ML19220A858

Transcript of 790413 Press Conference in Middletown,Pa Re Incident at TMI

ML19220A858
Person / Time
Site:	Crane
Issue date:	04/13/1979
From:	Jay Collins, Stello V Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
To:
References
NUDOCS 7904250042
Download: ML19220A858 (16)

Text

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_P _R _O _C.E E _D.I _N _G _S 4

4/13 i

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3 MR. FOUCHARD:

Does everybody have a copy of the 4 di statemunt?

o I5j All right.

Let's wait until we get e.erybody clued I

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In.

rl 7 l QUESTION:

Will this be read, Mr. Fouchard?

8' MR. FOUCHARD:

I think Mr. Stello is going to 9

speak from it.

Everybody read?

All right.

In Victor Stello, who is director of the division

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l' 11 of operating reactors in the Office of Nuclear Reactor i

12 '

Regulations, has come down this afterncon to discuss the o

I3 0u most recent developments at Three Mile Island with you.

1 ~4 !

I believe he's going to paraphrase the statement, 15 but I'll let him do it his own way.

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1 4 MR. STELLO:

Thank you, Joe.

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13 l Today I am pleased to have the opportunity to

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19 1 announce that we have approved the Metropolitan Edison Cc= pani

O to initiate a controlled ccoldcun on the primar' system of i

21 the Three Mile Island facility.

The cooldcwn that will take place is expected to reduce the temperatures in the primar; 23 system to approx 1=ately 230 degrees.

This particular phase, if I may remind you, is

c4J oe nral h00r 'e's, I rc.

74 one of the tasks that have to be done irrfgrd];1}o take the

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plant to its ultimate, long term cooling mode.

Ycu will d

3 'i recall that we talked earlier about a previous operation i

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a' that was going on in the facility, degassing of the primary 53 coolant fluid in order to assure that the gas that could il at c3 be there is removed.

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That operation is an operation that is performed 8

normal?' in a PWR in anticipation tc going to its long term 9.i cooling mode.

The operation that's going on now is beinc lI 10 conducted again with normal plant equipment, which is being 11 d used to cool th e fluid down from its present temperature --

12 well, its present temperature as of 10:00 o' clock this 13 9 morning -- of about 282 degrees.

4 0

14 1 The cooldown was initiated just after 10:00

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15 ',i o' clock this morning, and it has been cooled thus far n

16,l ac_ croximatelv. 18 degrees.

a 17 )J The cooldown will be a controlled cooldown at a 18 rate which will be under 10 degrees per hour until it J

19 i gets to a temperature -- to a temperature of about 220 n

20 {

deg:ees.

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21.

It is poscible right now that the reactor 22 could be.olaced into a :atural circulation coclinc. mcde; 22 however, that is non hat will be done.

It will be done b; 24 going through steps just as the two I've described.

The

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25 next step will be to take it down to this 230 degrees to

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begin to make further modifications on the _solated steam

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2 generator lcop to provide additional redur.dancy that 4

c'i be used for cooling the core.

il o5j The modifications on tha t B steam generator i

6 'l such that the loop will be able to be operated in a closed as i

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cooling mode which will not rely on a number of pieces of 3.

equipment that are now being usec. in the plant which has tl 4

98 the condensor and booster pumn s.

10 The continued cooldown following those operations 11 will be at temperatures lcwer than 230 egrees, the final 3

12 temperature to be decided as we have an opportunity to lo'ok I

13 at the technical information accumulated during these a

la l various. chases that have 9one in the c. a s t.

l 15 4 An example of something we will want to look at l

16 ca: efally is the composition of gases that might be in the i

17 j primary fluid, and we hope that in the next several days

'l 18 that we will obtain a cressurized samole of the crimarv i

l' 19 coolant and measure the gas content in it so we know 20 precisely before we continue to move the plant to its70-233 21 ultimate circulating mcde.

22 At that time the next phase will consist of 23 adjusting other system parameters:

which stean generator 21 to use, whether we use one or both; adjust the system m t.w3

%, e,s mc.

