Agency Smackdown, Round 2: A Critique of ‘the Nuclear Party’

From the New York Times:

The chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, whose four fellow commissioners complained about him to the White House, saying that he had been withholding information from them and wielding too much power, drew a spirited defense on Wednesday from a predecessor at the agency. Peter A. Bradford, who was a commission member from 1977 to 1982, was speaking with reporters in a conference call on another topic, whether the recent approval of a new reactor design by the commission represented a major step toward a “nuclear renaissance.” (It doesn’t, he said.) Mr. Bradford never led the Nuclear Regulatory Commission but can be considered an expert on multimember agencies; he later served as the chairman of the public utility commissions of New York State and Maine. In the course of the call, Mr. Bradford said that the four commissioners were trying to give the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s chairman, Gregory B. Jaczko, “a push toward the door.”

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TMI: Meeting to discuss Inspection Results (ML113480100)

Forthcoming Meeting with Exelon Generation Company, LLC, and Entergy Operations, Inc. to Discuss Steam Generator Inspection Results at Three Mile Island, Unit 1 and Arkansas Nuclear One, Unit 1 Download ML113480100

TMI: Third Inservice Inspection Interval Relif Requests (ML113410469)

THREE MILE ISLAND NUCLEAR STATION, UNIT 1 (TMI-1) - THIRD INSERVICE INSPECTION INTERVAL RELIEF REQUESTS RR-11-01 AND RR-11-02 (TAC NOS. ME5670 AND ME5671)

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Peach Bottom: Information Needed Re Use of Neutron Absorbing Inserts (ML113260295)

Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station, Units 2 and 3 – Supplemental Information Needed for Acceptance of Requested Licensing Action Re: Use of Neutron Absorbing Inserts in Units 2 and 3 Spent Fuel Pool Storage Racks (TAC Nos. ME7538 and ME7539) ADAMS Accession No.: ML113260295

Letter Regarding Petiton from Paul Gunter to Suspect OLs of BE BWR Mark I Units

G20110262/EDATS: OEDO-2011-0269 - Acknowledgment Letter Regarding 2.206 Petition of April 13, 2011 from Paul Gunter to Immediately Suspend OLs of GE BWR Mark I Units Download PDF

PPL's Water Use Plan for Bell Bend Nuclear Power Plant (Epstein Testimony, SRBC, 12/15/11)

Testimony of Eric Joseph Epstein Before the Susquehanna River Basin Commission December 15, 2011 __________ Re: PPL’s Conceptual Proposal to Develop and Implement A Corporate Storage Asset Pool for Consumptive Use Mitigation Presented to the SRBC on June 23, 2011 Download PDF

Regulatory Meltdown

Regulatory Meltdown: How Four Nuclear Regulatory Commissioners Conspired to Delay and Weaken Nuclear Reactor Safety in the Wake of Fukushima Prepared by the Staff of Congressman Edward J Markey (D-MA) Download PDF

Fukushima Reactor(s) Leaking Again; Hydrogen Building Up

From Huntington News:

Although the initial accident took place in the Spring, the reactors at Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant again have mounting pressure from hydrogen. Workers are trying to reduce the pressure by spraying nitrogen. Should hydrogen levels go too high, additional explosions could occur. This Youtube video is based on a release from Toyko Electric Power.

In late October, Tokyo Electric Power Company began extracting gases from the containment vessel of the No.2 reactor to remove radioactive substances. During the work, TEPCO found hydrogen accumulating in parts of the reactor at a density of up to 2.9 percent. TEPCO started pumping nitrogen into the pressure vessels of the No.1, 2, 3 reactors on Thursday to lessen the concentration of hydrogen. The density of hydrogen accumulating in the containment and pressure vessels is thought to be below 4 percent, the level where an explosion could occur.

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Sundance 2012: Images from THE ATOMIC STATES OF AMERICA

With the announcement of the 2012 Sundance Film Festival in-competition line-up comes a whole bunch of images from the upcoming films. In this edition, we’ll cover four documentaries: The Atomic States of America, Escape Fire: The Fight to Rescue American Healthcare, The Other Dream Team, and Marina Abramović The Artist is Present. Click here to view the images.

Sundance 2012: Images from THE ATOMIC STATES OF AMERICA

With the announcement of the 2012 Sundance Film Festival in-competition line-up comes a whole bunch of images from the upcoming films. In this edition, we’ll cover four documentaries: The Atomic States of America, Escape Fire: The Fight to Rescue American Healthcare, The Other Dream Team, and Marina Abramović The Artist is Present. Click here to view the images.

