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Nuke plant accident precursors at 17-year low--NRC
Wednesday December 9, 6:23 pm Eastern Time
WASHINGTON, Dec 9 (Reuters) - The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission said Wednesday the number of incidents at
commercial nuclear power plants that could have led to severe
accidents, and damaged reactor cores, dropped to a new 17-year
low.
NRC's Office for Analysis and Evaluation of Operational Data said
that in 1997 a total of five events could have remotely set the stage
for a severe accident, about half as many as in each of the previous
two years and the lowest number since 1970.
The report noted that 1997 was also the first time since 1970 that
there were no so-called ``precursor'' events which had the
probability of producing a severe core damage accident where the
odds were greater than one in 10,000.
``The odds of the five precursors recorded in 1997 were between
one in 10,000 and one in a million,'' the NRC said.
Precursor incidents included an April 21, 1997, coolant system
leak at the 846 megawatt Oconee Unit 2 plant in Seneca, S.C.; a
loss of offsight power on June 21 at the 870 megawatt Three Mile
Island Unit 1 in Londonderry Township, Penn.; problems with high
pressure injection pumps on May 3 at 846 megawatt Oconee Unit
3; a Jan 22 valve failure in the coolant system at the now shut
down Maine Yankee plant, and mechanical troubles on Nov 22 at
the 839 megawatt St. Lucie Unit 1 power facility in Hutchinson
Island, Fla.
The agency said all of the incidents occurred at pressurized water
reactors, which comprise around two-thirds of the 104 commercial
nuclear reactors operating in the U.S.
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Sandy Perle
E-Mail: sandyfl@earthlink.net
Personal Website: http://www.geocities.com/capecanaveral/1205
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