Published: November 29th, 2012 at 12:49 pm ET
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Title: Leak being repaired at Oyster Creek nuclear plant
Source: AP
Date: Nov 27, 2012
Leak being repaired at Oyster Creek nuclear plant
Officials say a pinhole leak has been found on a reactor head spray line nozzle at the nation’s oldest operating nuclear plant.
[...] But it’s not yet clear what caused the leak, which is being repaired by plant workers.
The leak occurred on a flange to a piping weld on the reactor’s head spray system. Water was found to be weeping from the pinhole leak at approximately 2 to 3 drops per minute. [...]
Title: NRC Finds Pinhole Leak at Oyster Creek, Denies Activist’s Petition
Source: Berkeley, NJ Patch
Author: Elaine Piniat
Date: November 28, 2012
Expert Witness Arnie Gunderson [sic], a consultant from Fairewinds Energy Education, said that the problems recently discovered at Oyster Creek are all age related.
“Because of its age, it’s in jeopardy. The crack and this pipe are age-drelated. The fact that it doesn’t have a High Pressure Injection System is age-related,” he said.
Oyster Creek is the only nuclear plant in the country that does not have a High Pressure Coolant Injection System that is designed to cool the plant in the event of a small line break, he said. [...]
“The crack found in the nozzle, that would have been a small line break,” said Gundersen, who studied nuclear engineering and was a licensed reactor operator.
The pinhole leak is a larger issue than the NRC and Exelon is letting on, he said.
“Pinhole leaks rapidly grow when in use. The pinhole wouldn’t have been a pinhole very long,” he said. [...]
“NRC metallurgical specialists will continue to engage Exelon on the leak, including a review of the company’s characterization of the flaw and its repair plan.” -Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) spokesman Neil Sheehan
See also: Gundersen: Cracks found in reactor at NJ's Oyster Creek nuclear plant (AUDIO)
Published: November 29th, 2012 at 12:49 pm ET
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"?Uncontro llable fission? is continuing under site..."&q uot; That means for over 5 years...
sending...
Oh, NRC, if you love Exelon so much, why don't you just marry them?
Neil Sheehan, another useless bureaucrat at another money-draining institution that should be pushed off that FISCAL CLIFF the clown posse Congress keeps yelping about…
I can find LOTS of ways to avoid a tax increase, hmm, let's start with the NRC, DOE, NIH, WHO and Pentagon black budget…
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@ion jean.. hehehe..let's register them at Macy's!!!!
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I'm not so sure about love. Maybe more like customer appreciation. Or chump appreciation.
It should have been illegal from day one for a public utility to operate a nuclear plant. Back in the day, GE, Westinghouse and the AEC were figuring out how to pimp out nuclear. They decided that public utilities *could* operate a nuclear plant safely. And they could trick the public into thinking it was cheap electricity because all the nuclear welfare programs made it look that way.
The NRC is in a bit of a bind today because its been nearly impossible to pimp out any more nuke plants. That threatens all the commissioners *next* lucrative job back in the industry. You have everything in place to guarantee a disaster in the making right here in the U.S.
The NRC doesn't want to discourage utilities from being operators, so the NRC isn't about to do much real regulation. It would ruin their careers.
The utilities don't get much nuclear welfare today and operating a nuclear reactor is really expensive. They've been cutting technical staff for years. 'Safety' is only viewed in the context of legal liability.
We have cheapskate, stingy, bottom-feeding utilities running unsafe, aging reactors with a demoralized, overworked staff. And we have the NRC with every incentive NOT to put any pressure on them for any reason.
Wishful thinking and censorship are all they have left.
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The incestuous common-law marriage can only be annulled if someone privy to the most intimate (& perverted)"secrets" divulges their dirty laundry & causes a messy "divorce"(from nuclear power) & stops them from (fast)-breeding more "offspring"(new NPP's)!!
73, Blade out.
I KNOW there's high-level nukers who have the kind of credible evidence & proof it'd take to tear down this "marriage" and stop them from further harming us and the planet!The question of who,when and "what" is damning enough to do the job might be less important than "will they step up & rejoin the better side of humanity & do the "right" thing in time-if indeed it isn't already too late??!!(They're a pretty stubborn,cold-blooded lot though!~if my livelihood or hobbies ever harmed a child or baby or anyone for that matter-I wouldn't need to be asked or told to cease & desist my activities twice!!)"They" make the worst drug cartel killers,meth lab operator's,& infamous dictatorship's look like Choir Boys by comparison! I say to the one reading this with a heart~"COWBOY UP BEYOTCH"!! & think of others for once in your life & realize your job is KILLING YOU TOO!! That's all I got today!~tomorrow we find out if my wife's cancer is back & if it's spread from the Oncology Team treating her and there's some indications that the news may not be very good. I'm gonna wish everyone a good night & better tomorrow & get to bed early now.
