Update - Cooling Tower Collapse and Emergency Shutdown at Vermont Nuclear Plant

[garybeck]

(x-post on Energy forum)



Two weeks ago one of Vermont Yankee’s two cooling towers collapsed. Then, last week, the plant was forced to initiate an emergency shut-down, or reactor Scram, after several steam valves malfunctioned simultaneously.

Both failures are even more shocking because they come on the heels of state and federal regulators giving Vermont Yankee a clean bill of health to operate at 120% of its designed capacity.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Entergy Nuclear, the Louisiana-based corporation that owns Yankee has been quick to downplay both accidents, referring to the cooling tower collapse as just “deformation in some of the wood.” The company also continues to disingenuously pushing their claim that the 35 year old plant is running like new.

In response James Moore, Clean Energy Advocate for VPIRG stated “Vermont Yankee telling us that the plant is running like new is like your hair dresser telling you that you look twenty years younger, nice to hear but far from the truth.”

To read VPIRG’s full press release on the cooling tower collapse click here. To read recent news coverage click here.

[donsu]

1. kick

nt

[soothsayer]

2. oops

Damn, now do I need to send away for potassium iodide?

[Dr.Phool]

3. Relax.

It ain't like it was a bridge or something.:sarcasm:

[acmavm]

4. Another sign that we've been neglecting our OWN infrastructure

and wasting the money on the Pentagon and wars. When these old nuclear power plants that were built back in the days when we didn't understand how REALLY frigging dangerous nuclear fission is start to belly up, it'll make bridge collapses look good.

It's always pissed me off that whereas no nuclear energy will ever be 'safe', cold fusion would have been a hell of a lot better than fission. But it's not as cheap and doesn't generate as much energy.

[Supersedeas]

24. 3 Billion Dollars/wk invested in Iraq toward profits for Bush/Cheney cronies

[BrainGlutton]

28. Cold fusion also has the disadvantage of never having existed.

[acmavm]

29. Psssssst...

Coming in out of the cold: Cold fusion, for real

<snip>

By Michelle Thaller | csmonitor.com

PASADENA, CALIF. –
For the last few years, mentioning cold fusion around scientists (myself included) has been a little like mentioning Bigfoot or UFO sightings.
After the 1989 announcement of fusion in a bottle, so to speak, and the subsequent retraction, the whole idea of cold fusion seemed a bit beyond the pale. But that's all about to change.


A very reputable, very careful group of scientists at the University of California at Los Angeles (Brian Naranjo, Jim Gimzewski, Seth Putterman) has initiated a fusion reaction using a laboratory device that's not much bigger than a breadbox, and works at roughly room temperature. This time, it looks like the real thing. < Editor's note: The original version misnamed the scientists' institution.>


Before going into their specific experiment, it's probably a good idea to define exactly what nuclear fusion is, and why we're so interested in understanding the process. This also gives me an excuse to talk about how things work deep inside the nuclei of atoms, a topic near and dear to most astronomers (more on that later).

<snip>

Scientists have gotten fusion to occur in the laboratory before, but for the most part, they've tried to mimic conditions inside the sun by whipping hydrogen gas up to extreme temperatures or slamming atoms together in particle accelerators. Both of those options require huge energies and gigantic equipment, not the sort of stuff easily available to build a generator. Is there any way of getting protons close enough together for fusion to occur that doesnt require the energy output of a large city to make it happen?

The answer, it turns out, is yes.

<snip>

So cold fusion is back, perhaps to stay. After many fits and starts, its finally time for everyday fusion to come in out of the cold.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0606/p25s01-stss.html

[SidDithers]

35. I always go to Christian Science Monitor...

for news on the cutting edge of physics research.

Beware science articles written for the general media.

From the UCLA website:

The researchers say that this method of producing nuclear fusion won't be useful for normal power generation, but it might find applications in the generation of neutron beams for research purposes, and perhaps as a propulsion mechanism for miniature spacecraft.

http://rodan.physics.ucla.edu/pyrofusion/

Sid

[acmavm]

40. See, I say who knows what it will be good for? They've never invested

in the research to the extent that we know. In fact, like the article says, researchers and scientists have been denying for years that nuclear fusion (cold fusion) was even a possiblity. Then they found out they were wrong, it is possible.

[BrainGlutton]

39. That was two years ago, and I don't recall seeing anything about it since.

[uppityperson]

5. k&r. I missed this last week. Thanks

[garybeck]

7. not surprising, the "media" ignored it completely. n/t

[uppityperson]

9. too much other sexy news. nt

[superkia]

30. Instead they covered the vials of cleaning agents Way more dangerous!

[annabanana]

6. That is a VERY disturbing picture. . .. . . n/t

[mdmc]

8. I dislike Entergy

they also run indian point... poorly...

[garybeck]

12. I didn't know they run Indian Point too. I hear commercials for that

on the NY Yankees radio broadcasts. Their tagline is "Safe and efficient".... yeah, right.

[mdmc]

19. safe secure vital

They recently had Paul Neuman tour the facility and deem it safe secure and vital :shrug:

[garybeck]

20. what is up with Paul Newman?

First I see he's selling organic coffee in McDonald's. Now he's inspecting nuclear power plants and deeming them safe? which side is he on?

[mdmc]

21. strange bedfellows

methinks:kick:

[Trillo]

10. Ain't Privitization Grand? n/t

[snappyturtle]

11. Kick! At a time when we are forced to being earnestly engaged

in energy sources.....this is a very important story. I do not have great fears about terrorists in our country, call me stupid if you want, but nuclear plants have to be a target....something we should think about before building more.

