TVA photo of the Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant containing 3 GE Mark 1 defective nuclear reactors and their millions of pounds of spent highly radioactive, used, nuclear fuel. (Updated Jul 26, 2013, end of this article)
BACKGROUND
During an October 2010 refueling it was discovered that a safety valve had been non-functioning or failed sometime after March 2009, but the failure was not identified nor corrected until the October 2010 fueling outage. This lead the NRC to place Browns Ferry in the degraded category 4 status, a Red Finding. The worse operational status the nuclear plant could receive and remain open.
and http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2011/may/10/nrc-valve-failure-browns-ferry-high-safety-signifi/
Several managers were replaced and serious leadership failures were identified. Unfortunately, the failure to identify problems and correct them is not a reason to close a nuclear plant. Once again, the citizens of North Alabama are lucky that a nuclear accident did not occur during the time the critical safety systems were inoperable.
95003 Inspection-Red Finding Public Exit Briefing and Public Input
In February of this year the TVA requested the NRC to begin their final 95003 Inspection Process.
At the end of the Red Finding inspection process, called a 95003 Inspection process, a TVA Engineer comes forward during the public input session and states that current management have "modified" corrective action and safety reports.
The Engineer is Ms. Joni Johnson, a TVA root cause analyst engineer. She claims there continues to be a flawed safety culture and indicates leadership, including the NRC, is covering up the extent of the deficiencies. http://blog.al.com/wire/2013/07/browns_ferry_engineer_never_ex.html
"Shrinking the Safety Margin:" http://blog.al.com/wire/2013/07/browns_ferry.html
Ms. Johnson's presentation to the NRC at the Public Exit Session:
NRC answers technical questions about Ms. Johnson's complaints and presentation placed forward by Mr. Don Safer, one of several concerned citizens who spoke at the NRC 95003 Public Exit Session.
The Red Finding remains and there are further questions about other safety violations which the NRC refused to make comment about when asked to specifically identify the mentioned violation and pending enforcement action. Questions by BREDL/BEST/MATRR member Garry Morgan to NRC Region 2 Administrator Victor McCree. Red Finding continues: http://blog.al.com/wire/2013/07/browns_ferry_stuck_with_red_wa.html and http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2013/jul/11/nrc-tvas-browns-ferry-nuclear-plant-still-needs-im/
Videos of the Browns Ferry Annual Assessment and the NRC 95003 Public Exit Inspection Briefing at Calhoun College on July 11, 2013.
NRC Presentation
>NRC Browns Ferry 2012 Annual Assessment Report - July 11, 2013
>Browns Ferry 95003 (Red) NRC Exit Meeting Part 1 Jul 11, 2013
>Browns Ferry 95003 (Red) NRC Exit Meeting Part 2 07-11-13
>Browns Ferry 95003 (Red) NRC Exit Meeting Part-3 07-11-13
>Browns Ferry NRC 95003 (Red) Exit Summary Part-4 07-11-13
Public Input
> Browns Ferry NRC Inspection TVA Engineer Questions NRC 7 11 13
>Browns Ferry 95003 NRC Public Q&A Part1 Fire Safety 7-11-13 (Stewart Horn)
>Browns Ferry 95003 NRC-Exit-The Whistleblower 7-11-13 Pt-2 (Don Safer)
>Browns Ferry 95003 NRC Public Q&A Part 3, 7-11-13 (Gretel Johnston)
>Browns Ferry 95003 NRC-Public Q&A Part-4 7-11-13 (Garry Morgan)
UPDATE: "al.com July 26, 2013 - "TVA, regulators debate safety significance of emergency shutdown at Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant - Unit 2 was running at 100 percent power on Dec. 22, 2012 when a TVA senior reactor operator opened the wrong breaker on a reactor protection system bus. That caused the reactor to shut down and "also caused the main steam isolation valves to close. The main steam isolation valves are designed to close in the unlikely event of a rupture in the plant's steam pipes," according to the NRC." http://blog.al.com/breaking/2013/07/post_1210.html
Radioactive Emissions and Health Hazards Surrounding Browns ... Ferry
1 comment:
This is gorgeous!
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