“Emergency declared” at New Jersey nuke plant after reactor coolant leak — “Leakage outside containment”

Published: July 15th, 2011 at 10:41 am ET
By ENENews
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Event Notification Report for July 15, 2011, NRC, July 15, 2011:

[Emphasis Added]

Event Number: 47052
Facility: SALEM
Region: 1 State: NJ
Event Date: 07/14/2011
Event Time: 20:53 [EDT]
Emergency Class: UNUSUAL EVENT
10 CFR Section: 50.72(a) (1) (i) – EMERGENCY DECLARED [...]

UNUSUAL EVENT DECLARED BASED ON REACTOR COOLANT LEAK GREATER THAN 10 GPM

“At 2053 on July 14, 2011 Salem unit 2 declared an Unusual Event due to reactor coolant system leakage greater than 10 gallons per minute. While performing a monthly Emergency Core Cooling System vent of the high head safety injection piping a motor operated valve was opened and a leak developed on the high head piping greater than 10 gallons per minute. The leak rate was approximately 11-15 gallon per minute. The leak was terminated when the motor operated valve was closed. The time of the leak was about 6 minutes.”

At this time the leak is believed to be from a crack on the Boron Injection Tank (BIT) relief valve line which is connected to the high head piping. A total of approximately 90 gallon of reactor coolant leaked into the BIT room. The licensee has declared the high head safety injection inoperable and is proceeding to shutdown under Tech Spec 3.0.3. [...]

* * * UPDATE FROM KARL HANPHO TO VINCE KLCO ON 7/15/11 AT 0025 EDT* * *

“Salem Unit 2 declared an Unusual Event due to Reactor Coolant System (RCS) leakage being greater than 10 gpm and pressurizer level decreasing. Leakage was estimated to be approximately 15 gpm. [...] Salem Unit 2 began the Technical Specification shutdown [...]

“In addition since the leakage from the weld on the high head charging/safety injection piping exceeded the analyzed limit for ESF leakage outside containment, this event is also being reported in accordance with 10CFR50.72(b)(3)(v) and RAL 11.2.2.b as a condition that prevents the ability to mitigate the consequences of an accident.

“Salem unit 2 is currently at 27% and reducing power.” [...]

* * * UPDATE FROM KARL HANPHO TO CHARLES TEAL ON 7/15/11 AT 0345 EDT* * *

Salem Unit 2 has exited the Unusual Event as of 0339 EDT. The criteria for exit was the leakage rate was below the 10 gpm rate. The plant is in Mode 3 and is preparing to cooldown.

From June 28: Cooling pump fails at New Jersey nuclear reactor, plant shut down

h/t Anonymous tip

Published: July 15th, 2011 at 10:41 am ET
By ENENews
Email Article Email Article
71 comments





Related Posts

  1. Cooling pump fails at New Jersey nuclear reactor, plant shut down — Remains in ‘hot shutdown’ June 28, 2011
  2. Japan gov’t announces new leakage from reactor No. 1 containment vessel April 26, 2011
  3. Radioactive leak at South Carolina nuke plant — Found July 7, repairs still underway July 13, 2011
  4. JUST IN: ‘Notification of Unusual Event’ declared at nuclear plant near Omaha — “They don’t expect any radioactive material to be released” June 7, 2011
  5. Another Nebraska nuke plant declares “Notification of Unusual Event” — Made at 4:02 am CDT this morning June 19, 2011

71 comments to “Emergency declared” at New Jersey nuke plant after reactor coolant leak — “Leakage outside containment”

  • jump-ball

    Trouble: coast to coast

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  • Whoopie Whoopie

    Posted to HP – SADLY. This is horrific news. We’re in trouble BIG TIME all around us! Japan to the right of me – New Jersey (plus the others) to the left of me:
    STUCK IN NUCLEAR HELL AGAIN.

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  • Steven Steven

    “Salem Unit 2 has exited the Unusual Event as of 0339 EDT.”

    Starting to get the hang of this nuke-speak now. Unfortunately this particular example isn’t likely to be used any time soon at Fuku Daiichi…. in fact, unless they somehow get the coriums back from whence they came, contained and resealed, I don’t see how they can use it.

