[Fair Use: For Education and Research Purpose Only]

Indian Point probe may bring extended power outage

By TOM ANDERSEN

COPYRIGHT 2000 The Journal News. All rights reserved.

Publication date: 2/18/2000

BUCHANAN --Consolidated Edison's remote-controlled inspection of the steam generator that leaked radioactive water at Indian Point 2 on Tuesday might lead to an extended outage and a replacement of the faulty generator, a utility official said yesterday.

The inspection is more likely to prompt Con Ed to simply take out of service one or several of the 2,000 to 3,000 tubes that carry hot radioactive water through the generator, then bring the plant back online, Con Edison Vice President Steve Quinn said.

With the first emergency alert in the plant's history lifted Wednesday night and the plant in cool shutdown, utility officials were working yesterday with Westinghouse Energy Systems on a plan to bring eight robots to the plant to perform the inspections. Westinghouse manufactured the plant's steam generators and assembles and operates the robots.

Quinn said plant officials would decide in a day or two whether to use the outage to perform a complete inspection of the generators now rather than wait for an inspection planned for a June outage.

Depending on what the robots find, Con Edison might decide to replace one or two of the four generators with new ones the utility bought in the late 1980s, Quinn said.

"I suppose that's possible," he said. "During every outage we evaluate the results, and then we do a study to see how the steam generator health is, and we would use that to see what our decision would be."

Tuesday's alert began about 7:30 p.m., when sensors at the plant detected a leak of about 75 to 90 gallons a minute in one of the tubes, which create steam when they come into contact with cooler nonradioactive water. The steam then powers turbines that generate the plant's electricity.

An alert is the second of four emergency nuclear classifications, with four being the most severe.

The radioactive water was captured in the plant's condensers, Quinn said, and will be reused in the steam generator tubes.

Officials said a small, undetectable amount of radiation might have escaped through a vent in the containment building. Radiation near the plant never rose above amounts that exist naturally, officials said. No one was exposed to radiation or injured, they said.

Steam generator tubes have been a problem at several of the nation's nuclear power plants over the years, although the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission does not consider them a safety risk. Approximately 10 percent of the 8,000 to 12,000 tubes in Indian Point 2's four steam generators have been removed from service because of leaks, the NRC said.

Several elected officials, meanwhile, said yesterday that they were concerned that federal regulators allowed the plant to continue operating despite a small leak on Feb. 6 from tubes in the same generator that leaked on Tuesday.

Westchester County Executive Andrew Spano, who was traveling in California, released a statement saying that he was outraged and that the NRC was cavalier in its attitude toward the plant.

Rep. Sue W. Kelly, R-Katonah, also raised the issue of the small leak in a letter she sent to the NRC requesting a report on the incident.

The NRC, however, said both it and Con Edison acted responsibly in monitoring the leaking generators.

NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan said that since October, three of the plant's four steam generators had leaked an average of 1 gallon a day. The fourth generator -- the one that caused Tuesday's incident -- began leaking 1.5 gallons a day on Feb. 6, he said. The rate increased to 3 gallons a day a week later, he said.

Sheehan said the plant's technical specifications allow the steam generators to leak up to 432 gallons a day.

"Based on past performance, nobody had reason to believe there was going to be this big spike in leakage," Sheehan said. "So to say that some minor leakage that was far below their allowable limits was cause for us to shut them down is more than a little bit off the mark."

Until the inspection is performed, he said, officials will not even know whether the tube that leaked Tuesday is also responsible for the smaller leak earlier in the month.

Quinn said repairs would begin on the generator after the robots finish the inspections. There are only 15 or 16 robots in the world that can do the work, and Con Edison needs about eight at Indian Point 2, he said.

The robots are designed to fit on rails inside the generators, he said.

One robot can be installed by one worker, after a radiation test determines the generator is safe, Quinn said. The robots are controlled by computer, and can inspect, clean, weld or otherwise repair the tubes, he said.

Depending on what the robots find, Con Edison might decide to install a new generator, a procedure that can take two to five months, Quinn said.

Staff writer Glenn Blain contributed information for this report.

http://www.nyjournalnews.com/news/18jn29.sht

-- Dee (T1Colt556@aol.com), February 19, 2000

Answers

Depending on what they find? With robots? Hey where's Scott Portzline when ya needem. Sounds to me like there might be some serious radiation in there. Serious enough to warrant robotic imports. Is this SOP?

-- Gordon (g_gecko_69@hotmail.com), February 19, 2000.

Right Gordon .... And , where is the verification that the welds are not cracked, full of gas holes or will resist the temperature changes of expansion when the hot tubes hit the cold water NEXT TIME ? Oh, right ! We wait for the next leaks to become to large to hide . Then we have another round cover ups , change the story to the " new way we will fix this is .... Blah , blah , blah , etc. ".

For heavens sakes ! Don't EVER stop the MONEY from flowing ! Just patch it again . Eagle ( who lives only 30 miles to the east ; the way the wind blows over 50% of the time !)

-- Hal Walker (e999eagle@FREEWWWEB.COM), February 19, 2000.

To the top.

-- Dee (T1Colt556@aol.com), February 20, 2000.