ML24054A110
| ML24054A110 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Diablo Canyon  |
| Issue date: | 02/23/2024 |
| From: | Public Commenter Public Commenter |
| To: | NRC/NMSS/DREFS |
| NRC/NMSS/DREFS | |
| References | |
| 89FR4631 | |
| Download: ML24054A110 (3) | |
Text
From:
Jim Stewart <drjimstewart@gmail.com>
Sent:
Friday, February 23, 2024 11:55 AM To:
DiabloCanyonEnvironmental.Resource
Subject:
[External_Sender] Why the NRC must immediately shut down Diablo Canyon and NOT extend it Why the NRC must immediately shut down Diablo Canyon By Jim Stewart, PhD (nuclear physics, Yale)
You know Diablo Canyon is on a network of 5 earthquake faults You know PG&E has not tested a Unit 1 coupon for embrittlement since 2003. When the reactor was shut down this fall for refueling, PG&E claimed they could not remove a coupon for testing. This sounds like they really did not want to remove a coupon for testing.
Have you read Professor Digbys analysis? Then you know that the welds in the Unit 1 Pressure Vessel had too much copper and nickel and therefore the welds are faulty.
Yet the NRC is acting like industry stooges.
You should recommend to the Commissioners that Unit 1 be immediately shut down until an independent contractor (not paid by PG&E) can extract a coupon and do all the needed tests on it.
Or if an independent contractor cant extract and test a coupon, then an independent contractor must do ultrasonic tests of all the welds in the Unit 1 Pressure Vessel, especially the beltline welds.
If you dont recommend this closure to the Commissioners, then we will know who to charge with involuntary manslaughter when the Unit 1 Pressure Vessel breaks and there is a release of radioactivity like Chernobyl or Fukushima.
Dr. Digby Macdonald, Professor in Residence, Departments of Nuclear Engineering, University of California at Berkeley concludes that the current operation and proposed extended operation of DCPP Unit 1 pose an unreasonable risk to public health and safety due to serious indications of an unacceptable degree of embrittlement in the reactor pressure vessel (RPV), coupled with a lack of information to establish otherwise. In Dr. Macdonalds expert opinion, the reactor should be closed unless and until PG&E obtains and analyzes additional data demonstrating that Unit 1 is safe to operate.
The condition of the DCPP Unit 1 RPV poses the particular concern that the composition of the welds in the pressure vessel was found to be defective at the time it was installed by having excessive copper and nickel. Not surprisingly, in 2006, the NRC identified the Unit 1 pressure
vessel among the nations most embrittled, with only 14 of 72 PTS reference temperatures as high as or higher than DCPP Unit 1. And today, half of those 14 reactors are closed.
Federal Register Notice:
89FR4631 Comment Number:
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Subject:
[External_Sender] Why the NRC must immediately shut down Diablo Canyon and NOT extend it Sent Date:
2/23/2024 11:54:43 AM Received Date:
2/23/2024 11:54:53 AM From:
Jim Stewart Created By:
drjimstewart@gmail.com Recipients:
"DiabloCanyonEnvironmental.Resource" <DiabloCanyonEnvironmental.Resource@nrc.gov>
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