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  • Jon_NY

    Emergency declared at Fort Calhoun also

    Facility: FORT CALHOUN
    Region: 4 State: NE
    Unit: [1] [ ] [ ]
    RX Type: (1) CE
    NRC Notified By: DAVE SPARGO
    HQ OPS Officer: BILL HUFFMAN

    Emergency Class: UNUSUAL EVENT
    10 CFR Section:
    50.72(a) (1) (i) – EMERGENCY DECLARED

    http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/event-status/event/en.html

    Details are sketchy. Supposedly a false alarm. Looking for more info.

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  • theypoisonus

    All of these ‘unusual events’ were evidently not made public in the past.

    Since the horror in Japan, it seems everday we are seeing this happening here in the US.
    This leads me to believe ‘events’ have been going on but the public was never told, probably for decades.

    Who decided We The People did not have the right to know this in the past? I would like to know so I could give them a good ole fashioned ‘dressing down’.

    BTW, any of our older people that post here, get ahold of the Pres, Vice Pres, you local congressperson, or senator and let them know they better keep their greedy hands off our Medicare, Medicaide, and Disability payments !!
    Please do ASAP.

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    • emac2

      Who decided?

      We the people decided when we decided that we need to trust corporations and the wealthy to keep us employed and safe.

      Instead of people voting to cut taxes so they are saved by big business they need to educate themselves or shut up and stop voting.

      People don’t like to think and there is always someone willing to tell you it’s all going to be OK while they steal every bit of security you have.

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    • Power Plants Accidents and other anomalies

      3 January 1961
      The world’s first nuclear-related fatalities occurred following a reactor explosion at the National Reactor Testing Station in Idaho Falls, Idaho. Three technicians, were killed, with radioactivity “largely confined” (words of John A. McCone, Director of the Atomic Energy Commission) to the reactor building. The men were killed as they moved fuel rods in a “routine” preparation for the reactor start-up. One technician was blown to the ceiling of the containment dome and impaled on a control rod. His body remained there until it was taken down six days later. The men were so heavily exposed to radiation that their hands had to be buried separately with other radioactive waste, and their bodies were interred in lead coffins. Another incident three weeks later (on 25 January) resulted in a release of radiation into the atmosphere.
      24 July 1964
      Robert Peabody, 37, died at the United Nuclear Corp. fuel facility in Charlestown, Rhode Island, when liquid uranium he was pouring went critical, starting a reaction that exposed him to a lethal dose of radiation.

      19 November 1971
      The water storage space at the Northern States Power Company’s reactor in Monticello, Minnesota filled to capacity and spilled over, dumping about 50,000 gallons of radioactive waste water into the Mississippi River. Some was taken into the St. Paul water system.

      March 1972
      Senator Mike Gravel of Alaska submitted to the Congressional Record facts surrounding a routine check in a nuclear power plant which indicated abnormal radioactivity in the building’s water system. Radioactivity was confirmed in the plant drinking fountain. Apparently there was an inappropriate cross-connection between a 3,000 gallon radioactive tank and the water system.

      27 July 1972
      Two workers at the Surry Unit 2 facility in Virginia were fatally scalded after a routine valve adjustment led to a steam release in a gap in a vent line. [See also 9 December 1986]

      28 May 1974
      The Atomic Energy Commission reported that 861 “abnormal events” had occurred in 1973 in the nation’s 42 operative nuclear power plants. Twelve involved the release of radioactivity “above permissible levels.”

      22 March 1975
      A technician checking for air leaks with a lighted candle caused $100 million in damage when insulation caught fire at the Browns Ferry reactor in Decatur, Alabama. The fire burned out electrical controls, lowering the cooling water to dangerous levels, before the plant could be shut down.

      28 March 1979
      A major accident at the Three Mile Island nuclear plant near Middletown, Pennsylvania. At 4:00 a.m. a series of human and mechanical failures nearly triggered a nuclear disaster. By 8:00 a.m., after cooling water was lost and temperatures soared above 5,000 degrees, the top portion of the reactor’s 150-ton core melted. Contaminated coolant water escaped into a nearby building, releasing radioactive gasses, leading as many as 200,000 people to flee the region. Despite claims by the nuclear industry that “no one died at Three Mile Island,” a study by Dr. Ernest J. Sternglass, professor of radiation physics at the University of Pittsburgh, showed that the accident led to a minimum of 430 infant deaths.

