Slashdot Mirror
NRC Engineers Urge Shutdown of Nuclear Plants If Design Flaw Not Fixed (utilitydive.com)
mdsolar writes: A group of engineers in the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission say they have identified a design flaw in nearly all nuclear reactors in the country that should result in their mandatory shutdown unless operators fix the problem, Reuters reports. In late February, the engineers petitioned the NRC to order immediate enforcement actions to correct the design flaw, which they say could result in damage to cooling systems and ultimately lead to an emergency situation. The filing asks the agency to respond by March 21 and is a part of a standard NRC process, according to the news outlet. The filing stems from an incident in January 2012, when Exelon's Byron 2 unit in Illinois experienced an automatic reactor trip from full power after an undervoltage condition was detected. The unit was shut down for a week, in what is known as an open phase condition created by an unbalanced voltage. The NRC engineers say such an event could cause an electrical short, reducing the abilituy of cooling systems to operate.
Why are all these non-stories submitted by mdsolar being approved? They identified a possible flaw and recommended a fix. Nothing to see here, move on.
In short, the catastrophic problems at both Chernobyl and at Fukushima Daiichi, despite different reactor designs, were coolant/steam problems. In Chernobyl's case steam voids within the graphite-moderated core caused the pressure to grow to the point it blew-off the upper biological shield, exposing the reactor core and blowing chunks of it out into the environment. In Fukishima Daiichi's case, as temperatures grew steam formed and also hydrogen and oxygen were separated-out from water, so steam and hydrogen explosions resulted.
Keeping that reactor cooled and preventing the buildup of steam inside of the system should be top priority.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
It's not like the country needs power or anything...
The country doesn't needs nuclear meltdowns; neither does its power grid. If you shut down power plants, power gets more expensive and other power plants open. If a reactor melts down, not only is the land around it unusable for a while but the irrational public says, "ZOMG! Nuclear!" and you can't open a new nuclear plant for forty years.
If there is a problem, and there's no reason to believe there isn't, it should be fixed now before the height of summer A/C demand. Cooling is an incredible draw on our power supplies and the world is just getting hotter.
Doesn't sound like it's a major design flaw; they just have to detect an open phase condition more quickly, or provide an alternative power source to the emergency cooling pumps.
One of the few happy lessons from Fukushima is that defense-in-depth works -- at least to prevent mishaps from developing into the worst possible scenario. So we shouldn't be cavalier about the potential loss of one of our layers of protection.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
Um, nothing happened to the cooling system in Fukushima, the backup generators and power feed lines were washed away, leaving no way at all to power the cooling systems. This is hardly the same thing.
APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
So the bird poop don't get in...
As soon as I saw the word "nuclear" in the subject, I knew who the submitter was.
For those new around here, mdsolar is Slashdot's long-time anti-unclear troll, so I'm posting this as a forewarning to you. His posting history shows he regularly contributes anti-nuclear articles, and when he gets told, he typically resorts to personal attacks on those he disagrees with. If you're not interested in going down this path, the best option is just to ignore him. As they say: don't feed the trolls. Now if we could only get the powers-that-be here to ignore his submissions...
"Politicians and diapers must be changed often, and for the same reason."
...the land around it is unusable for a while... LOL, I guess if you consider several generations 'a while'.
No. The risk is failure of the cooling systems.
An open phase fault means that one of the three power phases has lost voltage. This would not trip over current circuit breakers, and some equipment like motors for pumps and cooling systems may continue to operate, but their performance would be severely degraded, or if stopped may fail to start, even though they appear to have voltage. Under these degraded conditions, motors may be internally damaged by overheating.
Phase loss detection relays are fairly standard for sensitive equipment. In the event of a phase loss or phase with low voltage, all 3 phases are tripped, cutting all power. A backup power supply can then be selected.
...and it's apparently a standard in all of the nuclear reactors in the country, only one of which had one single event. Which didn't do any actual damage.
Yeah, I'm going to go with "this isn't that big of a problem in reality" for $1000, Alex.
The same blog notes a continuing problem with slack operations at the Springfield plant. Because of its hiring of two-dimensional yellow employees with diminished concern about safety and a poor diet, closure of the local Lard Lad franchise and alcoholism awareness training for all employees was recommended. Video of high-level waste being accidentally brought home in an employee's car and being tossed out onto a public street when discovered was submitted to the NRC in evidence.
Some risks aren't work taking. I'm not a nuclear engineer, and can't speak directly to the issue here. However, if a nuclear engineer intimate with the details speaks up in such a manner, and especially if a group of them do, you'd damn well better pay attention. Engineers don't use hyperbole. If they say this is a problem that merits shutting down reactors it does.
Two of my imaginary friends reproduced once