25 prescure; finall) adjust the syster vamperature.

And at that

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.t J. I 4/13 2y coint establish the natural circulating mede to go into the a

1 3

long term cooling of the plant.

4.'I We haven't yet approved a detailed timetable n

4 5,1 for each of the actions that I have described, and the

1 6 '!

reason that we haven't approved a timetable is because we il' 7'i need to have some more technical information before we i

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decici a what time it is appropriate to take the next eteo, l

90 and it will depend upon the results of analyses of samples 10 t at are currently gcing on now.

or stuctes n

II I And each of these phases of the cooldown as I've 12 now described will be reviewed and approved by the NRC 13 before it is implemented.

i I4 That pretty much concludec the summary of what is

'i 15 ]l going on at the plant at this time.

i 16 'l; QUESTION:

Mr. Stello, is the cooldown that was 0

17 initiated at the plant this morning, how is that being il I8 )I accomplished?

hj MR. STELLO:

The normal process is used in the I

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c.lant bv. iust allowing more steam to pass through the s

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21l condensor, hence passing through the steam generator and

.i il 22 drawing out more energy frcm the steam generator, lower ng the 4

22 primary coolant temperatures.

CCESTICS Are you circulating back througP the i.ce E M er 31 Il eDc f f f e t, l *C.

aq cccling pumps still?

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MR. STELLO:

Ye -, the main circulating pump 2-A is I

still in operation at this cine.

QUESTIOM:

the secondary (inaudible).

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MR. STELLO:

That's correct.

It is a normal ol 0

steaming mode that is being used now.

It is not water.

i 7

QUESTION:

The modifica tions that you referred 3

to on the steam generator loop, how long do you estimate q

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those will take?

10 MR. STELLO:

That's a difficult cuestion i

to 11 'l answer.

It's a matter of several days before we'll have l

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enough information -- before we know when they will be 1

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installed.

It does not rec.uire the use of any real n,.

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new equipment.

It will use 7coling systems that are already a

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in the plant.

They r.eed to be -- have pipes installed to 7

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take them frca their prese:c cooling systems over to steam

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lines and feedwater lines to go into a closed 1000.

1 18 j QUESTION:

What's the minimum number of days

• 4 19 '

that might be required -- the minimum that might be required 20 {

to get down to the final --

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MR. STELLO:

I'"e answered the question to the best cf my abili:;

I'll know that w".en we get scme more

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QUEST:C: :

I was ccirc to sav, /h _ le you couldn't

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give us any timetable, can jou gi-ze us scme sort of

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4/13 approximate figure; if everything goes according to schedule, 2

"j how long vill it take for an eventual cold shutdown?

A week?

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4l 10 days?

Longer?

l 5

MR. STELLO:

I just don't think it's appropriate i

6 to try to talk about the schedule until we take e

.1 phase 7;

and understand what we have and we know where w+'re going to i

3 go before we take the next step.

9 I just think it's inappropriate to trL to decide i!

10 what all the results of the analyses and the measurements that e

11 l are gcing to be taken will show us.

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MR. STELLO:

For example, it might be cuite possible 3 i when we take the pressure sample tnat we will decide that we n

lwant to offgas the system some more and drop the pressure as 4

5 a. we have in the past.

That ma; take several days and that will 1

, !l af f ect us significantly.

We will try to schedule this in a o-i matter cf a few days.

The results of the informa tion that we 7 ;l i receive further can affect us.

8 QUESTION:

What was it then that allowed you to give 9 HMed Ed permission today to initiate the cooldown to 230 degrees?

i 10 IqBased on what analyses and what studies?

1, II MR. STELLO:

What we had to consider was uha; effects 12 we might have from the cooldown, what might be the effects of i

131 mcderator temperature and boron concentration.

We recently re-h i! ceived measurements from several of our laboratories that showed 14 a jthe baron concantration is far in excess of what might be needed 15 7o

' r o r a n y uo

- coolc<own.

