Subject:

NRC Update in the Requirements Arena 19 July 2011

From: Chris in Delaware

Date: Tue, 19 Jul 2011 17:22:01 -0400

Please see the following articles concerning the NRC's latest position on additional requirements and equipment regarding not only Tsunamis and Earthquakes, but Floods as well. This represents a major shift in consciousness and an acknowledgement that the Earth's cycle is bringing about changes.

NRC chairman proposes timetable for Nuclear industry reforms:

http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/07/18/nrc.reforms/index.html

Washington (CNN) -- The chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Monday the NRC should move quickly on post-Fukushima reforms, saying the commission should draw up proposed changes within 90 days, and the industry should implement them within five years.

Last week, an NRC task force completed its 90-day "quick look" at Fukushima, and made 12 recommendations, some of them sweeping in nature. Perhaps most significant, it calls on the NRC to replace a "patchwork" of regulations developed over the years with "a logical, systematic, and coherent" regulatory framework.

It also recommends the commission require power plants to upgrade protections to nuclear reactors and spent-fuel pools to further protect them from earthquakes, floods and fires.

The task force also said the NRC should require nuclear power plants to be better prepared to handle power blackouts and events that affect more than one reactor.

Comment: There is a Ruling after Three Mile Island that the NRC could not Impose Modifications on plants unless there was a Serious Safety Issue. The Industry is not going to like this, but my colleagues and I believe that a 4 hour Station Blackout Coping Time, is ABSURDLY SHORT.

NRC's recommendations will make impact at GE

http://www.starnewsonline.com/article/20110717/ARTICLES/110719720

By Jim Brumm

Breakingnews@StarNewsOnline.com

Published: Sunday, July 17, 2011 at 6:11 p.m.

Last Modified: Sunday, July 17, 2011 at 6:11 p.m.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Japan Task Force has recommended the U.S. nuclear regulator take a new, tougher approach to safety while praising new reactors that include passive features, saying the new designs would be in line with many of its recommendations.

Citing these features, the report released last week recommended the NRC complete "without delay" design certification activities for Westinghouse's AP1000 reactor and GE Hitachi's Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor.

There was agreement with this recommendation in Castle Hayne where GE Hitachi believes "the ESBWR is ready for final design certification," spokesman Michael Tetuan said Thursday.

Charged with proposing improvements in light of the damage suffered by the Fukushima Daiichi reactors following the earthquake and tsunami in March, the task force suggested a philosophical shift is needed to unify the "patchwork" of existing formal rules and industry guidelines to ensure all are overseen by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Among the 34 recommendations, the task force urged tougher standards for back-up power supplies, back-up water supplies for pools holding plant waste, and improvements in reactors that share the same design as Japan's Fukushima Daiichi plant – such as those at the Brunswick Nuclear Plant in Southport. If adopted, the report could lead to cost increases for operators of the nation's fleet of 104 reactors.
Progress Energy, which operates five reactors, including the two at the Brunswick Nuclear Plant, doesn't "know what the total impact would be, but based on the report, we would have to make some improvements at each of our nuclear plants," spokesman Mike Hughes said, adding, "No additional details available at this point."
A report from the NRC is due in six months, following a July 19 presentation to the commission from the task force and a July 28 task force public meeting.
Task force members will also appear Aug. 17 before the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards.
Metro desk: 343-2384
On Twitter: @StarNewsOnline
Copyright © 2011 StarNewsOnline.com — All rights reserved. Restricted use only.
Accessed at http://www.starnewsonline.com/article/20110717/ARTICLES/110719720 on July 20, 2011.

NRC to compile nuclear safety overhaul in 90 days

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/19_13.html

The top US nuclear chief says his agency will come up with directions on regulatory changes for safety at US nuclear power plants within 90 days.

The chairman of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Gregory Jaczko, says the NRC will quickly evaluate what kind of overhaul is needed at plants, based on the results of a report by its task force.

The NRC ordered a review of safety measures at nuclear power stations around the United States following the accident at the Fukushima plant in Japan.

The task force came up with its interim report last week.

The report calls for a reassessment of preparedness for natural disasters such as earthquakes and for each plant to be equipped with enough backup power to keep the facility running in case of blackouts.

In a speech given in Washington DC on Monday, Jaczko stressed that the United States should ensure there is no repetition of what happened in Japan.

In the past, US utilities took more than several years to boost nuclear plant security following an order by the NRC.

The comment by Jaczko suggests that he is determined to speed up the process.

Tuesday, July 19, 2011 11:17 +0900 (JST)

Comment: The industry's bottom-line boys will resist even though we know that it is vital to plant safety. Remember that the bottom-line boys are the puppets of the elite and they helped write the rules in the first place.

