UPDATE #4:
The NRC has issued a fairly rare Sunday press release. As reported in evacuationplans.org, the document begins:
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission launched a special inspection Sunday into the circumstances surrounding Friday’s leak in one of the cooling towers at the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant in Vernon, Vt., sending structural specialists to the plant. The inspectors will begin work at the site Monday.
UPDATE #3:
Two updates. First, the plant is apparently operating at 25%. Furthermore, VT Yankee spokesman Rob Williams told the associated press (coming to us via the Rutland Herald) that:
“It appears that that broken or degraded bracket was not due to decay but appears to be related to stresses in the design of the new interface between the bracket and the previously replaced column in that area.”
Now, I’m not sure whether we should believe Williams or not, but the idea that the current problems are caused because they didn’t know how to fix the previous problems just sort of fits.
Here’s the rest of the story, as it was posted over the weekend:
Okay– this is what I understand to be going on: VY is operating at 40% 47% under 50% capacity (I keep hearing different numbers, but they’re all in the 40-50% range) due to some serious problems in the cooling towers. Here’s Symington’s statement:
How many more times will we have to learn about maintenance issues at Vermont Yankee before Jim Douglas presents a plan for transitioning to other sources of power if this aging plant has to be shut down?
After last year’s collapse in part of the cooling system at Vermont Yankee, we were assured that a full-scale review was done of the wooden support structures and the problem had been fixed. Yet here we are again dealing with rotting wood in the cooling system. How can Vermonters have confidence in the ability of Entergy to maintain that plant if the same failures keep occurring?
Vermont’s business community needs to know that this major source of power is reliable. Vermonters need to know that it is safe. This incident underlines the need to have an independent assessment of Vermont Yankee and raises further questions about the wisdom of continuing to rely so heavily on it as major part of our power supply.
Here’s a report which hasn’t been posted online yet, but was forwarded via a whistleblower. If I can find a clear link I’ll update it later, but here’s what I’ve got. This version had typos in it (which I’ve corrected) which suggest it’s a preliminary draft and is not perfect in this version.
CR-VTY-2008-02904
Damage to East Cooling Tower Celll CT-1-1
During routine monthly inspections of the cooling towers, the Auxiliary Operator reported observation of some structural degradation to the distribution piping on East side of CT-1-1. The distribution piping appears to be sagging and significant leakage was observed from slip-fit joint adjacent to where where the distribution piping enters the cell from the inlet riser pipe.
A number of saddle supports for the distribution piping in this area were observed to be damaged. Because of these observations the decision was made to reduce reactor power and take the East cooling tower out of service. Open cycle operation of the circulating water system was established and the inlet riser valves to the East cooling tower (CW-6A/B) were closed to isolate flow to the tower.
Inspections of the West cooling tower revealed additional damage to some of the saddles which support the distribution pipe in CT-2-3 and CT-2-4.. There was NO damage observed in either CT-2-1 or CT-2-2. Therefore, it [shall] be concluded that safety-related CT-2-1 is structurally sound and fully operable at this time..
This is a developing story. As soon as we know more, we’ll post it.
I also find it interesting that just because there’s “no damage observed,” it’s suggested that CT-2-1 is fully sound and operational. How long was damage not observed in the other towers before they got taken down?
In the meantime, I will just note that, yet again, we’re dealing with a major problem that’s forcing us to purchase power from out of state while Entergy fails to maintain basic standards of quality at its own plant.
It’s time we find a new power source for this state. It’s been time for some time now.
UPDATE: more from other news sources below the fold.
The Brattleboro Reformer covered this today. Here’s a choice quote:
Whether there is a sag in the distribution platform or if any structural members have collapsed, wrote Williams, is still under investigation. It is also unclear how long the pipe had been leaking, he stated.
I’m beginning to suspect that Williams got his PR training the same place that Jason Gibbs did.
Continuing in the reformer, Shumlin nails it:
“To me,” said Shumlin, “this is further evidence that Entergy Louisiana does not do business in the best tradition of the way we do business in Vermont. They tell you what they want to hear but (their talk) rarely matches the facts.”
Update #2: And here’s a choice quote from the Rutland Herald:
Vermont Yankee was at 46 percent power late Friday, and company spokesman Robert Williams said the plant was relying on water from the nearby Connecticut River to cool the plant’s condensers. He said the leak was discovered Friday morning during a regular inspection.
Williams only released information about the leak in the east tower and failed to mention the problems in the west tower, which partially collapsed last August.