In ract, we can conclude it is su ficient to e

Iiccoldown now.

i 17 '

We very much wanted to know what was the boron con-1 m,

'*. centration in the primary system and have taken several samples l9 ;and sent them to several laboratories.

It is an important piece 20 ; of information.

CUESTION:

I am not sure I understand why the baron 2,, ' l is important now.

Ecron generally is tc stsp the fission re-y action.

.m.

MR. STELLO:

It is.

However, the amcunt of boror that

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x.

As the temperature is lowered the arsunt of bordpff ~py n

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']that is required to be there is lar~ger than is required at a 3 'i higher temperature.

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We want to also consider what effects it might have aq o

15 : on ouma operation, what effects it might have on various alter-

, Onatives that are available, that can be used in addition to O

natural circulation.

And we want to consider very carefully 71 what effect it might have on all the operating conditions that 8]areeitherplannedorpossible, and until ue are satisfied that 9I the results of that thinking indicate there will no be negative 10 Iaeffect we aren't ready to agree.

We hava now completed cur under-i Ildstandinv of what mi-ht hacaen and believe there is going to be w

12, no untceard effect.

L 33 QUESTION:

The other day I think you had a radiation reading inside the containment of 50,000 rems.

That seemed un-lusually high to evervbcdv..

15 Have you found any explanation for this?

16 /

MP. STELLO:

I think all cf the experts agree that 17 that instrument is not reading correctly because clearly the I3 natural processes of decay and radicactive materials since that 19.have been at that value should have come down considerably.

It

0 is not, and it is believed to be scrething that is malfuncticnin; in that system.

I think there is general concensus on that.

21 QUESTICN:

If withcut coing into a timetable right now, we are dust coolinc this thinc., can we on to a sten. b.c stec a

-zcu have in mind for this?

Richt ncw vcu are scenario of what

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c MR. STELLO:

Okay.

In tarms of the opera

.on, let

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IL PAW TRA;! SCRIPT - UNCORPECTED l.

2, me start right from the beginning.

The 24rst thing was to degas ii 3 i the primary fluid.

As I said, I think before we will be finished d

1, with that we will need some samples to determine that firniv.

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We are now cooling down.

At this point we will stop Sa and analyse what information is available before we go to the 6 '!

next step which wj.1 be to hopefully make some modifications 7,landhave those complete on the B steam generator which will i

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~ li a l l o w u s to go into a closed. cooling mcde which will provide 1

9jyet another continuance or redundancy for the natural circula-1 10jting condition.

1 11 l Following that condition we would then continue to il 12 cooldown and establish a water solid condition, and if modifica-l_ ; tion were available on B steam generator, preferrably using the a

!I 1B stee.m generator and water solid that would reduce the tempera-Lture to values of under 200 degrees.

Then we will make final 15 h. dj us tments on

-l a the <;orrect system, pressure, temperature that I

16

you wanted with the circulating L ap in operation.

l 1'

When those are established you will at that 'coint de-i n

18 l, eide to trio the circtlating.cumo..

And that is a articular e

19 istep in the process that we will be looking at, when is it

.n 'aepropriate to trip the pump and allow the olant to cc into a a

inatural circulating and cooling order.

QU ES TI C.'I :

Is there any pcint in this process at which you are ccmmitted irrevocably to any of these actions, or can

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v.ou chance v.our mind at any coint if

v. cur analysis su~3ests that

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>~ g ' - 9 a g there are other problems, like gas?

,u,...,.x M2. STELLO:

It is cuite easy to change tamperature

4/13 i

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!I 1 j RAW TRANSCRIPT - UNCORPZCTED 1

2h and pressure within the primary system to any values you think 4

3,i are ap.proo. riate de.cending on the operation you want to do.

Sc if there is any "4 jus tment in the system condit:; s can be done 4

5l pretty much at will, and there is no irreversibility about the

!!..! process.

At the point at which you trip the main circulating o

! oumo that can be done at a cressure for which, if you wanted to, 7:. you could restart the pump if needed to.