Tenn. Valley Authority Responds to NRC Report on Japan Nuke Disaster

http://www.claimsjournal.com/news/southeast/2011/07/15/188301.htm

July 15, 2011

A Tennessee Valley Authority spokesman said the utility started making safety changes before a Nuclear Regulatory Commission panel released its report on Japan’s nuclear disaster.

The NRC panel has recommended that all nuclear plants re-evaluate their earthquake and flood risk, add equipment to deal with simultaneous damage to multiple reactors and make sure electrical power and instruments are in place to monitor and cool spent fuel pools after a disaster.

TVA spokesman Ray Golden said in a statement that so far since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that cut off all electrical power to the plant in Japan, TVA has purchased additional satellite phones, gasoline-powered generators and diesel-powered fire pumps.

The NRC task force said there is no imminent risk from nuclear power plants in the United States.
Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Accessed at http://www.claimsjournal.com/news/southeast/2011/07/15/188301.htm on July 20, 2011.

Tepco Rushes to Cover Fukushima Nuclear Plant as Typhoon Ma-On Nears Japan

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-07-18/tepco-rushes-to-cover-fukushima-nuclear-plant-as-typhoon-ma-on-nears-japan.html

By Aaron Sheldrick and Kana Nishizawa -

Tepco Works to Cover Fukishima

Masked workers in protective outfits prepare to drop one of sliding concrete slabs into a slit of the upper part of the sluice screen for Unit 2 reactor at the tsunami-crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant in Okuma, Fukushima Prefecture, northeastern Japan, in their effort to decrease the leak of radiation contaminated water to the ocean. Photographer: Tokyo Electric Power Co./AP

June 28 (Bloomberg) -- Bloomberg's Mike Firn reports from Tokyo on Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s shareholders' meeting. Tepco, as the utility is known, faces shareholders for the first time since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami caused meltdowns at its Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant, wiping about $36 billion off its market value. Firn speaks to Rishaad Salamat on Bloomberg Television's "On the Move Asia." (Source: Bloomberg)

Tepco Works to Cover Fukushima Building as Storm Nears Japan

Tokyo Electric Power Co. is rushing to install a cover over a building at its crippled Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant to shield it from wind and rain as Typhoon Ma-on approaches Japan’s coast from the south. Work on the cover for the turbine building of the No. 3 reactor started at about 8:30 a.m. today. Photographer: Tokyo Electric Power Co. via Bloomberg

Work on the cover for the turbine building of the No. 3 reactor started at about 8:30 a.m. today, Junichi Matsumoto, a general manager at the utility known as Tepco, said at briefing in Tokyo. The transfer of tainted water for storage in a barge docked next to the plant was halted, spokesman Satoshi Watanabe said by telephone.

The eye of Ma-on, which is categorized as “extremely strong,” was about 420 kilometers (260 miles) southeast of the city of Kagoshima at 4 p.m. today, or 1,200 kilometers from the Fukushima plant, according to the website of the Japan Meteorological Agency.

The storm was moving north at 25 kilometers per hour with winds blowing at 157 kph. Ma-on is forecast to continuing heading north and may cross the coast of the southwestern island of Kyushu after 6 a.m. tomorrow. A forecast track from the U.S. Navy Joint Typhoon Warning Center indicates the storm may pass over the Fukushima plant by July 21.

The Japanese weather agency issued warnings for floods and high waves along the southern coast from Okinawa to Tokyo.

Last year, the eyes of two storms passed within 300 kilometers of Tohoku, as the area where the plants are located is known, data from the weather agency show.

Milestone Reached

Tepco shares rose 2.6 percent on July 15 and are down 78 percent since the day before the disaster. Japan’s markets are closed today for a national holiday.

The utility is on schedule to contain radioactive emissions from its Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant, which suffered three reactor meltdowns after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, Prime Minister Naoto Kan said on July 16 during a visit to the area. Tepco will announce tomorrow that it has completed the first phase of its plan to resolve the crisis, he said.

Tepco has achieved its phase one goal of keeping the reactors cool and reducing the amount of radiation being emitted by mid July, Kan said while visiting a sports center near the Fukushima plant where workers rest.

Much of the work has been focused on decontaminating highly radiated water that flooded basements and trenches around the damaged reactors as Tepco doused the units to keep them cool.

Efforts Impeded

Water overflowed from damaged reactors, impeding efforts to bring the situation under control. A decontamination unit started work last month, though its operation has been intermittently halted due to leaks and other malfunctions.

Tepco’s so-called road map for resolving the crisis was released on April 17 and envisages bringing the plant to a safe status within nine months. The second phase involves bringing the reactors to a state known as cold shutdown, where the fuel’s temperature is held below 100 degrees Celsius (212 Fahrenheit).