'No Errors' in Nuclear Crisis

From the Wall Street Journal:

More than eight months after disaster struck at its Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, Tokyo Electric Power Co. said an internal investigation, its first public assessment of its handling of the crisis, found no evidence of significant errors in its response.

But the plant operator also conceded it still didn't have answers to some key questions about the disaster, in the latest reminder of how little is still known about how the March 11 accident unfolded and what the current status of the plant is.

The findings were part of an interim report on the accident that Tepco released Friday.

The report supports Tepco's line that its plant complied with earthquake safety standards. But Tepco acknowledged it hasn't yet resolved a fundamental problem: pinpointing the source of continued leaks of irradiated water from the plant. It also said it doesn't know why radiation releases spiked four days into the crisis.

Complicating the picture, the utility retracted an earlier statement that an explosion took place in Unit 2 of the plant on March 15, the day of the radiation increase, removing one possible cause for the higher radiation levels. Tepco initially said there were two explosions on March 15, one believed to be inside the suppression chamber of Unit 2 and another near the rooftop of Unit 4. This followed explosions at Unit 1 on March 12 and at Unit 3 at March 14.

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Exelon: Threshold Determination Under 10 CFR 50.80

Exelon Generation Company, LLC – Threshold Determination Under 10 CFR 50.80 – (TAC Nos. ME6269 – ME6287) ADAMS Accession No.: ML112450212

Markey to NRC: Pump Problems Plague Palisades Power Plant

For Immediate Release Contact: Giselle Barry 202-225-2836 December 1, 2011 http://markey.house.gov/ Markey to NRC: Pump Problems Plague Palisades Power Plant Congressman queries NRC about series of failures at Palisades, other nuclear power plants involving steel used in water pumps for cooling nuclear reactors WASHINGTON, D.C. – A recent investigation by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) found that the failure of a water pump due to the corrosion of certain kinds of stainless steel components caused an August shutdown of the Palisades Nuclear Generating Station in Michigan. Despite scientific findings and industry experience reporting its vulnerability to cracks and corrosion, the types of stainless steel –known as 410SS and 416SS – continues to be used in water pumps used to provide cooling water to critical safety-related equipment such as component cooling water, diesel generators, and containment vessel air coolers for nuclear power plants throughout the U.S. Today, Congressman Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, sent a letter querying the NRC about the vulnerability of these metals to corrosion cracking and their continued use despite two decades of failures in nuclear power plants. Despite NRC alerting licensees about issues with these pumps, failures continue and licensees have not been required to take any action or even report back to the NRC regarding what they are doing to identify, mitigate or prevent corrosion cracking that could cause component failures. “They say there was never a good knife made of bad steel. Similarly, you can’t have a safe nuclear reactor made of bad steel,” said Rep. Markey. “I am concerned that U.S. nuclear power plants using components made from 410 and 416 steel may be subject to failures of critical safety equipment and at risk of shutdown. NRC must ensure that it requires licensees to take steps to identify and mitigate any corrosion of its components in order to demonstrate that they will perform satisfactorily in service, especially for critical safety-related operations.” A copy of the letter to the NRC can be found HERE. In the letter, Rep. Markey asks the NRC to respond to questions that include:

• Which U.S. nuclear power plants currently use 410SS and 416SS components and what are the known uses of 410SS and 416SS?
• Will the NRC undertake a review of 410SS and 416SS steels to determine if additional periodic inspections and mitigation efforts are warranted?
• What regulatory actions will be undertaken in order to assess, require licensee reporting and inspection of, and address problems involved in 410SS and 416SS components?

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Cesium from Fukushima plant fell all over Japan

From Asahi Shimbun:

Radioactive substances from the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant have now been confirmed in all prefectures, including Uruma, Okinawa Prefecture, about 1,700 kilometers from the plant, according to the science ministry.

The ministry said it concluded the radioactive substances came from the stricken nuclear plant because, in all cases, they contained cesium-134, which has short half-life of two years.

Before the March 11 Great East Japan Earthquake, radioactive substance were barely detectable in most areas.

But the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology's survey results released on Nov. 25 showed that fallout from the Fukushima plant has spread across Japan. The survey covered the cumulative densities of radioactive substances in dust that fell into receptacles during the four months from March through June.

