Published: October 13th, 2011 at 7:44 pm ET
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SOURCE: Crack discovered in Davis-Besse containment building, October 13, 2011:
OAK HARBOR, OH (WTOL) – Workers replacing the nuclear reactor head at the Davis-Besse plant discovered a crack in a concrete containment building Monday.
The plant has been shut down for nearly two weeks while the reactor is replaced with a new one [...]
The vertical crack runs as much as 30 feet along rebar [...]
First Energy, which owns Davis-Besse, is replacing the current reactor head after cracks were found on fuel rod nozzles. [...]
“The significance of the finding is yet to be determined, that’s why we’ve engaged the outside experts.” -First Energy Spokesperson Jennifer Young
Learn more:
1) Davis-Beese’s near-rupture in 2002: “The 2002 near-rupture at Davis-Besse endangered northern Ohio more than was realized at the time.” -Toledo Blade, October 12, 2011
2) Multiple cracks in containment building at Florida’s Crystal River nuke plant: Including “a 60-foot crack in Crystal River’s concrete containment” -Nuclear Engineering International, April 29, 2010
h/t agfw
Workers inspect reactor head SOURCE: Wikipedia
Published: October 13th, 2011 at 7:44 pm ET
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Crack Kills!!!!
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So let me make a serious point. Had the fuel rod nossle not been cracked, then the crack in the containment would not have been discovered.
How many other plants have unknown problems like this that will only be discovered when some maintenance is required, or perhaps after a, um, i don’t know, earth quake…
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All of them. I’m a good guesser.
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I had a girlfriend once, who’s Dad had worked construction one summer, on the Callaway County reactor, in Missouri. A friend had gotten him the job ahead of hundreds of others. He said the first day on the job, he was assigned to bolting some plates to a wall. He was working along, doing a good job, when after lunch his friend told him to quit working so fast, or some of these other (union) guys, who had complained, might drop a beam on him. He didn’t think he was working all that fast.
A customer who was an electrician, once told me how he had worked at the St. Vrain plant in Colorado when it was under construction. He worked there a year or so, and then moved to Missouri for a job. Years later, he had the opportunity to visit back at St. Vrain. They were farther from completion then, than when he left years earlier.
He said the dangerous thing was, the NRC had changed the plan so much, nobody really knew where everything was that had been built.
It’s only a matter of time, and the American people are going to get SOUSED with permanent nuclear fallout, from an accident at one of these plants or spent fuel storage facilities. If so, I hope its one closest to Washington D.C., so they can be fully own their nuclear industry representation at the expense of the rest of the country.
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@americancommentr
“He said the dangerous thing was, the NRC had changed the plan so much, nobody really knew where everything was that had been built.”
The plant is supposed to require “as built” drawings which incorporate all the changes made during construction. If they didn’t, it would be the fault of the company, not the NRC.
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Anne Harris says this is common occurance at nuke plants http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77vkuPtqN4A
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Good question, bmurr!
While I understand these plants are huge, how on earth does a 30 FOOT CRACK escape detection for any length of time?
Time to end our nuclear experiment. Please sign the petition to end nuclear energy at: https://wwws.whitehouse.gov/petitions/%21/petition/end-use-nuclear-energy-united-states/H0Pd79B1?utm_source=wh.gov&utm_medium=shorturl&utm_campaign=shorturl
It says, “WE PETITION THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION TO:
End the use of nuclear energy in the United States.
The best available science has taught us that radioactive substances are extremely hazardous to human health. Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, the ongoing crisis in Fukushima, as well as recent U.S. nuclear accidents can leave no doubt — nuclear energy is neither safe nor clean. Please end the use of nuclear energy, and use the funds currently invested in advancing nuclear power to support safer alternatives, such as wind and solar.”
Thank you!
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45? This can NOT be true.
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Yeah *sigh*. The good news is that a couple of people I know about have been inspired enough to learn a bit more about the issue because of the petition, and they decided to sign. I have to hope that, in spreading it around, maybe there are a few others who’ve at least looked into it more than they did before. I’ll take the glass-half-full perspective.
Heck — I’m learning a lot, too! That’s always a good thing!
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Apropos glass-half-full: let’s enjoy some Spätlese anyway on Oct.31. We have more than enough reason to spoil us a little.
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LOL Spatlese for everyone — regardless the outcome — right here on Halloween!
(Sorry – don’t know how to make the thing over the “a” – only speak wine, not German. 
)
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Signed and shared.
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Thanks a bunch, bnski!
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Sounds like the news coming soon should be very interesting too! 2002 near meltdown, probably was a meltdown and that cracked the reactor. I can’t believe they went and built all these plants, what were they thinking back then? Why would the people allow this. I can kinda see why they cover everything up cause if we knew what actually happens we would allow it to continue. Why do nuclear and government keep so many incompitent workers, they wouldn’t last in just about any other industry
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Looks like this plant is currently pursuing license renewal. Maybe the discovery of one big crack ought to raise questions about how many others there might be that are not easily observed by visual inspection:
http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/licensing/renewal/applications/davis-besse.html
Aside from nuclear safety concerns, here’s another possible concern with it:
“Though the Davis-Besse plant has avoided any nuclear-related health disasters, it nevertheless was likely one of the many power plants built in the 1960s and 1970s that contained asbestos. This fibrous mineral was used in areas and around machinery that were subjected to extreme heat, particularly in power generation facilities. Though some employers knew of the health risks associated with the inhalation of asbestos fibers, many chose to use it anyway and refrain from informing their employees.”
http://www.mesotheliomasymptoms.com/davis-besse-nuclear-power-station
Let’s hope the men currently doing the repair work are aware of this and taking the proper precautions to protect themselves.
