Feds Order Review of Ill. Nuclear Plants

[jpak]

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/nat-gen/2006/feb/21/022105948.html

CHICAGO (AP) - Federal regulators have ordered inspections of all Illinois nuclear power plants following a brief emergency and a series of radioactive leaks at Exelon Corp. plants.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission ordered the inspections Monday after Exelon declared an emergency at its LaSalle Generating Station in rural Brookfield Township, about 55 miles southwest of Chicago.

There were no injuries and no radiation was released, federal and state officials said. But the nature of the incident - an initial reading that three control rods did not go into the reactor - automatically triggered a "site area emergency," which is the second-highest of the four categories in the NRC's emergency response system.

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[ChairmanAgnostic]

1. I remember when exelon took over and promised to be the best and cheapest

nuke operator in the country. then, they canned 10-12% of maintenance staff.

[acmejack]

2. You can be one or the other, not both.

Unless you are the Navy. I think perhaps they can claim that distinction.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

4. but the navy is so bloody over-enngineered because of Hyman R. that

even decades later, safety is first, foremost and first again in the nuke fleet.
Rickover may have made a bunch of enemies, and stole money from other programs, but he did create a brotherhood of glowing safety-conscious people.

but it also goes back to doing something again and again, and making sure that it can be done cheaply, accurately, and safely.
Now, in building a powerplant in one sub or another, they all have to have perfectly operating systems, perfectly operating secondary systems, then perfectly operating safety systems.

When the same companies offer to build commericial power plants START FROM SCRATCH WITH EACH NEW LOCATION. Do you have any idea how much more that costs? Why do they do it? because they can. The costs get passed on to the consumer, the power company makes a ton with all that $$$ flowing through, and the manufacturer gets to "re-engineer" each new plant from scratch. That is insane. The Navy never let them do that. Same platform, some minor improvements, but otherwise, a safe, working and effective platform. Of course we could take those same safe reactors and put them in every city in the country. But we won't because the power companies would scream bloody murder.

[jpak]

3. Excelon is a major GOP contributor and a Friend of Deadeye Dick

http://www.nrdc.org/media/pressreleases/020521.asp

The NRC will roll over in submission like good doggies..