Re: Emergency Planning Exercises -Reply -Reply

[Jim Hardeman <Jim_Hardeman@mail.dnr.state.ga.us>]

Ronald --

What I've seen over the past fourteen (14) years -- yep,
you've got me beat by a couple -- is that there's only so
many ways you can damage fuel and violate containment
integrity (at least, in an exercise scenario <grin>). It's
disheartening to listen to players (both state and local) sitting
around, looking at their watches, saying "well, it's about time
for lunch. Guess we'll be getting a GENERAL EMERGENCY
here in just a few minutes". And you know what -- they're
right!

I NEED exercise realism to keep ME on my toes ... and even
more so for my staff and the local government folks that we
work with. We will be working closely with our utilities to do
EVERYTHING we can to make this "exercise realism" stuff
work.

Jim Hardeman, Manager
Environmental Radiation Program
Environmental Protection Division
Georgia Department of Natural Resources
4244 International Parkway, Suite 114
Atlanta, GA 30354
(404) 362-2675   fax: (404) 362-2653
Jim_Hardeman@mail.dnr.state.ga.us



>>> RONALD GOODWIN
<RONALD_GOODWIN@health.ohio.gov> 04/08/96 12:49
>>>
We found that to make anything work, to meet the offsite
objectives, to get the release limits up to the point that offsite
monitoring teams had anything to do, except pick their
noses and b###@ we had to make some of the most
outlandish "failures" that could ever be seen.  Since  then, I
have written and carried out exercise scenarios at Southern 
California Edison (SONGS), Louisiana Power & Light
(Waterford III), Northern States Power (Monti and Prairie
Island), South Texas Project (STPEGS), Grand Gulf, and a
few others I can not even remember.  To reach these
releases, we have failed containment air locks, failed  open
target rock valves and supplemental closure valves, blown 
containment reliefs due to stuck PORVS, and every other
STUPID MEANS POSSIBLE sometimes exceeding even the
imagination of some game writer for NINTENDO, JUST TO
MEET THE EXERCISE SCENARIOS.  Realism be damned. 
We have failed valves that could be closed by hand in
minutes and had the poor maintenance people stymied on
why they could not close a valve that they tested or stroked
every month or so.