Below is from our rapid response team . Yesterday, regional anti-nuclear organizations asked federal nuclear energy regulators to launch an investigation into what it claims are “newly identified flaws” in Westinghouse’s advanced reactor design, the AP1000. During a teleconference releasing a report on the subject, participants urged the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to suspend license reviews of proposed AP1000 reactors. In its news release, even the groups making these allegations provide conflicting information on its findings. In one instance, the groups cite “dozens of corrosion holes” at reactor vessels and in another says that eight holes have been documented. In all cases, there is another containment mechanism that would provide a barrier to radiation release. Below, we examine why these claims are unwarranted and why the AP1000 design certification process should continue as designated by the NRC. Myth: In the AP1000 reactor design, the gap between the shield bu...
Comments
- The nuclear fuel arrived on site on July 17 from GE.
- Expecting a December 2006 fuel load.
- Power generation is on schedule for May 2007. There was some hinting that this might happen earlier.
- The $1.8 billion restart project is on budget.
- Browns Ferry staffing was at 898 persons prior to restart. They are at 1015 now. They forecast a need for 1047 staff members to support 3-unit operation.
- About 2,300 contractor employees on site.
- Stone & Webster is the prime construction contractor.
- Bechtel is the prime design contractor.
- NRC will have an additional permanent on site inspector (2 -> 3), since it is their custom to have the same number of resident inspectors as operating units.
- There is a tremendous amount of testing and inspection, and internal and external approvals required as each of the many subsystems are turned over to the plant operators. (The subsystems of the Unit 1 are "owned" by the restart project, and the restart project sort of has to "prove" that the subsystems are appropriately designed and constructed and inspected/tested before the "operating plant" will accept them for operation.)
- The project involved 605,529 feet of cabling, of which 83% is installed.
- There are 41,038 cable terminations, of which 89% are complete.
- There is 15,137 feet of small bore piping, of which 96% are complete.
- I gathered that much of the unit's active equipment was either replaced or sent to the vendor for refurbishment.