Alert at Indian Pointgreenspun.com : LUSENET : Electric Utilities and Y2K : One Thread |
Just saw this on another bulletin board:Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2000
Alert Declared at Nuclear Plant
BUCHANAN, N.Y. (AP) -- A leak in a steam generator at a Hudson River nuclear power plant resulted in a brief release of radioactive steam but it was below dangerous levels, power company officials said.
Consolidated Edison, which owns and operates the Indian Point 2 plant in northern Westchester County, declared an alert, the second of four increasingly serious emergency classifications, company spokesman Michael Spall said. There were no evacuations, Spall said. Buchanan is about 35 miles north of New York City.
AP NewsBrief by ANDREW DAMPF
AP-NY-02-16-00 0400EST
http://www.newsday.com/ap/rnmpne14.htm
-- Anonymous, February 16, 2000
Sorry, the link I gave above to the newsday article is already outdated. But I went to the NRC Event Report site and found these two reports of leaks, one in NY (emerg. declared) and one in NJ (degraded condition). Hoping it's just more of that "routine" stuff. - Judy
Event Number: 36695
FACILITY: INDIAN POINT
REGION: 1
NOTIFICATION DATE: 02/15/2000
UNIT: [2] [] []
STATE: NY |NOTIFICATION TIME: 20:07[EST]|
RXTYPE: [2] W-4-LP,[3] W-4-LP
EVENT DATE: 02/15/2000
EVENT TIME: 19:29[EST]
NRC NOTIFIED BY: TOWNDSON
LAST UPDATE DATE: 02/15/2000
HQ OPS OFFICER: JOHN MacKINNON
EVENT TEXT
REACTOR MANUALLY TRIPPED DUE TO INDICATION OF A STEAM GENERATOR TUBE RUPTURE ON STEAM GENERATOR # 24.
The licensee was at 99% power when they received a nitrogen-16 alarm on the main steam and other indication of a Steam Generator Tube Rupture on Steam Generator # 24. Initial Steam Generator Tube Rupture was initially estimated at greater than 75 gallons per minute. The reactor was manually tripped and all rods fully inserted into the core. The faulted Steam Generator was isolated. Currently reactor coolant system pressure is 2243 psig, temperature is 547 ~F and pressurizer level is being maintained at 35%. The licensee declared an Alert classification per EAL 3.1.2 (large amount of water out of the reactor coolant system). The NRC entered Standby at 2049 EST.
The NRC response was deescalated to Monitoring at 2335 EST.
The NRC Resident Inspector was notified of this event by the licensee.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
Power Reactor
Event Number: 36696
FACILITY: SALEM
REGION: 1
NOTIFICATION DATE: 02/15/2000
UNIT: [] [2] []
STATE: NJ
NOTIFICATION TIME: 20:35[EST]
RXTYPE: [1] W-4-LP,[2] W-4-LP
EVENT DATE: 02/15/2000
EVENT TIME: 19:40[EST]
NRC NOTIFIED BY: SUE SIMPSON
LAST UPDATE DATE: 02/15/2000
EVENT TEXT
UNIDENTIFIED LEAKAGE 1.1 GALLONS PER MINUTE
"Elevated reading noted on Unit 2 Plant Vent Radiation Monitor (2R41D) concurrent with slowly lowering Volume Control Tank (VCT) level. Plant was operating at 100% reactor power. Investigation by on-shift personnel estimated unidentified RCS leakage at 1.1 gpm. This value exceeds the Tech Spec limit of 1 gpm unidentified (Reference Tech Spec 3.4.7.2). The Unit 2 Reactor Coolant Filter had been replaced on dayshift. Operators isolated the Reactor Coolant Filter at 2010 and the leakage appears to be stopped. This report is being made for RCS leakage outside containment which may result in exceeding GDC-19 criteria for Control Room habitability."
The leak appears to have started at 1638 EST and was stopped at 2010 EST. The volume that was lost is estimated at 160 gallons, the leak was through a hard pipe directly to a radiation waste tank. The licensee notified the NRC Resident Inspector.
-- Anonymous, February 16, 2000
Fr om the CNN ArticleBUCHANAN, New York (CNN) -- A small leak in a steam generator at a nuclear power plant north of New York City has been contained, Con Edison spokesperson D. Joy Faber said on Wednesday.
Plant officials said the leak had posed no danger to employees or the public.
"There is no danger to the health and welfare of the general public," Steve Quinn, vice president of utility Consolidated Edison, said at a news conference early Wednesday.
Quinn estimated about 1 cubic foot of gas escaped from the plant's containment building -- the sealed concrete building that holds the reactor -- into the air outside, constituting a "completely immeasurable" amount of radiation.
The leak occurred in one of the four steam generators at Con Edison's Indian Point 2 on the Hudson River in Westchester County, about 35 miles north of New York City.
Officials from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission were monitoring the scene.
No evacuations ordered County police said no one in the area was evacuated because of the leak, which occurred at about 7:30 p.m. EST Tuesday.
"We are advising the public that there is no danger," said Wasi Talib, public information officer for the Westchester County Police Department.
After the leak, the company issued an alert, the second least serious of the four categories of emergencies at nuclear plants. An alert is declared when events occur which involve actual or potentially substantial degradation of plant safety.
All radiation measurements and surveys taken shortly after the incident were within normal limits, Faber said.
Con Edison officials said the plant's emergency sirens at the plant did not sound because the amount of steam that escaped was so small.
Cause of leak under investigation The plant was shut down manually and the leak was isolated immediately, Faber said. But plant officials said they did not yet know what caused the leak.
The leak occurred in a tube used to carry hot, radioactive, high- pressure water to a pool of cool, non-radioactive water. Steam, produced when the hot water hits the cool water, turns a turbine and generates electricity.
The plant was shut down after the leak and is to remain closed for maintenance for at least a week. Quinn said nothing could be done until the temperature inside the building drops.
"It's not something we want to rush," Quinn said of reopening. "Something unusual happened tonight."
Power will be provided by other plants in the region.
-- Anonymous, February 17, 2000