Because the fuel assemblies have melted down, Tepco and the government will tomorrow outline new criteria for bringing the reactors into a safe state, Goshi Hosono, Kan’s minister for dealing with the Fukushima crisis, said July 12.

“I received an announcement from Minister Hosono that step one can be achieved pretty much as planned,” Kan said July 16. “I told him that I want to make every effort to achieve step two ahead of schedule.”

At the plant, a worker from a subcontractor was injured today after falling from a pole while working on connecting cables near an entrance gate, Matsumoto said at Tepco’s briefing. The male worker in his 40s is conscious though unable to walk on his own, he said.

Power Supply

Japan’s government will meet to discuss power demand and supply as early as tomorrow after Kansai Electric Power Co. shut a reactor at one of its nuclear stations, the Sankei newspaper reported, without citing anyone.

Mandatory power savings have been imposed in some areas of Japan after the earthquake and tsunami knocked out capacity and caused the reactor meltdowns at Fukushima. Other reactors closed down safely after the disaster or have been idled for scheduled maintenance, exacerbating shortages.

To contact the reporters on this story: Aaron Sheldrick in Tokyo at asheldrick@bloomberg.net; Kana Nishizawa in Tokyo at knishizawa5@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Amit Prakash at aprakash1@bloomberg.net

Accessed at http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-07-18/tepco-rushes-to-cover-fukushima-nuclear-plant-as-typhoon-ma-on-nears-japan.html on July 20, 2011.

Comment: Please remember that I stated that in order to minimize Waste Generation, all sources of Clean Water (rain) pouring into the Fukushima plants, will become contaminated and will be uncontained. We discussed placing a cover over the plants but to be honest, a temporary Typhoon-Proof cover is a tall order.

Reprinted from April 28th Program Notes:

I went through some of my notes and compiled a list of those resources that would serve to improve safety (prevent core/fuel damage and subsequent release of fission products). Many of these recommendations were actually adopted. Many are on the Preliminary NRC List of Recommendations. :

Specific to Spent Fuel Pool marked "S"

Specific to Reactor marked "R"

Enhancing safety of both - not marked

R	Ability to Vent H2 from Damaged Core - this would be different between PWR and BWR technology - "R"
S	Spent Fuel Pool Installed Sprinklers with capability to admit offsite coolant remotely from the area of high radiation- "S"
S	Installed Fill Lines outside of the structure with suitable valving to admit coolant from a remote location - "S"
S	Ability to Open Roof over Spent Fuel Pools to allow escape of Hydrogen - "S"
S	Establishing appropriate piping connections to Full Spent Fuel Pool with Fire Apparatus (with correct Threads) - "S"
S	Strategy to Leak-Seal a Spent Fuel Pool - "S"
	Portable Vent Cover with HEPA/Charcoal Filters to recapture particulates
	Portable Shielding in the event of loss of on-site shielded emergency facilities. This may be the Containers with DU. Machinery to move the facility.
	Machinery to Clear Roadways located near, but not at the site. Personnel knowledgeable in operation of them.
	Additional mobile and submersible Pumps with either own engine driver or electrical. Electrical should be of typical voltage for that site. These should be not be located together in case of damage to a specific part of the plant disables these devices.
	Additional mobile electrical generators - similar to above, possessing the ability to quick connect to their intended loads.
	Personnel - additional trained personnel on site in shifts similar to our on-site fire brigades. Each team needs to come from operations, maintenance (electrical and mechanical), instrumentation and controls, engineering, and radiation technicians. US plants are adopting these measures, however, I believe that an additional 6-man team is required for each shift. Tall order, but one of their main purposes would be to perform required maintenance, tests, and prepare emergency equipment for action. A Grab and Go bag of latest Approved Procedures or Dedicated file on remote server with electronic procedures with ALL drawings.
	Utilizing off-duty staff with reliable communication
	Remote Instrumentation for Critical Parameters with battery backup.
	More diverse and additional offsite power line feeds to safety buses
	Contingent of Robots/Remotely operated vehicles with personnel trained in their maintenance and usage
	Ability to remotely operate equipment either with additional actuators or by suitable robotics
	Offsite highly elevated water towers with capability to gravity feed to onsite points of demand via buried piping - no electricity required.
	Fuel in safe stored areas for the above devices. Provisions to quickly fill the tanks from stations located away from the site via suitable piping and connections.
	Storable "Bladders" to capture Run-off
	Remote Valve stations to admit additional coolant via buried piping to possible points access
	Additional openings in structures to gain access for personnel and hoses and equipment
	Re-evaluate maximum seismic stresses to which structures are constructed to withstand - without taking credit for the Safety Margin
	Running Drills with members of community emergency responders and obtain their input