TAKE CARE ALL!
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They have no concept of 'others' in any sense we could possibly understand, Johnny. It's a disease, not a moral or rational choice on their part.
I would wish you and your wife good luck tomorrow, but it's never that easy. You never hear what you want to hear, and there's always some unexpected twist in what you do hear. I've been down this road too many times. It just drains your soul no matter how it turns out. Tommorow will suck, so I'll project some energy out to you and your wife for Saturday. Go out and have a really bad cup of coffee somewhere. It kind of helps for some reason beyond my comprehension.
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"I’m not saying to shut it down. I’m saying for improvements to be made,” – A. Gundersen
"How do we know with absolute confidence that this reactor is safe to operate…?" – Tauro
Risk Assessment is just too risky and never 100% accurate!
It's an assessment, not a guarantee.
Shut IT Down!!!
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Thanks chasaha for highlighting gunderson position on nukes.
He still wants them, all he's trying to do is make them 'safer'.
He also wants to bury fuku-d. This only hids the problem from the current population. If we face up to an immediate response as should be done, many people will die and the horror of nukes will be brought to everyone's attention. He is trying to conceal the horror.
I've decide the lauded AG is not on my side. He wants nukes. He has a very different agenda to this site.
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Hi Richard – In previous discussions of Arnie's 'loyalty' some have suggested he couches his words carefully to not lose access to information and opportunity to stay in contact with 'the industry'. I think it may be true. It seems to me he manages to deliver quality information to anti-nuke activists, so from my p.o.v. his personal inclination to "make it safe" (if that's indeed his personal inclination) is beside the point. He's to me a valuable resource. (??)
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Arnie has been totally against nuclear energy since Fukushima.
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"For Gundersen, the situation in Japan has finally tipped the scales once and for all against nuclear power. He said he started his career 40 years ago very much in favour of nuclear power, viewing it as an option that could wean the world off of oil and coal. Later, he saw it as an environmentally friendly option that could help reduce global warming, but required stronger regulation.
"Post-Fukushima, he doesn't see it that way.
"'Fukushima has changed my view entirely. I'm at a point now where we're not smart enough to figure out what Mother Nature or a terrorist can throw at us. With this technology the risks are just too high.'"
http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/World/20120309/fukushima-cleanup-evacuees-face-uncertain-future-120311/
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anne…+++several hundred!
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Yes Maggie123 I agree.
His 'inside' input is important.
My issue is…
"When I even think of the words 'safe' and 'nuclear', in the same sentence, it makes ME want to EXPLODE."
Because I know that 'safety', when it comes to nuclear, is a 'pipe dream'.
pipe dream:
a fantastic but vain hope
(from fantasies induced by the opium pipe)
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I knew it.
Two weeks after Frankenstorm, Exelon started talking about closing down the plant early. On the very same day the NRC sent a rather ticked off sounding inspection team down to Oyster Creek to take a look at things. Now this.
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The Radiation Network map of radiation detector readings shows the highest reading in the US is 67 CPM (counts per minute) in the NJ/PA area likely to be downwind of the plant.
I am not a member of the network so I can't zoom in to see more detail of the detector location.
Levels are not much higher than the 40's seen in other parts of the country which perhaps shows how many nuclear plants leak radation! NY is showing 9 CPM.
Michigan (56), eastern Washington state (63) and Arizona (63) are also elevated.
http://www.radiationnetwork.com/
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The Radiation Network map of radiation detector readings shows the highest reading in the US is 67 CPM (counts per minute) in the NJ/PA area likely to be downwind of the plant. There had been elevated levels for weeks now, although it was lower earlier this week.
I am not a member of the network so I can't zoom in to see more detail of the detector location.
Levels are not much higher than the 40's seen in other parts of the country which perhaps shows how many nuclear plants leak radation! NY is showing 9 CPM.
Michigan (56), eastern Washington state (63) and Arizona (63) are also elevated.
http://www.radiationnetwork.com/
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Sorry for the duplicate post.
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It's a pin hole… get out the bubble gum, LOL
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