False alarms sound at Three Mile Island

From philly.com:

Radiation monitors sounded last night and again this morning inside Three Mile Island's Unit 1 containment building - the site of a small contamination incident just days earlier - but Exelon officials said they were false alarms.

Although tests showed that no abnormal radiation levels existed, Gov. Rendell today again blasted Exelon Corp. for failing to immediately inform state emergency management officials.

Rendell said the company didn't notify the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency until about 9:30 a.m. today - nearly 13 hours after the first alarm.

"What Exelon folks, at least the Exelon folks at TMI are not understanding is that the people of Central Pennsylvania, even though this is 30 years old, understandably are very apprehensive and jumpy about all this and there is no appropriate reason for us not to be notified about this," Rendell told reporters referring to the partial meltdown that occurred in 1979 at the plant's Unit 2.

Rendell said that all TMI officials had to do was pick up a phone, call PEMA and say "hey this is a false alarm . . . and we will get back to you as soon as we know that."

Read more

TMI leak raises anxiety

From the Press and Journal:

Eric Epstein, chairman of the watchdog group Three Mile Island Alert, went further when he labeled the calling delay a “communications fiasco.” “It appears that they have learned nothing [from the 1979 accident],” he said. TMI’s DeSantis said the level of radiation released was well below an “unusual event,” a designation requiring the notification of state and local officials within 15 minutes. However, he said, the company will review its handling of the information. “If there is a way that we can improve this we certainly will,” he said. TMI’s Unit 1 reactor has been shut down for refueling and maintenance since Oct. 26. Saturday’s incident occurred while workers were removing one of two steam generators that are being replaced. Inspectors for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission were at the site Saturday to monitor Exelon’s response to the release. Federal regulators will continue to investigate the cause of the release.

Read more

Peach Bottom: Request for Additional Information Regarding Request for Exemption From 10 CFR 50, Appendix R, Section III.G, Fire Protection of Safe Sh

Letter from the NRC to Exelon:

By letter to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) dated March 6, 2009 (Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) Accession No. ML090680141), Exelon Generation Company, LLC, (Exelon) submitted a Request for Exemption for Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station (PBAPS), Unit Nos. 2 and 3. The submittal seeks exemption from the provisions of Title 10 of The Code of Federal Regulations, Part 50 (10 CFR 50), Appendix R, Section III.G, "Fire Protection of Safe Shutdown Capability." The exemption requests the use of operator manual actions (OMAs) in lieu of the circuit separation requirements specified in 10 CFR 50, Appendix R, Section III.G.2 (III.G.2). The NRC staff has reviewed the request submitted by the licensee and has identified a need for additional information as set forth in the Enclosure.

Read more (PDF)

UNUSUAL EVENT - REACTOR COOLANT SYSTEM LEAKAGE GREATER THAN 25 GPM

Event Number: 45517 Facility: BEAVER VALLEY Region: 1 State: PA Unit: [ ] [2] [ ] RX Type: [1] W-3-LP,[2] W-3-LP NRC Notified By: DAN SCHWER HQ OPS Officer: VINCE KLCO Emergency Class: UNUSUAL EVENT 10 CFR Section: 50.72(a) (1) (i) - EMERGENCY DECLARED Notification Date: 11/24/2009 Notification Time: 03:40 [ET] Event Date: 11/24/2009 Event Time: 03:05 [EST] Last Update Date: 11/24/2009 Person (Organization): RAYMOND MCKINLEY (R1DO) SAM COLLINS (RA1) ERIC LEEDS (NRR) SAMSON LEE (NRR) BRIAN McDERMOTT (IRD) JOHN FROST (DHS) WILLIAM BORDAN (FEMA) "Beaver Valley Unit 2 declared an unusual event due to reactor coolant system unidentified leakage greater than 25 GPM into the pressurizer relief tank. Leakage occurred during shutdown of the residual heat removal system Train-A. The Train-A suction relief valve lifted due to pressure from the in-service Train-B residual heat [removal] system. The leakage has been stopped by isolating Train-A RHR from Train-B RHR. The duration of relief valve lifting was about 9 minutes. The pressurizer relief tank remained intact. All other systems functioned as designed and the plant is stable. Containment was closed at time of the event. No radioactive release occurred." The licensee terminated the unusual event at 0404 EST. The licensee notified the NRC Resident Inspector. * * * UPDATE BY DAVID HASER TO VINCE KLCO ON 11/24/2009 AT 0707* * * Licensee clarified that the event was due to identified leakage not unidentified leakage as stated in the paragraph above.

A Nuclear Reactor Shows Its Age

From the New York Times:

Almost every plan for limiting carbon dioxide output includes keeping old nuclear plants running. But as those plants age, they turn up new problems. The latest is at a plant owned by Progress Energy in Crystal River, Fla., where a gap was found inside the thick concrete of a containment dome. The plant had been temporarily shut in late September so workers could replace the aging steam generators — which required them to cut a hole in the dome. (The steam generators at many aging nuclear reactors were intended to last the life of the plant, so no way for swapping them out was designed.)

Read more

Pipe-cutting led to radiation incident at TMI

From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

Amid renewed criticism from Gov. Ed Rendell for a five-hour delay in telling emergency officials of a weekend radiation incident, Exelon Corp. said its Three Mile Island nuclear plant was "back to normal" yesterday.

Ventilation fans probably caused the release of a small amount of radiation inside one building on Saturday afternoon, Exelon officials said.

They said the ventilation system has since been modified, and that the 150 workers stationed in the building had all returned to work.

"Things are back to normal," site vice president Bill Noll said yesterday. No contamination was found outside the containment building, and the event never posed a threat to the public, company and federal officials reiterated yesterday.

Read more

Blown particles triggered incident

From the Patriot News:

Saturday's radiation leak inside the Three Mile Island containment building occurred when ventilation fans blew irradiated particles around in the reactor's pipes, a plant spokesman says.

The particles were detected by monitors, TMI spokesman Ralph DeSantis said Monday. The incident is under review, but the ventilation system has since been modified so the problem won't happen again, he said.

Workers involved in replacing the plant's steam generators were cutting through the pipes at the time, nuclear officials said.

Read more