8

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Sa I guess in general you might conclude that we ex-9 1:! pect that all of the steps we will take will not be reversible, 1

10lwill be able to restore the olant essenticlly to the configura-s, 11 'i tion as it has been for the past two weeks, if wu wanted to.

12 QUESTION:

Will you state. fairly simply, Mr. Stello, the essential reasoas for the need for the care and caution and j3 l

l deliberation ytu are using in this cooldown proces s?

1:

MR. STELLO:

I think that it is irrortant that each 3

15.i 1 step that is changed in the reactor is done a way in which

16l, 1all the possible effects or proof from that change is understccd, 17ltevaluated, and

'at contingencies that might be needed as a re-I3 sult of that operation are plannet for, such as the ones I just 19' described.

If you found somethi_ng happening that caused "2cu to 20. want to restore the plant to previous condition, that you would 1

21 be prepared to do so.

I guess perhaps the bottom line aculd be we want to assure that it is done not iust safelv., but safest.

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. deliberate and carefu'l.z.

I do We are doinc. it very know it s taking longer, and I assure ycu lcnger t.. a I would

".u~ty s x,.., ~ i,c.

like it to take.

'ie certainly aren't goinc to co anc faster 23 70~250 than we are convinced is warranted.

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QUESTION:

Are there any dangers involved in the cool-

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" ' down mcde?

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MR. STELLO:

None, l

5 :;

QUESTION:

There is no danger frcm this then?

4 e

d MR. STELLO: None.

6; QUESTION:

The temperature and pressure, at which

iocint wo'11d you consider tne reactor cooled down?

n-8' II MR. STELLO:

I described the end result of the natural 93 i, circulating process.

a 10 0

QUESTION:

What '..ould the temperature be at?

Ie II 1 MR. STELLO:

That is going to be a little difficult 12,

to predict.

It de' pends on the theraccoupled response that we

3 '. are going to see of the input thermocouples.

You have a damaged 4

3. 4 "i core, and it is going to be very, very difficult to predict

> ahead of time what that maximum temcerature might be.

I think 15 j 1lthat is an answer we won't know until after we have actually 16 I gone on natural circulation.

I would expect that since you iculd be getting less

,,u m ; flow through the core, and under those conditions that that a

1 to would tend to cause the temperature to increase.

However, s.'

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20, we will be conce lsatinc. somewhat by lowering the crimary cocl_nc terc.erature that would tend to cause them to decrease.

I don't know which one, however, is greater, the positive or the negatize 7,,

We wd1 bo monitorins th3t ver7 carefully and Prob 3bl=

"(0- t.'.;1 num=er-be establishing scme acceptance critera that sets limits.

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-,, % _e n.r s. r e. haven't agreed as to what those limits might be as to how high the temperature would be permitted to go in the cora, and that

4/13

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I RAW TRANSCRIPT - UNCORRECTED 2 i:; is part of tha careful process that I have described we are 3-.' going to look at carefully before we make up our minds.

I 1

4j QUESTION:

What will the pressure be maintained at

I 3 h as you cooldown?

s il MR. STELLO:

W:len we are cooling down now?

6 QUESTION:

Right now.

71 i

MR. STELLO:

It is approximately about 800 psi.

It S

Lwill be continued at acc.roximatelv that.cressure.

It will orob-9 9,1 ably vary between 800 to 1,000.

10 j QUESTION:

How about when you get the altarnate natural 11 ' circulation mode?

12 MR. STELLO:

That final pressure has not been agreed 1

13jto.

We still don't know what the best temperature to accomplish 1

jahthatprocessis.

We haven't finished enough of our work to pi.ck ul number.

It would be scmething considerably lower than we have l5 ;a

!now.

Several hundred psi is about the best I would characterize 16 0.if it at the moment.

17 j

QUESTION:

Mr. Stello, we were told several days ago 1

13:that there had been some degree of transferance of waste water i

l7from number two to number one which apparently led to the State l

20,of South Carolina's rejecting the shipment of two trucks of icw 21 level waste frcm number one.

I wonder if the means whereb2 that occurred has now

,,'been made clear, and number two, I understand the Task Force is a

meeting on that subject en the Island today.

