[ RadSafe ] More on San Onofre - Engineer's input needed

Sun Apr 8 19:56:07 CDT 2012

Hi Roy,

That is my understanding. I just landed after a 6 hour delay at DFW due to storms. I'll check my facts regarding the SG replacement.

Regards,

Sandy
Sent from my iPhone

On Apr 8, 2012, at 5:18 PM, "ROY HERREN" <royherren2005 at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Sandy,
> 
>     I was surprised to read your e-mail about the Steam Generators being 
> "relatively new".  I had initially assumed that they had merely replaced the old 
> tubing in the old generator with new tubes; I didn't know that they had 
> completely replaced the Steam Generators.  Given that these are "relatively new" 
> generators it is all the more disconcerting that some of the tubes are already 
> leaking.  Hopefully the root cause of the leak(s) will be determined and a 
> timely solution can be applied to get the units up and operating. 
> 
>    We are in a quandary of sorts regarding electrical energy production!  Some 
> folks don't want coal fired electrical generating plants, some folks don't want 
> oil or gas fired electrical generating plants, some folks don't want Solar 
> thermal plants, some folks don't want windmills, and some folks don't want 
> Nuclear Power plants (hell, here in northern California some folks want to tear 
> down some old dams and do away with water reservoirs and the hydroelectric 
> energy produced by those systems).   Clearly there doesn't appear to be any 
> practical solutions that will please all of the parties.   What are we to do to 
> produce electricity for a (post) industrial society?  Solar voltaic, Fusion?  At 
> least Solar voltaic is a proven technology, but we can't possible produce enough 
> panels in a short enough time frame to replace the loss of San Onofre, much less 
> all of the other Nuclear Power plants.  What are we to do?
> Roy Herren 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ________________________________
> From: "Perle, Sandy" <sperle at mirion.com>
> To: "SAFarber at optonline.net" <SAFarber at optonline.net>; TheInternational 
> Radiation Protection (Health Physics) Mailing List <radsafe at health.phys.iit.edu>
> Cc: The International Radiation Protection (Health Physics) Mailing List 
> <radsafe at health.phys.iit.edu>
> Sent: Sun, April 8, 2012 2:27:17 PM
> Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] More on San Onofre - Engineer's input needed
> 
> Stu,
> 
> Correct. Only a couple of tubes have had issues. The question is will others 
> fail and at what rate. This could be an isolated random issue since the SG is 
> relatively new. I drive by the plant frequently. The NRC may over-react due to 
> public concerns, and the media is giving into the anti-hype, as expected. Count 
> p. this being the scenario whenever any issue arises.
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Sandy Perle
> Sent from my iPhone
> 
> On Apr 8, 2012, at 3:22 PM, "Stewart Farber" <SAFarber at optonline.net> wrote:
> 
>> The two SG at San Onofre have about 10,000 individual tubes in total.
>> Depending on whether all tubes have a manufacturing defect and are likely to
>> keep failing regularly, I know in the past it was a routine procedure for a
>> plant to weld defective  SG tubes shut so that nothing from the primary side
>> can get carried over to the secondary loop. Back some time, Prairie Island
>> for example had to plug about 600 SG tubes and continued operations. It's a
>> question of how many tubes get welded shut and how much efficiency lost is
>> acceptable as a fraction of the approx. 5000 tubes in each SG.
>> 
>> I would think it all comes down to how many plugs are defective or are
>> likely to fail soon and can be repaired before the plant goes back on-line.
>> The grid operators, and regulatory agencies involved,  are likely to give
>> alternatives like welding defective tubes closed serious consideration when
>> they think about the consequences of a shortage of generating capacity by
>> taking San Onofre offline. 
>> 
>> Of course the NRC, may just torpedo the whole idea of SG repair and keep the
>> plant offline in their pursuit of what they state is the need for zero risk.
>> I guess operating old coal and gas plants with the significant environmental
>> and health effects to be realized with certainty is OK with zealous forces
>> against nuclear electric generation.
>> 
>> Stewart Farber
>> SAFarber at optonline.net
>> ==============
>> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu
>> [mailto:radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu] On Behalf Of Joel C.
>> Sent: Sunday, April 08, 2012 1:35 PM
>> To: radsafe at health.phys.iit.edu
>> Subject: [ RadSafe ] More on San Onofre - Engineer's input needed
>> 
>> It sounds like SCE spent $670 million on defective steam gennies.  I'd like
>> to hear from a knowledgable engineer about that.
>> 
>> 
>> Joel Cehn
>> joelc at alum.wpi.edu
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