ML20134E069

Discusses Untested & Unproven Safety Equipment at Vermont Yankee

ML20134E069
Person / Time
Site:	Vermont Yankee
Issue date:	09/15/1996
From:	Blanch P AFFILIATION NOT ASSIGNED
To:	Zwolinski J NRC
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References
NUDOCS 9610310239
Download: ML20134E069 (1)

Text

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l From: PAUL M. BLANCH <PMBLANCH@ix.netcom.com>

To: JZ <JAZWOL9aol.com>

l Date: 9/15/96 5:47pm l

Subject:

Vermont Yankee 1

John: 1 Please respond.

i Paul I wonder how wide spread is the issue of having untested and unproven safety equipment. Isnt it a type of public fraud.

At VY we have a small electric tie to a hydrodam next door. It supplied the

site during construction. Years ago they wanted to use the tie as a equivalent to a emergency DG at power, while they tore down the machine for i maintenence-they then didnt have to worry about the 7 day LCO. The tie was only good for about 80% of the kw capacity. Never mind that the tie was never tested, or the components were never QA'd. You know, they were trying to shift maintenence mindlessly away from the outage. The Nrc ok'd the equivalentcy.

I Now they are looking at our alternate shutdown system. Seems they didnt take into concideration the hot short issue when designing the system, though they new about the issue-maybe to expensive or outage hogging. VY had many troubles with appendix r and fire fighting system violations. Also they i l fudged the time numbers, ie dg startup and support systems, though flow to l vessel. The nrc asked for the initial time study and vy said they losted it.

l They then were forced to do another and it took to long-meaning the shutdown l system would have never worked. Worst yet there was not enough people on

! shift to perform it.

Now VY is trying to get permission to use the Vernon tie as the method of  ;

l powering up the facility during a alternate shutdown and loop, because thats '

l their only hope. Meanwhile they just got through whith there most successful run ever.

I've know you seen this. Looking at each issue seperately it might not l look like a big deal. But looking at this issue comprehensively-the systems  !

l short comings-the NRC shortcuts on inforcing regs and managing the system -

the layers and layers of engineering degradation and deception, safety systems-many- which work on paper only, its a mess..

It's becoming an issue of how, or why , or when, our goverment manages l industry. Or when does non-management cause disruption of our way of life. Or '

how far do we chase profits over -human values. Or what bench marks do we design to measure our countries progress. What's fairness? mike l

Paul M. Blanch i Energy Consultant l 135 Hyde Rd.

West Hartford CT 06117 Voice 860-236-0326 Fax 860-232-9350 9610310239 961024 PDR ORG NRRA PDR