This is where we are at with the Columbia Generating Station. Please read it. Not only does this concern WA and OR but all of North America if the next near miss, doesnt miss. For Immediate Release: Saturday, March 8, 2014 Contact: Chuck Johnson, Oregon and Washington PSR: 503-777-2794, washpsr@gmail PRESS RELEASE Physicians Respond to Scientists’ Negative Report on Columbia River Nuclear Power Plant – Call it a “Pattern of Behavior” Portland, OR & Seattle, WA – The Oregon and Washington chapters of Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) responded to a report from the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) released on Friday, March 7, which stated that, while the nuclear power industry had seen a decline in the number of “near miss” incidents, the Columbia Generating Station nuclear power plant north of Richland, WA operated by Energy Northwest had experienced three such incidents during 2013. The UCS report, “The NRC and Nuclear Power Plant Safety in 2013: More Jekyll, Less Hyde,” described the three “near miss” incidents at the CGS nuclear plant as the most by a single plant since they began issuing these annual reports in 2010. UCS describes “near miss” incidents, which the Nuclear Regulatory Commission calls “accident sequence precursor” incidents, as those in which the NRC dispatches an inspection team to investigate an event or condition that increases the chance of reactor core damage by a factor of 10 or more. The first two “near miss” incidents tagged in UCS’ report were regarding security-related issues on February 6 and September 13, 2013. Neither was described in detail because security-related information is withheld from the public by the NRC. “The fact that two security-related ‘accident sequence precursor’ incidents would happen in the same year is extremely disturbing,” said Dr. Steven Gilbert, Washington PSR board vice president. “We cannot know whether the two incidents are related, but it is a terrible sign that security issues have been identified and may not have been fully corrected at the plant after the first incident. PSR’s previous reports on the geology and economics of this reactor have shown that, along with the inherent danger to operate it and the long-lived radioactive waste it generates, the benefits associated with running this nuclear plant are not worth the risks.” The third “near miss” incident related to the discovery of a failing air conditioning unit in an area of the plant in which cooling is critical to the safe operation of the plant in an accident. The tubes on both the air and water sides of the air conditioner were fouled to the point that it was only able to operate at 30 percent capacity, less than ½ the allowable degradation of 65% considered to provide adequate cooling to the sensitive wires and equipment in an accident. UCS’ Report author David Lochbaum, a nuclear engineer, gives the NRC inspectors high marks in fully diagnosing the source of this problem despite “the plant owner [Energy Northwest] repeatedly narrow[ing] the scope of the problem and its resolution.” Lochbaum credits the NRC resident and special inspection team inspectors with “steadfastly reject[ing] ‘band-aid’ fixes, [and] requiring that the underlying causes be identified and fixed.” Lochbaum further opines that “time will tell whether the trio of near-misses at the Columbia Generating Station was merely bad luck or indicative of broader programmatic deficiencies.” Dr. John Pearson, Oregon PSR board member, is less charitable. “My colleagues and I are concerned by what appears to a pattern of behavior at the CGS nuclear reactor,” Pearson said. “The three ‘near misses’ at Columbia follow a year in which they were listed as being a ‘degraded cornerstone’ reactor by the NRC – one of the four worst reactors in the country – for their decade-long miscalibration of stack radiation monitors. This year, they continue to have problems keeping their stack monitors working properly and are now sending out bids to replace them.” In addition, Energy Northwest, the nuclear plant operator announced earlier this week it is suing the manufacturer of steam condenser modules that, according to a March 3, article in the Tri-City Herald, “were not designed and manufactured to fit together properly and quickly and did not fit the existing conditions.” This announcement calls into question the reliability of the expensive condenser replacement that kept the CGS nuclear power plant shut down for over five months in 2011. The Columbia Generating Station, which is the only one completed of the five plants begun by the Washington Public Power Supply System (WPPSS), contains a General Electric boiling water reactor similar to those destroyed during Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. Physicians for Social Responsibility, was founded in 1961 and has a national membership of 50,000 health care professionals and 25 local affiliates. The Oregon and Washington affiliates have been calling for the shutdown of the Columbia nuclear plant, located on the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, in coalition with representatives of the Sierra Club, Heart of America Northwest, the Alliance for Democracy, Columbia Riverkeeper, No Nukes Northwest, and other groups. PSR has completed studies by acknowledged experts on potential earthquake danger of twice the ground motion the plant was designed to withstand and cost savings of up to $1.7 billion if the aging 30 year old reactor was replaced by competitive bidding in the electricity market. See here: psr.org/chapters/oregon/environmental-health-/nuclear-power.html
Posted on: Sun, 09 Mar 2014 05:55:08 +0000
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