NRC Inspection - Red Findings - TVA Browns Ferry Nuclear Facility

Nuclear Regulatory Commission, NRC,  inspectors on Monday, October 3, 2011 told TVA and the public that the Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant is safe to continue operating. However, there are testing and documentation program failure problems which must be corrected. Read more from the Chattanooga Times Free Press about the RED LEVEL Inspection findings. http://timesfreepress.com/news/2011/oct/04/104-a1-browns-ferry-safe-to-operate/

                 TVA Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant near Athens, Al.

"The Nuclear Regulatory Commission in early May gave the Tennessee Valley Authority a "red" or "high safety significance" rating in connection with last fall's failure of a cooling-water injection valve at Browns Ferry on the Tennessee River near Athens, Ala." Chattanooga Times Free Press Sep 28, 2011 http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2011/sep/28/regulators-to-discuss-browns-ferry-findings/

The NRC officials stated the issue of the faulty heat removal system check valve is still an open issue that will continue to be evaluated by the NRC.

Several other issues were stated to be a problem which were discovered during the inspection process: 1)The failed valve issue remains an open issue, it was reported there was one instance that an inaccurate report concerning the questionable valve was entered. 2)  Apparently there is a question concerning the wording of the code regulating valve inspections and the issue of an open and closed valve status. 3) A continuous historical finding of no documentation in relationship of corrective actions programs. 4) Over torquing of valve, employee listed vendor document information on inspection reports that valve was operable when it was not. 5) Inaccurate information listed on inspection reports by Browns Ferry Operators concerning valves. 6) Corrective actions relied on singular procedural functions. There was no program to ascertain the cause of failures for the purpose of correction of a given problem. 7) There was no Design Basis Document concerning component proper or improper function. The NRC Inspectors stated there was no requirement for such a document. (My comment: This is a very peculiar finding, but it helps to explain the next finding. This finding is significant and disturbing as it is an indication of a general lack of concern and mismanagement concerning critical scientific and engineering controls.)  8) There is a general lack of "rigor" (rigor-Strictness or severity, as in temperament, action, or judgment;  the quality of being valid.) in corrective actions; multiple instances of a lack of engineering standards as to problem resolution and solution discovery to problems. 9) Browns Ferry management was reactive to equipment issues but had no motivation to discover the cause of problems experienced.

TVA photo of Browns Ferry Spent Fuel Pool located above the reactor pressure vessel. Below is a diagram of the General Electric Mark 1 Type of Boiling Water Reactor. The spent fuel pools are located on the left side of the diagram. Note there is only metal siding above the cooling pool level.

Segment from the Chattanooga Times Free Press article by Pam Sohn relating to the issue of the secondary reactor containment as it relates to the lack of reinforced containment above the spent fuel cooling pool level. http://timesfreepress.com/news/2011/oct/04/104-a1-browns-ferry-safe-to-operate/  "At least three residents from communities in Northeast Alabama attended Monday's meeting. Two of them, Garry Morgan and Gretel Johnston, both of Scottsboro, asked NRC officials if they will require safer containment covers to be built over spent fuel storage pools at nuclear reactors designed like Browns Ferry."

"Like the Fukushima, Japan, plant that's still in crisis after a 9.0 earthquake and tsunami in March, Browns Ferry stores its spent radioactive fuel rods in pools on upper levels of the plant. The pools are covered with heavy metal sheeting much like carports and shell buildings. Other designs cover the pools with concrete."

""What if the tornado that struck [near the plant] on April 27 had torn off that [sheeting] roof and sucked the contaminated water out and scattered it over the community?" Johnston asked. "I want some reassurance.""

"One NRC inspector told the audience that those containments were upgraded for assaults such as that on the heels of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks."

"But David Lochbaum, a former TVA nuclear engineer and a former NRC training instructor, took that answer to task. "That's not accurate," said Lochbaum, a Chattanoogan who now works for the Union of Concerned Scientists. "It may be reassuring, but it's not accurate. The 9/11 changes were only about airplanes, not multiple problems such as what the tornadoes caused or could have caused if one had made a direct hit on the plant,"  he said."

"The tornadoes did knock out much of [north and central] Alabama's and Mississippi's electric grid, stranding Browns Ferry plant for seven days on diesel power as the plant went into emergency shutdown. "

TVA's Chief Nuclear Officer Preston Swafford was present and stated, paraphrased, "An Integrated Improvement Plan will be accelerated and the TVA Executive Management concurs with all NRC findings."

To learn more about the dangers of commercial nuclear power and plans for a sustainable energy future please go to http://www.matrr.org