ML072910508
| ML072910508 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Vermont Yankee File:NorthStar Vermont Yankee icon.png |
| Issue date: | 10/12/2007 |
| From: | Oeser R - No Known Affiliation |
| To: | Marcia Carpentier, Karlin A Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel, NRC/SECY/RAS |
| SECY RAS | |
| References | |
| 50-271-LR, I-07-050, RAS 14460 | |
| Download: ML072910508 (4) | |
Text
n"S )4q60 Office of the Secretary Rulemakings and Adjudicatory Staff US Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington DC 20555-0001 Alex Karlin, Chairman c/o Marcia Carpentier, Esq., Law Clerk Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel Mail Stop T-3 E2C US Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington DC 20555-0001 PO Box 6001 Brattleboro VT 05302 October 12, 2007 DOCKETED USNRC October 17, 2007 (3:58pm)
OFFICE OF SECRETARY RULEMAKINGS AND ADJUDICATIONS STAFF Docket No. 50-271-LR Re: Vermont Yankee Renewal Application No: 1-07-050 Limited Written Statement for Consideration While I:was.,present at the-first sessior of the ASLB at BrattleboroVT on October 1'1,: 2007, 1 declined to,make. a. statement, thinking my commentswould be too general. and non:specific. However,, upon ifurther. reflection, I sSubmit the f0l!pwjng for you* consideration.*
Therewas some discussion by l.th; Mr.: Shaffer; arnidMr..SaOcbout the applicability of the "old car" analogy to the maintenance at Vermont Yankee. As Mr. Shaffer pointed out, by reference to his son's "classic car," the issue is not whether one can repair an old vehicle, it is whether one has the will, motivation, resources and determination to do so. [Sach's letter, BrattleboroReformer, October..9; 2007, pg.. 4,I<www reformercom>, enclosed foreference.]
With that analogy: in mind, I beg your indulgence by referencing another analogy.:Some years ago,.hpd the opportunity to board a seagoing! Egyptian vessel. ata US seaport. I was ushered into the chief mate's quarters and ýwas greeted during -out discussion.with water dripping from the ceiling nearthe light fixture. When I asked to use the 'head,' the chief mate informed me that the toilet needed to be. bailed after use. While that, vessel may have been able to make at least that trans-oceanic voyage, what does that inattent'on to ordinary maintenance say about how other, perhaps. more crucial, maintenance kM(C~tt&0 5
-3 S-se cy- 0
2 Re: Vermont Yankee Renewal Application No: 1-07-050 schedules were being followed? What level of scrutiny would you use to assess that vessel's seaworthiness?
In applying this analogy to Vermont Yankee, consider then, from a common sense perspective, the following:
¶ Consider whether the reliance on surveillance cameras rather than hands on inspection, now considered to be an explanation for the partial collapse of the cooling fan structure, is being similarly inappropriately used in other areas of the plant.
¶ Reference a photograph that appeared on page six of the October 11-17, 2007 Valley Advocate, [<www.valleyadvocate.com> enclosed, labeled '"V60-3B-STOP"]. This photo purportedly depicts the area where the value shut down, causing the SCRAM. The accompanying article quotes a former nuclear technician who gives the opinion that the duct tape patch is likely on a pipe that does not carry radioactive material and therefore is non-dangerous. But, he also notes the evidence of scraped paint and rust on the equipment in the photo, leading one to question the housekeeping and maintenance schedules.
¶ Note that recently the workers at Vermont Yankee threatened to strike during the final hours of contract negotiations. While not privy to the internal discussions prior to the strike announcement, I would ask you to consider that such a level of worker dissatisfaction in a plant should be a cause for further concern and investigation. One of the issues that was publicized involved the disparity between higher excecutives' salaries and workers' salary increases.
Might not an inquiry into the amount allocated to plant maintenance be reasonable?
I would submit that these very recent indicators at Vermont Yankee argue that a higher level of scrutiny be used to assess the "seaworthiness" of the plant.
Thank you for your time and attention and your further consideration of these issues.
Sincerely, Robert A. Oeser Enclosures cc: Gary Sachs
Tuiesay October 9, 2007 OPNIO'N
- Page 4 e~tbor efre Nuclear& energry is not sustainable Editor of the Reform&ýr The article "Nuke plant tries to explain cooling tower collapse" by Dave Gram, Asso-,
ciated Press,- Sept.> 13, stated, "Norm
.Rademiacher, Vermont Yankee's engineering-director, added... 'What we know now is that'
ýthe-inspection ~program we have in place needs to benhanced."'
