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Exelon cancels alert at Illinois nuclear unit
Index:
Exelon cancels alert at Illinois nuclear unit
Ukraine Nuclear Reactor Stopped
NRC ORDER HALTS SHIPMENT OF LARGE RADIOACTIVE SOURCES BY JL SHEPHERD
=========================================================
Exelon cancels alert at Illinois nuclear unit
NEW YORK, July 5 (Reuters) - Exelon Nuclear said on Thursday it
canceled a safety alert at an Illinois nuclear power plant that was
shut several hours earlier due to high pressure in the building
housing the nuclear reactor.
The alert at the 800-megawatt Dresden 3 unit, in Morris, Ill., was
lifted at 1602 CDT (1702 EDT), just under six hours after the unit
was shut down following what Exelon called "increased pressure in the
reactor's containment building."
The company said in a statement that the plant's reactor cooling
systems and radiation levels inside the containment building were
normal.
"There was no release of radioactivity associated with the event,"
the company said.
Plant operator Exelon Nuclear, a unit of Exelon Corp., said it was
putting the reactor into "cold shutdown" while they investigated what
triggered the sudden rise in pressure.
Cold shutdown means the temperature of the water in the reactor
system is below the boiling point, halting the flow of steam used to
spin the plant's electric turbines.
The alert was the second-lowest on the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission's four-level safety scale.
An alert signals the actual or potential for "substantial degradation
of the safety of a nuclear plant", according to the safety code used
at the nation's nuclear power stations.
"There is no danger to the public and no special actions by the
public are needed," the company said in a statement.
The adjoining 800-MW Dresden 2 nuclear unit continued to operate at
100 percent of capacity, the company said.
The cause of the pressure problem was being investigated, Exelon
Nuclear said. The company did not indicate how long it expected
Dresden 3 to be out of service.
The Dresden 3 unit had just returned to full power early on Thursday
after being shut over the weekend for maintenance, the NRC said in
its daily plant status report.
-----------------
Ukraine Nuclear Reactor Stopped
KIEV, Ukraine (AP) - A nuclear reactor at Ukraine's Yuzhna atomic
power plant was halted Friday after malfunction in its steam
generator system, the state nuclear Energoatom company said in a
statement.
No radiation leaks were reported, Energoatom said. The company did
not say when the reactor would be restarted.
Ukraine relies on nuclear energy for about 40 percent of its
electricity, but the country's aging reactors are often shut down due
to minor malfunctions or for repairs. Seven of a total of 13 reactors
are currently working, the report said.
In December, Ukraine permanently closed down the Chernobyl nuclear
power plant, site of the world's worst nuclear accident in 1986 when
its reactor No. 4 exploded, spewing radiation over much of Europe.
---------------
NRC ORDER HALTS SHIPMENT OF LARGE RADIOACTIVE SOURCES BY JL SHEPHERD
& ASSOCIATES
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued an order, effective
immediately, that essentially halts the shipment of large radioactive
sources in certain packages by JL Shepherd & Associates, a
manufacturer of industrial and research irradiators and instrument
calibrators located in San Fernando, California. The NRC action
follows complaints from foreign authorities that Shepherd irradiators
were not packaged for shipment in conformance with NRC regulations,
which initiated an NRC inspection at the Shepherd facilities May 29-
31. NRC inspectors identified several concerns with the manner in
which the company conducted its approved quality assurance program,
which is designed to assure safe design, use, maintenance, and repair
of transportation packages for large radioactive sources. These
deficiencies resulted in the shipment of packages that did not meet
NRC requirements established to prevent them from breaking open
should they be involved in a transportation accident. As a result,
the order states that NRC officials "lack the requisite reasonable
assurance that [Shepherd's] current operations can be conducted . . .
in compliance with the Commission's requirements" and are protective
of the health and safety of the public, including the [company's]
employees. The order withdraws NRC approval of Shepherd's quality
assurance program. Without this approval, the company will not be
allowed to package and ship large radioactive sources in certain
packages. The company can continue to ship some smaller quantities of
radioactive materials. The irradiator involved in the shipment
contained large quantities of highly radioactive materials, 18,000
curies of cobalt-60, which has the potential to cause serious
injuries or death if the shielding is breached; however, no one was
exposed to radiation as a result of an improperly packaged
irradiator. The company must, within 20 days, submit an answer to the
order, either consenting to it or explaining why it should not have
been issued. The company may also request a formal hearing to
determine whether the order
should be sustained.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sandy Perle Tel:(714) 545-0100 / (800) 548-5100
Director, Technical Extension 2306
ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Service Fax:(714) 668-3149
ICN Pharmaceuticals, Inc. E-Mail: sandyfl@earthlink.net
ICN Plaza, 3300 Hyland Avenue E-Mail: sperle@icnpharm.com
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
Personal Website: http://www.geocities.com/scperle
ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Website: http://www.dosimetry.com
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