      1981
      The Critical Mass Energy Project of Public Citizen, Inc. reported that there were 4,060 mishaps and 140 serious events at nuclear power plants in 1981, up from 3,804 mishaps and 104 serious events the previous year.

      11 February 1981
      An Auxiliary Unit Operator, working his first day on the new job without proper training, inadvertently opened a valve which led to the contamination of eight men by 110,000 gallons of radioactive coolant sprayed into the containment building of the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Sequoyah I plant in Tennessee.

      July 1981
      A flood of low-level radioactive wastewater in the sub-basement at Nine Mile Point’s Unit 1 (in New York state) caused approximately 150 55-gallon drums of high-level waste to overturn, some of which released their highly radioactive contents. Some 50,000 gallons of low-level radioactive water were subsequently dumped into Lake Ontario to make room for the cleanup. The discharge was reported to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, but the sub-basement contamination was not. A report leaked to the press 8 years later resulted in a study which found that high levels of radiation persisted in the still flooded facility.

      1982
      The Critical Mass Energy Project of Public Citizen, Inc. reported that 84,322 power plant workers were exposed to radiation in 1982, up from 82,183 the previous year.

      25 January 1982
      A steam generator pipe broke at the Rochester Gas & Electric Company’s Ginna plant near Rochester, New York. Fifteen thousand gallons of radioactive coolant spilled onto the plant floor, and small amounts of radioactive steam escaped into the air.

      15-16 January 1983
      Nearly 208,000 gallons of water with low-level radioactive contamination was accidentally dumped into the Tennesee River at the Browns Ferry power plant.

      25 February 1983
      A catastrophe at the Salem 1 reactor in New Jersey was averted by just 90 seconds when the plant was shut down manually, following the failure of automatic shutdown systems to act properly. The same automatic systems had failed to respond in an incident three days before, and other problems plagued this plant as well, such as a 3,000 gallon leak of radioactive water in June 1981 at the Salem 2 reactor, a 23,000 gallon leak of “mildly” radioactive water (which splashed onto 16 workers) in February 1982, and radioactive gas leaks in March 1981 and September 1982 from Salem 1.

      9 December 1986
      A feedwater pipe ruptured at the Surry Unit 2 facility in Virginia, causing 8 workers to be scalded by a release of hot water and steam. Four of the workers later died from their injuries. In addition, water from the sprinkler systems caused a malfunction of the security system, preventing personnel from entering the facility. This was the second time that an incident at the Surry 2 unit resulted in fatal injuries due to scalding [see also 27 July 1972].

      1988
      It was reported that there were 2,810 accidents in U.S. commercial nuclear power plants in 1987, down slightly from the 2,836 accidents reported in 1986, according to a report issued by the Critical Mass Energy Project of Public Citizen, Inc.

      28 May 1993
      The Nuclear Regulatory Commission released a warning to the operators of 34 nuclear reactors around the country that the instruments used to measure levels of water in the reactor could give false readings during routine shutdowns and fail to detect important leaks. The problem was first bought to light by an engineer at Northeast Utilities in Connecticut who had been harassed for raising safety questions. The flawed instruments at boiling-water reactors designed by General Electric utilize pipes which were prone to being blocked by gas bubbles; a failure to detect falling water levels could have resulted, potentially leading to a meltdown.

      15 February 2000
      New York’s Indian Point II power plant vented a small amount of radioactive steam when a an aging steam generator ruptured. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission initially reported that no radioactive material was released, but later changed their report to say that there was a leak, but not of a sufficient amount to threaten public safety.

      6 March 2002
      Workers discovered a foot-long cavity eaten into the reactor vessel head at the Davis-Besse nuclear plant in Ohio. Borated water had corroded the metal to a 3/16 inch stainless steel liner which held back over 80,000 gallons of highly pressurized radioactive water. In April 2005 the Nuclear Regulatory Commission proposed fining plant owner First Energy 5.4 million dollars for their failure to uncover the problem sooner (similar problems plaguing other plants were already known within the industry), and also proposed banning System Engineer Andrew Siemaszko from working in the industry for five years due to his falsifying reactor vessel logs. As of this writing the fine and suspension were under appeal.

