ML21069A005

Comment (141) of Nukewatch on Notice of Intent to Conduct Scoping Process and Prepare Environmental Impact Statement Nexteraenergy Point Beach, LLC; Point Beach Nuclear Plant, Unit Nos. 1 and 2

ML21069A005
Person / Time
Site:	Point Beach
Issue date:	03/03/2021
From:	Nukewatch
To:	Office of Administration
References
86FR7747 00141, NRC-2020-0277
Download: ML21069A005 (3)

Text

3/9/2021 blob:https://www.fdms.gov/f701cae7-f2c1-4f2b-82b9-05e31fe54ac2 SUNI Review Complete Template=ADM-013 As of: 3/9/21 7:50 AM E-RIDS=ADM-03 Received: March 03, 2021 PUBLIC SUBMISSION ADD: Phyllis Clark, Bill Rogers, Kevin Folk, Status: Pending_Post Tracking No. klt-twl9-6km9 Stacey Imboden, Mary Neely Comments Due: March 03, 2021 Comment (141) Submission Type: Web Publication Date:2/1/2021 Citation: 86 FR 7747 Docket: NRC-2020-0277 Notice of Intent to Conduct Scoping Process and Prepare Environmental Impact Statement NextEra Energy Point Beach, LLC; Point Beach Nuclear Plant, Unit Nos. 1 and 2 Comment On: NRC-2020-0277-0001 Notice of Intent To Conduct Scoping Process and Prepare Environmental Impact Statement; NextEra Energy Point Beach, LLC, Point Beach Nuclear Plant, Units 1 and 2 Document: NRC-2020-0277-DRAFT-0146 Comment on FR Doc # 2021-02001 Submitter Information Email: nukewatch1@lakeland.ws Organization: Nukewatch General Comment See attached file(s)

Attachments POINT BEACH Feb 2021 EIS SCOPING blob:https://www.fdms.gov/f701cae7-f2c1-4f2b-82b9-05e31fe54ac2 1/1

Nukewatch Kelly Lundeen and John LaForge, Co-directors February 16, 2021 Wisconsins nuclear power reactors at Point Beach are located on Lake Michigan. They have suffered frequent unplanned shutdowns caused by accidents, resulting in official warnings, fines, and even criminal convictions. If a company wants to continue to create tons of high level radioactive waste they are asking for enormous trust on the part of the public. They are assuming consent of future generations to continue to create this waste which is pompous and dangerous. They need to prove that they will be doing something different so that none of these accidents will happen again.

As of 2008 three RED findings the highest failure warning issued by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) had ever been made public.

At issue were safety procedures that were declared inadequate by NRC inspectors who said the failures existed for many years and that the licensee had seven prior opportunities to identify these inadequacies. The failures and inaction were of high safety significance (a Red finding) under NRC rules. NRC inspectors found that Point Beachs owners continuously compromised the auxiliary [cooling] feed-water pumps between 2001 and 2007.

January 15, 2008 At Pont Beachs Unit 1, an Unusual Event emergency was prompted by the complete loss of all offsite electric power to essential buses for more than 15 minutes, man-dating a notification of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. A supply breaker opened for unknown reasons, was being investigated and preparations were made for a Unit 1 shutdown. NRC Event No. 43907, Jan. 15, 2008 December 8, 2006 At Point Beach, the Control Room Emergency Filtration System was declared inoperable. The Control Room Charcoal Filter Fan tripped during a surveillance test, an event or condition that could have prevented the filters performance during a contamination emergency or, in the NRCs words, could have prevented fulfillment of a safety function. NRC Event No. 43040, Dec. 8, 2006 August 22, 2006 In an August 22, 2006 letter to Point Beach, the NRC charged that a senior reactor operator was discriminated against by the companys management for identifying potential technical violations. The discrimination was an apparent violation of employee protection requirements. NRC, Point Beach Summary, Inspection Procedure 95002, <nrc.gov/reactors/operating/ops-experience/degraded-cornerstone/pt-beach-summary.html>

December 16, 2005 Point Beach paid a $60,000 fine imposed Jan. 13, 2006 after two workers deliberately provided NRC inspectors with inaccurate information about the critique of an emergency preparedness drill at the Point Beach reactor in August 2002. The two were fired, and one was convicted in federal court of knowingly making false written statements to the NRC. NRC News, No. III-05-046, Dec. 19, 2005 December 13, 2005 A manual reactor trip shut down Point Beach Unit 1, due to loss of a condenser vacuum caused by failure of the running circulating water pump. Decay heat was being removed by atmospheric dump valves. The backup feed-water system was required. The operator, Florida Power & Light, said there are no known steam generator tube leak issues. Notification to NRC, Dec. 13, 2005 November 9, 2004 While operating at 100 percent power, Point Beach Unit 2 sprang a steam leak from a valve in the main steam flow transmitter.

The leak of potentially contaminated steam forced an unplanned shutdown. The leak involved what is called containment penetration of the main steam line passing through the concrete containment building. Accordingly, operators declared a Technical Specification Condition not met, forcing operators to isolate the affected penetration flow path with a completion time of 72 hours8.333333e-4 days <br />0.02 hours <br />1.190476e-4 weeks <br />2.7396e-5 months <br />. Operators were unable to meet the allowed completion time for this task. NRC Event No. 41212, Notification, Nov. 19, 2004

April 8, 2004 Point Beach paid a $60,000 fine imposed March 20, for last summers problems with the reactors backup cooling pumps. The Capital Times, March 20, 2004 February 11, 2004 The ongoing risk of a breakdown in Point Beachs cooling feed-water pumps results in a NRC RED finding, the agencys most severe safety failure warning. NRC News, Feb. 11, 2004 October 2002 A RED finding was issued by the NRC against Point Beach for problems with cold water circulation for cooling the reactor.

NRC News, Feb. 11, 2004 November 18, 1997 Point Beach Unit 2 was hastily shut down because of electrical problems. Milwaukee Jrnl Sntl, Nov. 18, 1997 August 12, 1997 The NRC recorded 21 violations at Point Beach in the 90-day period between Dec. 1996 and Feb. 1997. St. Paul Pioneer Press, Aug. 12, 1997 July 25, 1997 Reactor 2 at Point Beach was shutdown when a cooling water pump failed. Milwaukee Jrnl Sntl, Aug. 25, 1997 February 18, 1997 Reactor 1 at Point Beach was shut down when a cooling water pump defect required the pumps replacement.

December 1996 Point Beach owner WEPCO was fined $325,000 for 16 safety violations and a 1996 explosion inside a loaded high-level waste cask. The NRC said WEPCO was inattentive to their duties, starting up a power unit while one of its safety systems was inoperable, and had failed to install the required number of cooling pumps. Milwaukee Jrnl Sntl, Aug. 12, 1997, and Dec. 5, 1996 May 28, 1996 At Point Beach, a potentially catastrophic explosion of hydrogen gas, powerful enough to up-end the three-ton lid, pushed aside a 6,390-pound cask lid while it was atop a storage cask filled with high-level waste. The lid was being robotically welded to the cask. Milwaukee Jrnl Sntl, June 8, 1995 March 30, 1995 A Point Beach reactor was shut down due to instrument failure in the emergency generator system used to circulate cooling water when regular power is cut off during emergencies. Wisconsin State Journal, March 30, 1995 NUKEWATCH 740A Round L. Rd.

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