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Re: "Watchdog group questions safety of nuclear plant"
I would say that this is very misleading as an accident consequence
analysis would include multiple tube failures. Although the internet is not
exactly the best source of information, a search with keywords "multiple
tube failure" turned up this interesting paper:
http://www2.ijs.si/~tdvorsek/paperNED/paperNED.html
The references given are worthy of note:
[1] MacDonald, P.E., C.Maruska, V.N.Shah, Assessment and Management of
Ageing of Major Nuclear Power Plant Components: Steam Generators (Draft),
Safety Series, International Atomic Energy Agency (1995), Vienna, Austria.
[2] Clark, R.A., R.J.Kurtz: Compendium and Comparison of International
Practice for Plugging, Repair and Inspection of Steam Generator Tubing,
NUREG/CR-5016 (1988).
[3] ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code, Section XI.
[4] U.S. NRC, Voltage-Based Interim Plugging Criteria for Steam Generator
Tubes, Draft report NUREG-1477 (1993), Washington D.C., USA.
[5] Mavko, B., L.Cizelj: Failure Probability of Axially Cracked Steam
Generator Tubes: A Probabilistic Fracture Mechanics Model, Nuclear
Technology, Vol. 98 (1992), No. 2, pp. 171-177.
[6] Cizelj, L., B.Mavko, P.Vencelj, Reliability of Steam Generator Tubes
with Axial Cracks, Service Experience and Reliability Improvement, Journal
of Pressure Vessel Technology, Transactions of ASME, Vol. 118 (1996), No.
4, pp. 441-446.
[7] Cizelj, L., B.Mavko, H.Riesch-Oppermann, Application of First and
Second Order Reliability Methods on the Safety Assessment of Steam
Generator Tubing, Nuclear Engineering and Design, Vol. 147 (1994), pp.
359-368.
[8] Cizelj, L., T. Dvor?ek, B. Mavko, Efficiency of Defect Specific
Maintenance of Steam Generator Tubes: The Case of ODSCC, 15(superscript: th
) EPRI Steam Generator NDE Workshop, EPRI Report No. TR-107161 (1996), Long
Beach, CA, USA, July 29-31, 1996, pp. 9/1?9/10.
[9] Steam Generator Degradation Specific Management (Draft), EPRI Report
No. TR-103017 (1993).
[10] US NRC, Generic Letter 95-05 (1995).
[11] Cizelj, L. H.Riesch-Oppermann: ZERBERUS-the Code for Reliability
Analysis of Crack Containing Structures, Report KfK 5019 (1991),
Kernforschungszentrum Karlsruhe, Germany.
[12] Dvor?ek, T., Comparison of Maintenance Strategies Applied to Steam
Generator Tubes (in Slovene), M.Sc. Thesis (1996), University of Ljubljana,
Slovenia.
[13] Cizelj, L., et al, Safety Analysis of Kr?ko NPP Steam Generator Tubes
Damaged by Outside Diameter Stress Corrosion Cracking at Tube Support
Plates, Report No. IJS-DP-7175, Rev. 0 (1995), "J.Stefan" Institute,
Ljubljana, Slovenia, proprietary.
[14] Cuvelliez, Ch., G.Roussel, Assessment of the Leak Tightness Integrity
of the Steam Generator Affected by ODSCC at Tube Support Plates, CNRA/CNSI
Workshop on Steam Generator Tube Integrity in Nuclear Power Plants,
NUREG/CP-0154 (1996), Oak Brooks, Illinois, USA, October 30-November 2,
1995, pp. 385-398.
[15] Cizelj, L., I.Sor?ek, G.Roussel, Ch.Cuvelliez, Some Comments on the
Probabilistic Modeling of Leak Rates Through Degraded SG Tubing, 15
(superscript: th) EPRI Steam Generator NDE Workshop, EPRI Report No.
TR-107161 (1996), Long Beach, CA, USA, July 29-31, 1996, pp. 31/1-31/10.
[16] Cizelj, L., B.Mavko, H.Riesch-Oppermann, On the Probabilistic
Approaches Applied to the Maintenance of Degraded Steam Generator Tubes,
CSNI-PW3 Workshop on Probabilistic Structural Integrity Analysis and its
Relationship to Deterministic Analysis, NEA/CSNI/R(96) 4 (1996), Stockholm,
Sweden, February 28-March 1, 1996, pp. 261-272.
[17] NPP Kr?ko, Technical Specification, Rev. 50 (1997).
[18] Inetec, Results of Reevaluation of EC Data Under TSP and Their
Statistic Analysis, Final Report, Rev. 3 (1996).
DJWhitfill
Opinions expressed are mine and do not reflect official policies or
positions of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.
Norman Cohen
<ncohen12@HOME.COM> To: "radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu" <radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu>
Sent by: cc:
owner-radsafe@list.vand Subject: Re: "Watchdog group questions safety of nuclear plant"
erbilt.edu
08/23/01 09:04 PM
Please respond to
Norman Cohen
Hi Sandy, and Radsafers,
Delurking for a moment:
Perhaps it was the way the reporter expressed himself. The "panel" was
the 10 or
more NRC officials at the NRC public meeting on the safety of Salem's
(mostly Unit 2)
steam generators. NRC granted this public meeting in response to a request
from the
UNPLUG Salem Campaign, and sent their senior faciliator, Chip Cameron plus
a whole
posse of NRC officials, to the meeting.
The admission is directly from the NRC's own ACRS (Committee on
Reactor
Safeguards) report which verified the Hopenfeld DPO (Differing Professional
Opinion),
which makes it clear that the NRC "hasn't a clue" (my words) as whether or
not a single
tube rupture may or may not lead to a multiple tube rupture. Dr Hopenfeld,
a senior NRC
inspector, had spent 10 long years trying to get the NRC to listen. After
Indian Point
2 blew a steam generator tube, NRC had to listen.