- This is not th-e issue.,
The issue 'is that thegpbicteN's
,,h state r'egulators th te egi n's stthe~
ernments need Ito be convkinced that-there
.will -not be-other ~deferred, maintenance issues that-come back to haunt Entergy VY.
Vermont's reactor is beyond its peak of being-called "reliable". It is an. old reactor. - (opened the same year McGovern got whooped in the election by Richard M. Nixon.)
~
-Old machines, are less reliable than new?
ones. Thý longer~ Vermont contin ues to~ inveist>
-in the oldi machirieas the-sole c&xifralized~it-:
state: local energy producer for tli'egion, -
the longer we will be mired in anold ineffi-.
--cient technology. If Entergy VY sought regu-latory permission as a new reactor today, it would not win approval.
www.reformer-com
- Repeatedly Vermont ~Yankee has ben, liendtoaol ar SoI e Io lae onen likeed tof h han l sta old cr.Soe'iatr presegets.-
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- for, ournfine sdregiofn lcriiy.g-rtinf oucer fine regon.usaiabe
~Nulea isno sutaiabl
- Gary Sachs.
Brattleboro, Oct. 4-
dplash SVermont Yankee and the American Duct Tape. Council Patching a pipe in a nuclear power plant with duct tape: we thought it would only happen on Prairie Home Companion, But this is an actual photo of the part of the Vermont Yan-kee nuclear power plant that houses the stop valve (at cen*ter) that malfunctioned August 30, causing the plant to surprise its operators by going into a scram. Notice the pipe at the right, with its duct tape patch. Note, too, the places where paint is missing and rust is taking hold. The plant's owner. Entergy of Mississipi, has ap-plied to extend the aging plant's license from its current expiration date of 2012 to 2032.
For comment on this picture we contacted David Lo-chbatnt, a former nuclear technician who is now a nu-clear safety expert for the Union of Concerned Scientists in Washlngton. Lochbium said the pipe probably only carries nonradioactive drainwater, so a flimsy patch on it isn't extremely dangerous.
However, Lochbaum added, if you take into account the patched pipe, the scraped paint, the rust and the dust, "... the housekeeping here is not what the in-dustry otirm is. If you go to most plants, you could eat off the floor.... If this is the way they take care of the equipment they need to make money, what kind of care are they giviisg the equipment that piotects the public?"
On September 6 and 13 the Advocate published this photo (liower righit) of the cooling tower that collapsed at the plant August 21, a photo evidently taken by the same unknown photographer who took thelone at top right.
Taking these problems together-the crumbling cool-ing tower, the scram nine days later and the rundown look of the plant conmponents shown in the photo of the valve-Lochbaum said, "Unless these are two pictures that are totally unlike the test of the plant, it's not going to make it to 2012, much less 2032. This reactor needs a lot of upgrade." That, lie added, would be expensive.
Perhaps too expensive; maybe that's why Financial Week just reported that Chicago-based Exclon mah buy the five nuclear power plants now owned by Entergy. They' are Vermont Yankee; the Pilgrim plant in Plymouth; Indian Point near New York City; the FitzPatrick plant in Oswego, N.Y., and Palisades in South Haven, Mich.
Meanwhile U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont last week confronted Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Dale Klein with the photo of the cooling tower collapse and demanding an independent safety assessment of the plant before the license extension is approved. "I would hope [local residents[ trust the NRC," Klein replied.
Retorted Sanders, "They don't."
Howtiser, the widely circulated picture by the anon'mous photographer brought an admnission front Klein that's rare for an NRC official. "When you see that visible collapse," Klein said, "it is a conctern, and yau would question the maintenance and safety and so forth."
The NRC will hold a public hearing on the proposed license extension for Vermoitt Yankee at the Latchit Theatre in Brattlebhro T-hursday, Oct. 11 frot I to 4 pit. antfmoni 6:30 to 10:30 p.m. At 6 p ni. there taill be t rally it thiry Park in downtown Brattleboro. in case of rain the rally will be held at the River Gaidten. For more it*formation contact Bob Bady tr 802-254-9098 or go to www.nukebusters.org.
OCTOBER 11, 2007 1 The Valley Advocate