective is to ensure the formation of policies that promote the beneficial uses of nuclear energy and technologies in the United States and around the world.

From their "by laws"
"The purposes of the Institute are to foster and encourage the continued safe utilization and development of nuclear energy to meet the nation’s energy, environmental and economic goals and to support the nuclear energy industry by providing:
"Policy direction on critical issues, including regulation, legislation, congressional awareness/acceptance, waste, transportation and other critical activities;
"A unified nuclear energy industry approach to address and resolve nuclear regulatory issues and related technical matters to facilitate high levels of reliability and economic efficiency in nuclear power plant operations;
"Advocacy and representation before the Congress, executive branch agencies, regulatory bodies and state policy forums;
"Accurate and timely information to policy makers, the public and other constituencies to promote acceptance and recognition of nuclear energy’s role in the nation’s supply of safe, secure, dependable and economic electric energy;
"Assistance to the nuclear energy industry with regard to state issues such as environmental considerations and rates; and
"Encouragement to educational institutions to promote education in nuclear energy disciplines.”


So the Regulator of this industry has a near miss catastrophe and the first people they turn to FOR EXPERTISE is the industry's lobbying group.

Now, I realize that the NEI represents a large pool of talent, but it is talent that has a specific objective in mind, and that objective is clearly stated, "to ensure the formation of policies that promote ... nuclear energy and technologies in the United States and around the world."

They dissolved the AEC because it was dedicated to promoting fission while being a regulator. In it's place they've put in a supposedly independent NRC, but apparently that is a sham. We STILL have the fox watching the henhouse.

[kristopher]

3. The NRC Photos of the Hole in the Reactor Head at Davis Besse

http://www.flickr.com/photos/62193398@N02/with/5660288137/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/62193398@N02/