Anyone who wants Lochbaum's handout or the text from the Praire Island
Coalition's
video, both of which detail how and why multiple tube ruptures could occur,
please
email me at mailto:ncohen12@home.com and I'll be glad to snail mail the
info to you.
Thanks,
Norm
(back to lurkdom)
Sandy Perle wrote:
> There have been many SG tube ruptures. I wonder why the NRC officials
> supposedly said the following. "A panel of Nuclear Regulatory
> Commission officials admitted that they don't know whether a single
> broken steam tube in a Salem nuclear generator could lead to multiple
> beaks and ultimately a core meltdown." Is anyone familiar with what
> was actually said, and who were these 10 NRC officials?
> ---------------------------
>
> "Watchdog group questions safety of nuclear plant"
> Jack Kaskey
>
> "Unplug Salem's concerns ceneter on cracking of alloy tubes
> in generators inside Salem Unit 2. The tubes are bearly identical to
> one that burst 18 months ago at a New York plant".
>
> PENNSVILLE TOWNSHIP- A panel of Nuclear Regulartory Commission
> officials admitted tht they don;t know whether a single broken steam
> tube in a Salem nuclear generator could lead to multiple beaks and
> ultimately a core meltdown. About 10 NRC officials gathered Thursday
> night at the Hampton Inn here from headquarters in Maryland, the
> region office in King of Prussia and the nuclear plants in Salem
> County to address concerns raised by Unplug Salem, a Linwood-based
> group. The group's concerns center on corrosion and cracking of 1300
> alloy tubes contained in four generators inside the containment
> vessel of Salem Unit 2. The generator tubes are nearly identical to
> one that burst 18 months ago at a plant in Indian Point, N.Y.,
> leaking radioactive steam into the atmosphere. NRC officeials said
> nuclear plants are designed to safely shut themselves down when such
> a leak occurs. "The plant is designed to acccomodate the failure of a
> tube," said Glenn Meyer, NRC branch chief for the Salem plants.
> Thursday's meeting, however, focused on a new NRC committee report on
> steam generators that raises the question of whether a single rupture
> could cause a chain reaction of broken tubes. In the event of "gross
> failure' of multiple steam generator tubes, more water could escape
> through steam vents than the plant is designed to replace, said Dave
> Lochbaum, a nuclear safety engineer with the Union of Concerned
> Scientists in Washington, DC. Without sufficient water, the nuclear
> reactor would melt down, Lochbaum said. Such a meltdown would pollute
> much of southern New Jersey with radiation. Meyer said such a
> scenario is only a hypothesis that NRC staff members are evaluating.
> "That's not to say it absolutely can't happen," Meyer said. "Multiple
> tube failures:Can they happen? We can't definetly say 'no'. That's
> what we are pursuing." In the meantime, there is no safety risk with
> continued operation of the nuclear plant, said Rick Ennis, the NRC
> project manager in charge of responding to the steam-generator
> report. NRC officials said a single tube failure is unlikely, because
> plant operator Public Service Electric and Gas plugs tubes when they
> are corroded 40 percent of the way through. The pencil-thin tubes are
> tested for cracks using radio waves. Although current testing methods
> don't typically discover a tube that is only 40% cracked, tubes in a
> high-pressure generator can withstand a crack 85 percent of the way
> through, said Joseph Muscara, an NRC senior metallurigical engineer.
> To date, 871 tubes have been plugged at Salem Unit 2. Meyer said PSEG
> has a strong financial incentive to make sure they plug any tubes
> during refueling outages. If a tube breaks when the plant is
> operating, power production has to stop for weeks, he said.
> Generators in Indian Point Unit 2 and Salem Unit 2 both use the same
> size and type of nickel-alloy tubing. But NRC officials have told
> Unplug Salem coordinator Norm Cohen that a direct comparison between
> the two generators is inappropriate because the Salem tubes have been
> heat-treated. On Thursday, Cohen asked the NRC panel to rpovide
> certification of the heat treatment. But the nuclear officials said
> only PSEG has that information. Cohen and Lochbaum questioned whether
> it was worth the risk to keep the plant running while the NRC
> resolves the question of tube failures in older nuclear steam
> generators.
>
> --
> Coalition for Peace and Justice and the UNPLUG Salem Campaign; 321
> Barr Ave., Linwood, NJ 08221; 609-601-8537 or 609-601-8583 (8583:
> fax,
> answer machine); ncohen12@home.com UNPLUG SALEM WEBSITE:
> http://www.unplugsalem.org/ COALITION FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE WEBSITE:
> http:/www.coalitionforpeaceandjustice.org The Coalition for Peace
> and Justice is a chapter of Peace Action. "First they ignore you;
> Then
> they laugh at you; Then they fight you; Then you win. (Gandhi) "Why
> walk when you can fly?" (Mary Chapin Carpenter)
>
> ------- End of forwarded message -------
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 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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--
Coalition for Peace and Justice and the UNPLUG Salem Campaign; 321 Barr
Ave., Linwood,
NJ 08221; 609-601-8537 or 609-601-8583 (8583: fax, answer machine);
ncohen12@home.com
UNPLUG SALEM WEBSITE: http://www.unplugsalem.org/ COALITION FOR PEACE AND
JUSTICE
WEBSITE: http:/www.coalitionforpeaceandjustice.org The Coalition for
Peace and
Justice is a chapter of Peace Action.
"First they ignore you; Then they laugh at you; Then they fight you; Then
you win.
(Gandhi) "Why walk when you can fly?" (Mary Chapin Carpenter)
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