Are you aware of v.

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the status of that meeting?

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'l Ih RAW TRANSCRIPT - UNCCRRECTED a

'C MR. FOCCHARD:

John Collins who is Chief of the i

21 Effluent Treatment Branch in the office of Nuclear Reactor ll4j Regulations is here with us.

He can give you the status of that o

'l 5, situation.

d 0

• his is John Collins, Chief of the Effluent Treatment 0 i y

7 d,' Branch in the of fice of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.

MR. COLLINS:

Thank you, Joe.

We have just completed 8

' a meeting with Lloyd Andrews frcm Chemnuclear and his represen-g1 tatives and also representatives of Met Ed to discuss the concerns u

10 laof the Governer of South Carolina about the waste shipped from

r. :

II1Three Mile Islaad site.

I 12,

Based on that meeting we are in the process of develop n li ing a program upon which we would then present to the Governor and to assure him that the waste will be in an acceptable form I

1, 1

. e hope that that pro-

' for burial at Barnwell, SoutP Carolina.

W 15,

lgran should be available early next week, and at that time we 16 1 o would recommend to Harold inton that he discuss it with the

, -. o si Governor before takingfany additional steps.

,,d

,a QUESTICN:

Whert is the waste now?

i h

17 MR. COLLIN,3.

It is back on the site.

It is being I

20 stored on the site at the present time.

q QUESTION:

Have you determined he'..

scme portion of Unit 2 waste got into Number 1.

MR. C C L L I L.3 :

It 1,

r.o t exactly clear.

We know earl, i

,,a after the incident there was scme water, pre-incident water in 2.

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We believe that in tritag to.ake tan:< ag e available in Unit 2 a c

sa snall adount of " hat Water Nas shipped cver to Unit I which fcund taeg p.. n r e

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i; 15 4/13 La

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1 which was Unit 2}'its way into waste which was processed in Unit 2

1 water, and then packaged for shipment to Barnwell.

I i

1 QUESTION:

Mr. Stello, is this plan jou described 4 d a

a!

& W?

5 g! substantially the one reccmmended by B ii MR. STELLO:

I think the current plan that we have 6 !!

1 nou is consistent with the one B &W is advocating now.

There Y i were earlier variations which I think are fairly minor on the O

oplan.

It is not the only plan that has been considered.

H 9a l

QUESTION:

Could you say what the deciding factor i was, sir, in choosing this one over the other one or letting the U

u f

II J o. u m a. continue?

12 MR. STELLO:

Letting the pump continue still speaks i

to a mcde of cooling that relies on heat transfer in the steam g

,I; generators and primary container.

There are a variety of other I

14 4

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'l]ccoling =cdes that could be used.

15 i

),

The significant advantage about cooling in this mcde 16 i is that the radioactive materials that are inside the containment 1,/ qremain inside of the containment, that there is no need to a

M ' circulate the contaninated water cutside the reactor building.

19 i And that is a very significant advantage with respect to whether

-, you trip the pump or you don't trip the pump.

The difference a

!between those two are either forced circulating cccling of the

,l e

t o.rimarv loco or natural circulation.

As I thought I indicated before, that is something

.n.

we will be locking at very carefully, that is at what point one should trip the primary cooling pump.

I don't think we ha're yet

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m..a made that decision.

But that is scmething yet to decide.

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4/13 16 vrt10 I

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h QUESTION:

I have a cuestion for you, Mr. Fouchard, i

7 i; regarding the transcripts that were published today at the 1

4lmeeting.

It seems that they indicate that the NRC was much'nore 1

l 51 concerned about the situation, an d in f act was involved in much

'l more chaos th,tn was ever revealed to the public.

6 Do you have any comment on that?

7 1

MR. FOUCHARD: Frankly, the first few days of 8

this incident remain a blur to me.

I have not had a c hance to i

9 19look at them more carefully, but I will.

10 ;f y

Thank you very much.

s 11 ;l i'

(Whereupon, at 1:30 p.m.,

the press conference was 12 ' concluded.)

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