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Recission of Reactor Security Orders

Holders of Licenses for Operating Power Reactors: Rescission or Partial Rescission of Certain Power Reactor Security Orders Applicable to Nuclear Power Plants ADAMS Accession Number: ML111220447

Three Mile Island Unit 1 Returned to Service

Contact:

Ralph DeSantis FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Three Mile Island Generating Station 717-948-8930

Three Mile Island Unit 1 Returned to Service

Thousands of Equipment Upgrades and Maintenance Tasks Completed Safely, Additional Workers Bring Economic Boost to Region

LONDONDERRY TWP., PA (November 27, 2011) – Following a safe and successful refueling outage, station operators placed Three Mile Island Unit 1 back in service on Friday, Nov. 25 at 3:50 p.m. and the plant reached full power this afternoon. During the outage, workers replaced nearly a third of the reactor’s fuel and safely performed more than 17,000 inspections and maintenance activities on a variety of plant components and systems. This year, workers also upgraded the plant’s main electrical generator and installed a new digital control rod drive system.

“TMI’s refueling outage was a big success thanks to the dedication and talent of our full-time personnel and the many supplemental workers who supported us,” said Site Vice President, Glen Earl Chick. “We completed a host of maintenance activities and equipment upgrades that will help us run the plant safely and efficiently for many years to come.”

Three Mile Island used the talents and expertise of more than 1,700 supplemental workers to support this year’s refueling outage. Many of these workers traveled to Three Mile Island from outside the area, providing a significant boost to the local economy.

Three Mile Island Unit 1 generates 852 megawatts of carbon free power - enough electricity for about 800,000 homes. Electric customers were not affected by the plant being off line.

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Exelon Corporation is one of the nation’s largest electric utilities with more than $18 billion in annual revenues. The company has one of the industry’s largest portfolios of electricity generation capacity, with a nationwide reach and strong positions in the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic. Exelon distributes electricity to approximately 5.4 million customers in northern Illinois and southeastern Pennsylvania and natural gas to approximately 490,000 customers in the Philadelphia area. Exelon is headquartered in Chicago and trades on the NYSE under the ticker EXC.

TMI & Peach Bottom:Additonal Information Regarding 6-day Response

BRAIDWOOD STATION, UNITS 1 AND 2; BYRON STATION, UNIT NOS. 1 AND 2; CLINTON POWER STATION, UNIT NO.1; DRESDEN NUCLEAR POWER STATION, UNITS 2 AND 3; LASALLE COUNTY STATION, UNITS 1 AND 2; LIMERICK GENERATING STATION, UNITS 1 AND 2; OYSTER CREEK NUCLEAR GENERATING STATION; PEACH BOTTOM ATOMIC POWER STATION, UNITS 2 AND 3; QUAD CITIES NUCLEAR POWER STATION, UNITS 1 AND 2; AND THREE MILE ISLAND NUCLEAR STATION, UNIT 1 ­ BULLETIN 2011-01, "MITIGATING STRATEGIES" REQUEST FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION REGARDING 60-DAY RESPONSE (TAC NOS. ME6402, ME6403, ME6409, ME6410, ME6416, ME6427, ME6428, ME6444, ME6445, ME6446, ME6447, ME6460, ME6465, ME6466, ME6473, ME6474, AND ME6493

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Susquehanna: Ammendment regarding Surveillance Requirements (ML11292A137)

SUSQUEHANNA STEAM ELECTRIC STATION, UNITS 1 AND 2 -ISSUANCE OF AMENDMENTS RE: CHANGE TO TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS (TSs) SURVEILLANCE REQUIREMENTS (SRs) 3.4.3.1 TO REVISE THE LOWER SURVEILLANCE TOLERANCES (TAC NOS. ME5050 AND ME5051)

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TMI: Decommissioning Fund Status Report

Three Mile Island Nuclear Station Unit 2 - 2011 Decommissioning Fund Status Report - Request for Additional Information, License: DPR-73, Docket: 50-320. Download Report

2.206 Petition Regarding Boiling Water Reactors

2.206 Petition Regarding Boiling Water Reactors with Mark I and Mark II Containment Designs ADAMS Accession No.: ML112800606

TMI: NRC Initial Operator Licensing Examination Report 05000289/2011301

THREE MILE ]SLAND NUCLEAR STATION, UNIT 1 - NRC INITIAL OPERATOR LICENSING EXAMINATION REPORT O5OOO289/2011301 Download Report

TMI: NRC Integrated Inspection Report 05000289/2011004

Three Mile Island -Three Mile Island Station, Unit 1 - NRC Integrated Inspection Report 05000289/2011004 ADAMS Accession No. ML113080106