      November 2005
      High tritium levels, the result of leaking pipes, were discovered to have contaminated groundwater immediately adjacent to the Braidwood Generating Station in Braceville, Illinois.

      June 2011
      An AP investigation revealed that three quarters of all nuclear plants in the U.S. were found to be leaking radioactive tritium. Over half the plants studied had concentrations exceeding the federal drinking water standard, and while none had reached public drinking supplies, leaks at three plants had contaminated the drinking wells of nearby homes.
      http://www.lutins.org/nukes.html

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_and_radiation_accidents

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      • ali-ali-al-qomfri ali-ali-al-qomfri

        xdrx,
        thanks for all your contributions, I look forward to this site daily and appreciate your diligence. as well to PU239,TG,JB, Whoopster,Saavy et al.

        Fires to the flame.

        All the best,
        Ali

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  • nuclearpowerisdeath

    I thought this site was pretty cool until most of you revealed your true selves over the past two days. I just read the attacks on someone who dared bring up God. ALl of you htink all your posts are relevant but you are tyring to shut out voices that don’t completely agree with you? trying to limit the discussion to topics you want? Do you really think JUDGEMENT is not part of this? Really?

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  • nuclearpowerisdeath

    The following video answers more questions than all posts put together on this site:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLCF7vPanrY

    2000 NUCLEAR EXPLOSIONS 1945-1998

    A Time-Lapse Map of Every Nuclear Explosion Since 1945 – by Isao Hashimoto

    Japanese artist Isao Hashimoto has created a beautiful, undeniably scary time-lapse map of the 2053 nuclear explosions which have taken place between 1945 and 1998, beginning with the Manhattan Project’s “Trinity” test near Los Alamos and concluding with Pakistan’s nuclear tests in May of 1998. This leaves out North Korea’s two alleged nuclear tests in this past decade (the legitimacy of both of which is not 100% clear).

    Each nation gets a blip and a flashing dot on the map whenever they detonate a nuclear weapon, with a running tally kept on the top and bottom bars of the screen. Hashimoto, who began the project in 2003, says that he created it with the goal of showing”the fear and folly of nuclear weapons.” It starts really slow — if you want to see real action, skip ahead to 1962 or so — but the buildup becomes overwhelming.

    http://www.ctbto.org/specials/1945-1998-by-isao-hashimoto/

    THIS IS WHY THEY DON’T CARE ABOUT WHATS HAPPENING NOW, THEY HAVE BEEN POINTLESSLY EXPLODING NUCLEAR WEAPONS ALL OVER THE WORLD FOR DECADES

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  • Has anyone looked at Fukushima this morning? It doesn’t look good
    http://www.tepco.co.jp/nu/f1-np/camera/index-j.html

    NHK has been trying to inject nitrogen unsuccessfully into #3 to stop a hydrogen explosion from occurring….

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    • irradiated californian

      tepco just making their idiotic midnight cooling sessions…
      it’ll all be gone by sun up, they promise it won’t affect us at all :)

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      • irradiated californian

        also i know it’s not midnight, but after watching the time lapse vids that is when it seemed to start getting pretty steamy/foggy.

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        • nuclearpowerisdeath

          hey irradiated go move your pregnant girlfriend to Toyko. WHy not right?

          And and this message ios for mark , who made me sour on this site til I saw people I USED to respect like pu 238 profess their utter mindlessness on the subject of GOD. No I am not even in his blessings but im lookgin forward to him finally burying you and this worthless world

          [expletives deleted]

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          • hey buddy, We are ALL toast. Even you, deserving or not. Pure nuclear biology fact regardless of how We think or act. So, in the meantime, the only agenda here is to get the rad word out.
            Any other bright ideas besides waxing vitriolic?

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          • nuclearisdeath is actually expressing a twisted kind of truth.

            Whether we fucking die, or just die, no difference, and perhaps we do deserve it for putting up with this nuclear nonsense.

            Who says I don’t know about God?

