NEI Nuclear Notes

Earlier this week, we reported on our blog about a steam generator tube leak in unit 3 at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) in California (see here and here ). The key facts are that: 1) the public and plant workers were never in danger; 2) the plant responded exactly how it was supposed to—sensitive monitoring instruments alerted workers to the problem & they were able to quickly shut down the plant and isolate the component within four hours of detection. Southern California Edison , the plant’s owner, also immediately notified the Nuclear Regulatory Commission , the nation’s nuclear energy regulator, of the issue; and 3) pinhole-sized leaks in steam generator tubes are not an uncommon occurrence while a new steam generator is still being broken in. (SONGS just last year finished installing new steam generators at the site.) As soon as the event occurred, some groups immediately called for the plant to close. For instance, in the San Clemente Times...

A little story appearing in the Spokane (Wash.) Spokesman-Review: Gov. Butch Otter today signed an executive order creating the “Idaho Leadership in Nuclear Energy Commission,” or LINE Commission, to identify “opportunities and challenges associated with hosting the Idaho National Laboratory,” the nuclear facility in eastern Idaho. “Idaho clearly has been a recognized leader in nuclear energy research, development and demonstration for over 60 years,” Otter said. “We’ve also borne environmental burdens, but significant progress has been made in cleanup that enables us to focus more attention on the long-term viability and mission relevance of the INL.” I wasn’t sure what this meant, exactly – the name of the commission suggests that the goal is to promote INL as a notable state entity, but the text is a little more nuanced. Maybe that’s just how Gov. Otter goes about things : Otter's executive order on Wednesday reinforces his support of the industry's presence in...

Overnight, we've seen a lot of breathless coverage about the steam generator leak that happened at San Onfre Generating Station on Tuesday , one that led to a story on the AP's national wire and another during the first segment of ABC's World News Tonight with Diane Sawyer on Wednesday evening. What happened at San Onofre is a pretty typical operational event. If you don't believe us, feel free to ask David Lochbaum of the Union of Concerned Scientists. Here's what he told one Southern California newspaper about the incident at San Onofre: The "pinhole"-sized leak in a steam generator tube that caused a partial shutdown at the San Onofre nuclear plant Tuesday is something that is actually to be expected when a plant has new generators like San Onofre does, according to one expert. San Onofre recently replaced its old generators. Whenever generators are new or very old, leaks can occur, and engineers know to be alert for the problem, said David Lochbaum,...

We're seeing plenty of activity around the news coming out of San Onfre Nuclear Generating Station, and I think the most important piece of information I've seen thus far has come from Victor Dricks, a spokesman for the NRC. The following is excerpted from a story that appeared in the San Diego Union-Tribune : Small traces of radioactive gas from a leak at the San Onofre nuclear plant may have reached the atmosphere, a spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Wednesday. A reactor at the nuclear plant 45 miles north of San Diego was shut down on Tuesday when evidence emerged of a leak in a radioactive steam pipe in the plant's recently replaced generator. Air extractors apparently carried small traces of radioactive gas from the generator area to an unsealed auxiliary building outside the reactor dome, setting off radiation alarms, said NRC spokesman Victor Dricks. The leak and possible escape of gas poses no danger, he said. "If there was any radiation that...

Not so very long ago, we mentioned that Japan invited in the International Atomic Energy Agency to review its stress tests at its nuclear energy facilities. Now, there’s news of how that went: The team began its work on 23 January and delivered a Preliminary Summary Report to Japanese officials today and plans to finish the final report by the end of February. So what’d it say? Here’s the good news : Based on NISA instructions and commitments of the utilities, emergency safety measures were promptly addressed in Japanese NPPs following the accident on 11 March 2011; NISA's practice of conducting an independent walkdown of emergency measures implemented at nuclear power plants enhances confidence that plants and operators can respond effectively during an emergency; and By observing European stress tests, NISA is demonstrating its commitment to improving Japanese nuclear safety by gaining experience from other countries. NISA is Japan’s NRC. NISA has been sev...

Here’s the headline in the Sioux City (IA) Journal. I’m not sure what it means, though it seems to mean something . Nuclear power, red-light camera bills could be on Iowa legislative agenda I mean that nuclear power is given parity with the camera bill. Here’s what that’s about: A bill likely to come before the House Transportation Committee Feb. 2 could be a financial risk to lead-footed drivers. That's HF 2048 sponsored by Rep. Walt Rogers, R-Cedar Falls, to ban red-light and speed cameras in Iowa. It calls for all existing cameras to be removed by July 1. So far the debate has pitted law enforcement and city officials against personal liberty interests. "How much of a police state do we want to have?" Rogers asked at a hearing where his bill won subcommittee backing. What pops into my head is: how many traffic lights are there in Iowa? But really, we came for the lights and stayed for the energy: Example One [of controversial legislation ...

The NEI coverage of the Blue Ribbon Commission final report is below this post and gives a good summary of industry response. We’d thought we’d take a look at some of the coverage in the press and see how it is playing around the country. These are news stories, so we’re not gauging reaction, as we would with editorials, just the accuracy and usefulness of the reporting. And some are better than others. The TriCity [Wash.] Herald, using the AP story as a base, sort of misses the boat with this lede: The United States should immediately start looking for an alternative to replace the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nevada, which cost an estimated $15 billion but was never completed, a presidential commission said Thursday. It’s not wrong exactly, but the stress on Yucca Mountain suggests the commission had something to say about it. In fact, it had nothing specific to say about it and, if Yucca Mountain were determined to still be the best locale for a central used...