NRC INVESTIGATION REPORT NO. 1-2011-034

From the NRC: Dear Mr. Collins: This refers to the investigation by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) Office of Investigations (Ol) that was conducted at Exelon's Three Mile lsland (TMl)facility, and completed on July 7, 2011. The investigation was conducted to determine, in part, whether you, a contractor employee, deliberately failed to report a June 2010 arrest on a personal history questionnaire (PHQ) you completed on July 28, 2010, to obtain unescorted access authorization (UAA) to the site. Based on the results of the Ol investigation, the NRC has concluded that you deliberately violated Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Section 73.56(dX2), "Personal history disclosure," which requires, in part, that any individual who is applying for UM shall disclose the personal history information that is required by the licensee's access authorization program, including any information that may be necessary for the reviewing official to make a determination of the individual's trustworthiness and reliability. The PHQ required that you disclose all legal actions; however, you failed to record that you had been arrested on drug-related charges on June 13,2010. Download PDF

Susquehanna: Audit of the Licensee's Management of Regulatory Commitments

Susquehanna Steam Electric Station, Units 1 and 2 – Audit of the Licensee’s Management of Regulatory Commitments (TAC Nos. ME7014 and ME7015) ADAMS Accession No.: ML11264A002

Susquehanna: Audit of Licensee's Management (ML11264A002)

SUSQUEHANNA STEAM ELECTRIC STATION, UNITS 1 AND 2 - AUDIT OF THE LICENSEE'S MANAGEMENT OF REGULATORY COMMITMENTS (TAC NOS. ME7014 AND ME7015

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New Norwegian report says Fukushima radiation releases twice initial estimates

From Bellona:

The estimate of much higher levels of radioactive caesium-137 in the atmosphere comes from a worldwide network of sensors that was studied by the Norwegian Institute for Air Research in a report authored by Andreas Stohl .

The Norwegian study says the Japanese government estimate came only from data in Japan, and that would have missed emissions blown out to sea. Its says that Fukushima Daiichi radioactive releases equal 40 percent of those from the Chernobyl disaster in 1986.

A study by the French Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety also stated that the amount of caesium-137 that flowed into the Pacific from the coastal plant is some 30 times more than was estimated by the plant’s owner, Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO).

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Cancer, nuke site study begins; Trying to find risks of living nearby

From USA Today:

As the nation explores whether to invest more in nuclear energy, the National Academy of Sciences has begun a study of cancer risks faced by people living near nuclear facilities -- a study it admits is worrisome. A patchwork of state and local mortality reports, inconsistent data on illnesses and pollution combined with an American population that has moved around quite a bit in the past 50 years are just some of the challenges, said John Burris, chairman of the cancer-risk study committee. Proving scientifically whether long-term exposure to low doses of radiation around the nation's 104 nuclear facilities has meant a higher rate of cancer for those living nearby will be a daunting task, Burris said. "If you show living near a nuclear facility increases your chances of getting cancer, there will have to be radical changes, but that is not up to the committee," Burris said at a public meeting in Tennessee this month. The study, called for by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, is planned to update a 1991 National Cancer Institute study that found no danger in living near nuclear plants. President Obama has called for $36 billion in federal loan guarantees for nuclear power plant construction.

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Fallout forensics hike radiation toll

From Nature:

The disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in March released far more radiation than the Japanese government has claimed. So concludes a study¹ that combines radioactivity data from across the globe to estimate the scale and fate of emissions from the shattered plant.

The study also suggests that, contrary to government claims, pools used to store spent nuclear fuel played a significant part in the release of the long-lived environmental contaminant caesium-137, which could have been prevented by prompt action. The analysis has been posted online for open peer review by the journal Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.

Andreas Stohl, an atmospheric scientist with the Norwegian Institute for Air Research in Kjeller, who led the research, believes that the analysis is the most comprehensive effort yet to understand how much radiation was released from Fukushima Daiichi. "It's a very valuable contribution," says Lars-Erik De Geer, an atmospheric modeller with the Swedish Defense Research Agency in Stockholm, who was not involved with the study.

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Correction Letter for Peach Bottom: Safety Evaluation (ML112911410)

CORRECTION LETTER FOR PEACH BOTTOM ATOMIC POWER STATION, UNIT 3 - SAFETY EVALUATION REGARDING SAFETY LIMIT MINIMUM CRITICAL POWER RATIO VALUE CHANGE (TAC NO. ME6391)

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Panel proposes widening nuclear evacuation perimeter to 30 km (18 miles)

From Kyodo News:

The secretariat of the Nuclear Safety Commission of Japan proposed on Thursday expanding the maximum evacuation perimeter around a nuclear power plant to a 30-kilometer radius from the current 10 km in the event of a future nuclear accident.

The secretariat also proposed newly designating a 5-km radius around a nuclear plant as a zone from which people should immediately be evacuated following a plant accident.

The proposal was shown to the commission's working group reexamining evacuation rules for nuclear accidents in the wake of the disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Fukushima Prefecture triggered by the massive earthquake and tsunami in March.

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