Entergy, according to the Times-Argus, is seeking NRC permission for Vermont Yankee to halt a currently required inspection routine.
Instead of inspecting the steam dryer every time it shuts down for refueling, on average every 18 months, as currently required, Entergy wants to inspect it every seven refueling outages, or once every 10 years or so.
This is as if Vermont Yankee, having been granted permission to drive a 40-year-old nuclear vehicle with bald tires well above the legal speed limit, has grown bored; bored with examining their old worn tires and repeatedly finding them still worn and treadless: ‘yup, still bald.’ So they want to stop the bother and expense of looking altogether. Simply put, if they ain’t looking, they ain’t finding.
[more follows after the jump]
According to reports, as of July 2010 required VY inspections discovered a total of 65 cracks. Entergy maintains that despite these “non-relevant” cracks, the steam dryer is in “good shape”. The routine inspections are part of requirements the NRC placed on Entergy VY when it permitted the 40-year-old plant to operate at 20 percent greater power production than the original design. A steam dryer is used to remove water from steam before it enters the power plant turbine. While not officially considered safety equipment by the NRC, dryer failure can impact components that are. A test power up-rate of less than VY’s 20 percent at a similar US Boiling Water Reactor (BWR) plant resulted in major steam dryer failure.
Not long ago in 2009 VY was happily bragging about their NEI industry trade group award-winning (cost saving) remotely operated steam dryer inspection mechanism. Certainly a clever thing but it wasn’t as if Entergy had an award-winning repair to any “non-relevant” cracks in the worrisome steam dryer. They just found a slick way to monitor the steam dryer’s aging – and naturally cut costs.
An annual reduction of 3.6 person-rem of radiation exposure is expected along with a minimum $500,000 cost reduction per outage.
Wasn’t that long ago Entergy hired a Vermont PR firm to splash on a quick fresh coat of PR paint.
The IAMVY.com campaign and tagline – safe, clean, reliable – that resulted ring just as hollow now as in 2009 just before tritium leaks were disclosed. Now Entergy requests permission to practically stop required steam dryer inspections. I propose a new tagline for Vermont Yankee in the form of a question: VY: What could possibly go wrong?
Yep, Entergy is getting their ideas from old Simpsons episodes. This one comes from the comet that was heading towards Springfield, and at the end of the show the townspeople go and destroy the astronomy observatory that originally spotted the comet ‘so this’ll never happen again!’
The NRC will automatically rubber-stamps Entergy’s request just as they always do:
Homer: “Will you all stop worrying about that stupid comet? It’s going to be destroyed. Didn’t you hear what that guy in the building said?”
Lisa: “But dad, don’t you think…”
Homer: “Lisa, the whole reason we have elected officials is so we don’t have to think all the time. Just like that rain forest scare a few years back. Our officials saw there was a problem and they fixed it, didn’t they?”
Lisa: “No, Dad, I don’t think…”
Homer: “There’s that word again!”
This one’s ripe for funning — my proposed VY slogan is “Vermont Yankee: What You Don’t Know Can’t Hurt You” — but it reinforces, yet again, my fundamental objection to continued VY operation:
You can’t trust these bastards.
Unlike many in these precincts, I don’t necessarily mind if nuclear is part of our energy mix. But only if it’s managed and maintained with safety first and foremost in mind. The consequences of failure are just too severe.
Entergy has showed over and over again that its primary interest is maximizing its financial return from VY. Their main concern for safety is purely PR; they want to be seen as a caring, careful operator. Which is kinda different from actually being caring and careful.