            He’s a method of social control and appears on dollar bills.

            Otherwise,

            God = ♥

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  • nuclearpowerisdeath may have been hacked

    Report Comment

  • Cindy

    Hacked is right, all the previous posts need to be reviewed !!

    nuclearpowerisdeath

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  • Omaha NE 93 beta gamma energy range 10 (43), gamma energy range 2 (2341.), range 3 (1441.), range 4 (410), range 5 (230.), range 6 (134), range 7 (160) Higher than usual

    Lincoln NE is 53 beta

    Des moines Iowa under review

    Mason city Iowa 68 beta (a little higher than usual)

    Kansas City under review

    Wichita under review

    Pierre SD under review

    Rapid City SD 85 beta (higher than usual)

    https://cdxnode64.epa.gov/radnet-public/monitorView.do

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  • milk and cheese milk and cheese

    What is ‘under review’?

    And if you look at the vidcam now, it is highly unusual. The buildings literally have disappeared into the ‘fog’ but the camera still photographs the trees and pathway.

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    • anne anne

      If you look at the timelapse for 3:00-4:00 you can see the steam/smoke gushing out of #4.

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      • anne anne

        Here is my post on another thread:
        July 15, 2011 at 10:33 am · Reply Report comment

        If you look at the timelapse when it gets dark (19:35) and beyond you can see what is happening at the Centralized Waste Radiation Treatment Facility. At the middle top of this building you can see a light and a great deal of smoke coming out.
        http://www.youtube.com/fuku1live#p/u/3/ZF6TBNI0rHg
        I posted info yesterday, and someone said in another thread that they couldn’t see anything on the TEPCO live cam (then daytime).

        However, the smoke is on the TIMELAPSE.

        They are definitely burning radioactive debris there at nighttime.

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      • anne anne

        Here is Sickputer’s post:
        Sickputer
        July 15, 2011 at 3:23 pm ·

        it’s been smoking like the Gates of Hell from Unit 4 SFP on all of the night time lapses: just pick one of the one hour chunks and look between the two derrick towers and above reactor 4 ruins.

        http://www.youtube.com/fuku1live#p/u/7/P5K_qI8D9Zc

        Despite TEPCO boasting (lying) that they have met their July “goals” of mitigation at the reactors, it is apparent the deadly carnage continues.

        Tokyo really looks screwed now…just a matter of a few more weeks of this and the fat lady is going to sing the last song for Edo City.

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  • byron

    Accurate information about Fukushima and other fallout distribution points is why I stay on this website. Please let’s stay on topic. Detailed information is difficult to find. What is happening at Ft Calhoun? There was a note about water getting into the electrical controls, then nothing more until a comment about elevated readings in the area.

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  • Jebus Jebus

    Japan nuclear reactor halted over pressure drop

    Kansai Electric Power Co. said it would manually shut down reactor No. 1 at its Ooi plant in central Japan because of a temporary pressure drop in a standby tank.

    The tank contains boric acid solution that can be pumped in to slow nuclear fission in case of emergency.

    http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gFEPtE7lUz4rk0fcE22J5uT9RkpA?docId=CNG.85dd3468c38ddd2a33b111209b8647f1.381

    Isn’t that the same as the Jersey plant, the boron injector.

    Those guys, they copy everything…
    And somehow they seem to do it better…

    /sarcasm

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  • BreadAndButter BreadAndButter

    Cesium in shiitake grown INDOORS!
    1.770 bq/kg in mushrooms grown in greenhouse
    157 kg shipped to Tokyo and supermarkets
    http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/16_11.html
    This is bad. Again.

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    • alasanon

      NHK says officials are looking into determining the cause!!?? As in whether it’s the soil, air, or water?? This is ever more surreal….

      Meanwhile, here in the U.S. it’s weddings and more babies born all summer… Life tries to go on! =)

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  • AustralianCannonball

    School yard radiation. Just made this video now:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQEMv7Hedww

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  • milk and cheese milk and cheese

    Shiitake must grow on oak logs or oak composition (waste material from sawmills.) It’s really bad if they are affected.
    Mushrooms are also extremely susceptible to airborne radiation.

    I eat a lot of mushrooms. Damn.

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