ML100750464
| ML100750464 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Crystal River  |
| Issue date: | 10/08/2009 |
| From: | Marvin Sykes NRC/RGN-II/DRP/RPB3 |
| To: | Diaz D, Diaz-Toro D, Meena Khanna NRC/EDO/AO, Division of Engineering |
| References | |
| FOIA/PA-2010-0010 | |
| Download: ML100750464 (3) | |
Text
Orf, Tracy From:
Sykes, Marvin Sent:
Thursday, Oct~ber 08, 2009 4:37 PM To:
Diaz-Toro, Diana; Khanna, Meena
Subject:
FW: Our talking points Attachments:
CR3 containment concrete separation Media Talking Points 10 7 09.docx fyi - These are the final talking points approved by our OPA staff.
From: Hannah, Roger 1q-Sent: Thursday, October 08, 2009 4:12 PM To: Ledford, Joey; Munday, Joel; Sykes, Marvin; Reyes, Luis
Subject:
FW: Our talking points Revised Progress talking points....
Roger Hannah, APR Senior Public Affairs Officer, Region II US Nuclear Regulatory Commission 404-562-4417 From: Lambert, Jessica [1]
Sent: Thursday, October 08, 2009 4:11 PM To: Hannah, Roger Cc: Groleau, Carla
Subject:
RE: Our talking points
- Roger, Here are our revised talking points.
- Thanks, Jessica From: Hannah, Roger [mailto: Roger. Hannah@nrc.gov]
01 y )*
Sent: Thursday, October 08, 2009 4:04 PM To: Lambert, Jessica; Groleau, Carla
Subject:
Our talking points Attached...
Roger Hannah, APR Senior Public Affairs Officer, Region II US Nuclear Regulatory Commission 404-562-4417
Crystal River 3 Containment Building Gap Issue Thursday, October 8, 2009 Talking Points Basic Facts / Figures Crystal River 3 has a net capacity of 838 MWe, which provides enough energy to power more than 600,000 homes.
One MW powers about 800 homes, according to North American averages.
In 1967, Florida Power filed an application with the Atomic Energy Commission to build a nuclear plant at the Crystal River site. Construction began in 1968 and was halted in 1973 due to the oil embargo. Construction resumed in 1975, and in March of 1977, Crystal River Unit 3 was placed into commercial service.
Today, there are four fossil units and one nuclear unit at the site. The complex is one of the largest power operations in the country, generating more than 3,200 MW, which is about half of the electricity generated by the company in Florida.
The plant has generated nearly 150 million MW hours of power over the course of its 30-year history.
Refuel 16 Outage
> The Crystal River Nuclear Plant is shut down every two years to perform refueling and maintenance.
> There are three primary elements to this particular outage, which is the culmination of nearly five years of planning:
o Routine refuel and maintenance activities; o Significant modifications to the steam plant to allow the plant to provide additional power for our customers in the future (extended power uprate project); and o Steam generator replacement.
> To accomplish this scope of work, we have approximately 4,000 people, including 3,000 contractors, on site to support these activities to successfully upgrade and return the Crystal River nuclear plant back to service later this year.
> The plant was shut down for this planned outage on Saturday, Sept. 26, and work is progressing in each project area.
)o As part of the steam generator replacement project, a 23-foot-by-23-foot hole is being cut into the containment building to remove the two original steam generators and to install two new ones. To create the opening, crews are using high-pressure water jets previously utilized at a number of other nuclear facilities doing similar work.
A In the course of creating the opening, we discovered a gap in the concrete near the outer wall of the structure. Based on experiences at other facilities we expected that creating the opening could reveal issues such as this, and we anticipated this in our comprehensive outage plan.
- When the gap was discovered, plant officials immediately notified the on-site Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) resident inspector.
The results of our internal initial investigation determined that the integrity of the structure is not compromised for current plant conditions.
> The reactor building is a cylindrical structure, composed of a 3/8 inch steel liner surrounded by 42 inches of steel-reinforced concrete. Within the concrete wall are steel tendons, which wrap around the building to provide strength. The gap is near the outer wall of the structure.
> This gap presents no safety concerns for our employees or the public at this time. The containment structure is inspected regularly to ensure that it meets federal safety requirements. The containment structure at CR3 has passed all inspections, most recently in 2005.
> The plant is currently in a planned shut-down as a part of the outage, and the plant is in a safe condition, pursuant to NRC guidelines.
> Engineering personnel are assessing the cause of the gap and any necessary repairs that would be required to return the unit to service. The unit will only be returned to service when all safety requirements are met.
> By replacing the steam generators and uprating the Crystal River nuclear plant, we will ensure that the plant will continue to help the company meet the needs of our Florida customers with clean energy well into the future.
> We maintain an adequate amount of reserves for these planned outages, as well as when high demand requires additional generation to serve the needs of our customers. In addition, we are also able to secure additional energy generation through agreements with our neighboring electric utilities and, as needed, from wholesale energy markets. By using our reserves and securing additional capacity, we are able to provide consistent, reliable service to our customers.