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yA Front PAUL BLANCH <PMBLANCH91x.netcom.com>
2 Tot WND2. WNP3 ( j az), TWD1. TWP4 (gam), ARD1. ARP1 (drg), WND1....
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-Dates 1/28/97 3:12am l
Subjects MAINE YANKEE i
i Problems mount at Maine Yankee i
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By Peter [Pochna and Edward D. Murphy i
=
i Staff Writers 4
7
=A9 Copyright 1997 Guy Gannett_ Communications The Maine Yankee nuclear power plant will remain shut down for at
-= least a month. longer than expected because of' continuing
_ problems = with its electrical system, plant. officials announced Monday..
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They.also announced that a. problem with radiation leaking from =
cracked-fuel ~ rods is^ worse than expected.. Plant operators 4
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predicted = they would find about six leaky rods,-but instead i
found 75 and repairs will cost about $6'million.
In addition, plant officials have told federal regulators that three = motorized valves that are essential parts of the plant's 1
j-backup =. cooling system. don't work correctly.
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Plantjengineers discovered Thursday:that under certain conditions j
of =fextremely high heat,.the valves would not open. Since the plant has = been shut down for repairs >since~Dec. 5, the problem 3
does not posalan immediate hazard.-
l Maureen Brown, a plant spokeswoman,.said the valve problem did i
-not = pose'authreat to the public when the plant was running, i
because the = conditions needed to cause the malfunction were very unlikely to occur.
But Kris' Christine.of Alna, who closely monitors the plant's =
operation, said the valve problem is alarming.
i
I'm really concerned for the safety of my family, Christine
,j' said. =
Events at the' plant get more alarming every week
Even the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's senior resident l
' inspector at =
Maine Yankee admits he's worried about the plant's continuing =
problems.
1 9703130320 970306
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J Jimi Yerokun said the NRC tends to treat each problem independently, = but at Maine Yankee, it's become impossible to ignore the pattern of = the last few years.
Frankly, I am very concerned about the rash of problems that are = occurring here, Yerokun said. When you see one (problem) after = the other, it becomes a reason for concern.
This is not usual, to have four, five, six problems = you're dealing with. It's not a good feeling.
Ray Shadis, a member of Friends of the Coast, a group opposed to
= nuclear power plants, said Maine Yankee should be shut down for
= another review of the plant and its operations. He noted that Maine Yankee has continued to find = problems beyond those i
i exposed by an independent review conducted last = year.
What the prudent course of action would be is a thorough, =
top-to-bottom inspection of the plant, Shadis said, adding that 1
a = complete review might take at least a year with Maine Yankee off-line.
j Cables are crossed i
The 24-year-old plant in Wiscasset will not produce power before
mid-March, Brown said. The plant had planned to resume power
production in mid-February, but the inspection of miles of electric cables is taking longer than = expected.
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A huge industrial facility has miles and miles of cable,
i Brown = said. The work involved in tracking those cables carefully is = time-consuming.
Operators shut down the plant in December after workers found that = cables controlling a steam valve vere crossed and routed improperly. =
The inspection of the wiring has expanded, with more than 120
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temporary contractors helping Maine =
l Yankee workers search for places where cables may cross.
So far, workers have turned up six cases of cables strung too close = together, Brown said, with most of them involving equipment added to = the plant since it was built.
The cables are supposed to be separated so both primary and backup = lines aren't knocked out in the event of a fire, Brown said.
An extra month without the plant operating will cost the utilities = that own it about $15 million because they must pay i
for replacement = energy.
l
We knew this would be a tough year for us,
said Mark i
Ishkanian, a = spokesman for Central Maine Power Co., which owns 38 percent of Maine =
Yankee. This just makes it a little tougher.
.~ ___.- _ - _ ~._._ -.._. _ _.._
i It is too early in the year to determine if the cost of Maine =
f Yankee's problems will be passed on to ratepayers.