[jmowreader]

13. I'm having a GSH moment here...

Wood in a cooling tower for a nuclear reactor? You gotta be shitting me, Joker!

[Viva_La_Revolution]

14. but nu-cul-ear is safe!

:eyes:

[lonestarnot]

15. Dat looks like a mess to me.

:shrug:

[LSK]

16. we no longer regulate anything in this country

The right has done all it can to bastardize the word "regulation".

[garybeck]

17. except maybe constipation. :)

[Indenturedebtor]

18. Regulation is anti-freedom!

The powerful should be free to screw the weak. Gawd awmytee set it up that way when he invented extreme capitalism.

[MadHound]

22. Just one more example of why we should back off from nuclear power in this country

Can't figure out what to do with the waste, and can't prevent human error.

[LibertyLover]

23. Wood

in a reactor cooling tower? Now, I'm the first to admit that, since my degrees are in Egyptology, art history and military history, I don't know a great deal about nuclear plant design and engineering, but somehow the words "wood" and "nuclear power plant cooling tower" were not ones I would have expected to see in any sort of juxtaposition, save possibly "Do not build your nuclear power plant cooling tower with wood."

[garybeck]

25. yes, well

the spin on it is that a couple pieces of wood were rotting.

my question is, if it is just wood rotting, what's up with that huge water pipe? I don't think that's made out of wood. and although the slats on the outside do appear to be made out of wood, the structure of the wall appears to be metal. I don't think this can all be blamed on rotting wood.

[Hissyspit]

31. And why the hell are they letting the wood rot?

Corporate spin at its most despicable.

They must've worked for Bob Murray at some point.

[MindPilot]

34. Because it's more important to paint schools in Iraq.

Iraqis are more deserving of colorful buildings than Americans are of nuclear power plants that aren't falling apart.

[mogster]

26. "Are we disappointed with the fact this occurred? Absolutely."

"I don't agree by any means there should be hysteria here related to Vermont Yankee," (Public Commissioner) O'Brien said. "It's nothing of that sort. Are we disappointed with the fact this occurred? Absolutely. Do we expect better performance in this area? Without question. We believe it's Entergy's responsibility, certainly not ours, to make sure there's public confidence in the plant."

http://www.wcax.com/Global/story.asp?S=7003431
----------------------
I got a Soviet union flashback when seeing this news. Reactors as old as dirt being flogged for more than their capacity, having near-catastrophic accidents, then being declared well enough to operate by a commissioner and the official watchdog (The Nuclear Regulatory Commission) only short time after the accident.

[Disturbed]

27. Nothing to worry about.. Vermont will soon seceed from the USA.

Then it will be their problem.

[McCamy Taylor]

32. Cooling towers exist for a reason. When they break, your nuke is broken.

[MindPilot]

33. Remember the promise of "Electricity Too Cheap to Meter"?

And I want my flying car too, damnit!

[DianaForRussFeingold]

37. flying car ? Hmmm... You could have attributed that to Nikola Tesla

US-Serbian inventor who lit the World and wanted free energy for everyone including the very poor all over the Earth. Niagara falls has a Commemorative statue on Nikola Tesla. Sad that money and greed trump humanity! Above: Tesla Monument at Niagara Falls (Canadian side), Queen Victoria Park, unveiled on July 9, 2006. Tesla is standing atop an AC motor, one of the 700 inventions he patented. The monument was the work of Canadian sculptor Les Dryzdale. left: Tesla Monument at Goat Island, Niagara Falls, New York. Gift of Yugoslavia to the United States, 1976.
Nikola Tesla designed the first hydro-electric power plant in Niagara Falls. This was the final victory of Tesla's Alternating Current over Edison's Direct Current. The monument was the work of Croatian sculptor Frane Krsinic. left; Tesla's Idea how to light up the ocean with high frequency electricity being transmitted thought the Ionosphere. From the book "Tesla" by Dr. Branimir Jovanovic left; The tragedy of Tesla in Wardenclyffe, the tower was dismantled on July 4, 1917. It was dynamited and razed by the mortgage holder, the proprietor of the Waldorf-Astoria above; Photograph of a model of Tesla Tower in action, shows how the Tower would have looked if it was completed. Tribute to Nikola Tesla with lyrics http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqhncJN_Lnk

[MindPilot]

38. Thank you for that!! I'm a big fan of Mr Tesla

I built my first Tesla coil when I was 13, named one of dogs after him, and I have several books and a couple of videos about him and his work.

It is sad that most people don't know who he was let alone the part he played in the nasty rivalry between Westinghouse and Edison. Many also don't know the electric chair was a direct result of that rivalry; the story would make a great movie. Edison was quite the Republican, arrogant, competitive, and greedy as hell; if he didn't have an enemy, he would have his buddies in the media create one.

Westinghouse, OTOH even though he was an energy guy was a little more free-market, believing that simply putting the best technology out there would make him money.

Tesla, more or less caught between the two got screwed at every turn, but when Tesla told Edison to take this job and shove it while he took his AC motors to the Westinghouse camp was probably one of the best "fuck yous" in history.

But both Edison and Westinghouse ultimately got very wealthy by stealing from Tesla.

[defendandprotect]

36. "for profit" nuclear power plants -- don't think so . . . .

See the wonderful benefits of creating atomic bombs -- ???