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History of problems:
September 24, 1977 – reactor shut down because relief valve stuck open
On June 9, 1985 – main feedwater pumps shut down
On June 24, 1998 – struck by a tornado, external power was disabled and plant automatically shut down
March 2002- borated water leaked, ate through 6 inches of reactor pressure vessel
January 20, 2006, FirstEnergy “acknowledged a series of safety violations by former workers, and entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with the” US DOJ.
October 2008 – tritium leak
March 2010 – cracks found in 24 of 69 nozzles
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davis-Besse_Nuclear_Power_Station
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39,925 excess deaths in the US since Fukushima.
http://freepdfhosting.com/37cc0eae6b.pdf
http://i54.tinypic.com/334swmc.jpg
The figure is derived from official reports from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The East South Central region (Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama) was found to have a significant mortality increase in week 39, and these deaths are now being counted.
In the past two-week period, more excess deaths have occurred east of the Mississippi River than west of it.
Infant mortality increase is now significant in the Mountain region (+8.8%), and the New England region (+18.6%).
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At another OHIO nuclear power plant:
“FirstEnergy moves a 115-ton electrical transformer across Ohio to restart Perry nuclear power plant”
“Crews moved a monster-sized electrical transformer to the Perry nuclear power plant on Thursday – snarling traffic in Lake County as several roads had to be closed.
Perry’s operators shut down the reactor Oct. 2, three days after a previous transformer failed. And the reactor probably will remain shut down until electricians and engineers are able to install the new equipment.”
http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2011/10/firstenergy_moves_a_115-ton_el.html
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TROLL ALERT AT HP
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/12/small-radiation-hotspot-tokyo-found_n_1007452.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/30/japan-earthquake-2011-gov_n_989682.html
I’m not up to it…if you want to.
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Davis-Besse is and forever will be known in the nuke industry as “the plant with a hole in its head”.
It goes like this: the original head was corroded by a leak of borated water, the operator first ignored the problem, then welded a bit of steel over the affected area, then was finally forced to shutdown for repairs. Operators got a slap on the wrist and 4 million in fines.
They bought a “new” (old, refurbished) head from another power plant and installed it. It was discovered that the “new” head is also bad – water is leaking out of it, through the penetrations where the control rod mechanisms are. It was patched up last year and scheduled for replacement.
So now they are on their _second_ head-replacement job and things, unsurprisingly, are not going as planned.
By the way, the “head” in question is the _bottom_ head of the reactor’s pressure vessel. Think of the RPV as a pill standing on one end. This, the lower end, is what the moderator rods move through as they are being raised into the core to moderate, or lowered out to stop moderating the reaction.
Of course, now you’re thinking “but why build lots of little holes into the bottom of a kettle?”, which makes you smarter people with more common sense than those who designed the plant in the first place.
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Got it all a little backwards somehow zaadik. The head is indeed the top of the reactor, normally what people refer to when talking about a “head”, and no there is not a bunch of holes in the bottom. That is the inherent design flaw of a BWR, a different type then, here at Davis-Besse, which is a PWR and has it’s control rods on the top.
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Joe College!!!
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my buddy!!!!
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Babcock & Wilcox are responsible for Davis-Besse
http://www.me.psu.ac.th/Power_Plant_Engineering/Nuclear/NPP3.htm
http://atomicpowerreview.blogspot.com/2011/10/davis-besse-vessel-head-replacement.html
Course in B&W PWRs http://www.pdhonline.org/courses/e183/e183.htm
Babcock & Wilcox are responsible for Three-Mile Island
http://www.worldcat.org/wcpa/servlet/DCARead?standardNo=0520239407&standardNoType=1&excerpt=true
they are also in the small modular reactor business http://www.roanoke.com/business/wb/299080
Anyone else ever heard of Babcock & Wilcox ?
http://www.babcock.com/about/
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Perhaps 40 years of intense neutron bombardment disintegrating containment concrete is too long….
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i think that workers in chernobyl think 25 years is too long for concrete and metal!!
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Concrete construction in the 60′s and 70′s did not use epoxy-coated steel rebar. The uncoated steel rebar rusts as soon as it is exposed to water. Steel expands as it rusts, exerting tensile stress in the surrounding concrete. Concrete is ONLY strong in compression – that’s why it must be “reinforced” with steel. All the old bridge supports and concrete highways have the same problem. Notice that the highways and bridges always fail to the level of the rebar – the rusting steel is exposed and you can see rust-colored streaks on the old abutments if they are rusting. It is impossible to fix – even though they try by removing the concrete around the rebar, sandblasting, and repacking with cement. All the old reactors should be shut down. I am Mechanical Engineer with masters degree and I am scared.
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