1tods leak radiation The $6 million cost of the fuel-rod repair is primarily due to the ='need to replace eight entire fuel assemblies, each of which contains =
175 fuel rods.
Maine Yankee predicted Jan. 3 that it would only need to remove a few = individual fuel rods. But an analysis over the past three
{
weeks has = found the fuel-rod cracking is much more extensive than monitors indicated it would be.
Even so, Brown said there is no danger to the public.
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There were no health or safety concerns, Brown said. The =-
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l radiation is within a closed-loop system.
i The plant's power comes from the fuel rods, which are metal tubes 13 = feet long and three-eighths of.an inch in diameter. They contain = uranium pellets, which generate heat thr warms water j
surrounding them. The rods are tied into = bundles that make up fuel assemblies, and the nuclear reactor = contains 217 assemblies.
Monitors detected that radiation was leaking from the rods last June. =
The amount of leakage increased over the year, but by the time the = plant shut down in December, the leakage remained far below l
federal limits.
i Maine Yankee decided to repair the problem in January because the l
= plant was already shut down for the electric-cable repairs.
l The plant is removing four ass'emblies because they contain leaky l
= rods, and four other assemblies because of concern that they might = soon develop leaks.-
Brown said plant operators are still searching for the cause of the = leaks.
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She said monitors did not accurately predict the number of leaky L
rods = because the structure of the fuel assemblies was preventing radiation = from leaking through some of the cracks.
Safety f'eature may' fail The motorized valves that may not' operate correctly are part of l
the = plant's backup cooling system. They are sliding pieces of metal that = run up and down on tracks, controlling the water flow through pipes that run to the-fuel pool.
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The problem Maine Yankee discovered is that high heat in the vicinity = of the valves would cause water pressing against the valves to = expand. That extra pressure would prevent the valves from opening.
l Dave Lochbaum, a nuclear engineer with the Union of Concerned =
Scientists in Washington, D.C.,
said the valves are a critical safety = system.
The system is there for only one purpose: to prevent a meltdown, =
Lochbaum said. The fact that it wouldn't have worked is bad.
But Brown said that even if the valves did malfunction while the
= plant was having a core cooling accident, plant operators would be = able to find other ways to cool the fuel.
j.
There are many actions that could be taken to provide the
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relief, =
l Brown said.
I She said the plant has already remedied the problem by keeping one.of = the valves permanently open. She said a relief valve j
will be added = while.the plant is shut down for a scheduled refueling at the end of the year. [ NOTE FROM PMB:
=
OPERATING WITH ONE VALVE OPEN MAY ALSO VIOLATE REGULATIONS le.
APX =
GDC 56]
Maine Yankee engineers examined the valves in reaction to a letter = the NRC issued in September. The letter directed all nuclear-plant = operators to examine their backup cooling systems.
The letter said recent NRC inspections at various plants had found =
several safety-significant issues that could affect all plants.
Richard Rasmussen, the NRC's resident inspector at Maine Yankee, said = he plans to look into the problem this week. He said the plant will = not be allowed to start up unless its solution adequately addresses the problem.
Public image is issue Christine, the Alna resident, said it's a concern that the plant
= operated for many years with the faulty valves. She said she is also = concerned that an extensive NRC review of the plant last summer did not find the problem.
This is a very big thing for them to have overlooked,
Christine = said.
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f 4
Brown tried to put a positive spin on the latest problems at the l
= plant,. pointing out, for instance, that the inspection of the fuel n rods was conducted ahead of schedule.
Maine Yankee is at a crossroads. It is positioning itself to become = a' superior performer.in the industry, she said.
Getting there, we realize, has cost.us some public support. But
= once the citizens of Maine have all the facts in front of themselves = and once they give us time to make these repairs, they will once again have that high level of = confidence in-Maine Yankee.
Paul M. Blanch Energy Consultant 135 Hyde Rd.
L West Hartford CT 06117 Tel: 860-236-0326 Fax: 860-232-9350 i
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