Palisades (Sp?) On Lake Michigan Shut Down

[peanutbutter]

I've been trying to watch the weather patterns lately. Trying to figure out when to watch out for days when the radiation is higher and lower.

 

I'd noticed, what seems to me, to be a pattern of lower readings west of Lake Michigan than east of the lake.

 

I began to suspect that the nuke plant was leaking.

 

Thursday it was announced that they were shutting down the plant for something to do with seals. The charts show a fast drop in some of these radioactive materials in the air.

 

Grand Rapids:

I suspect the pink line near the bottom of the lower chart reflects the I-131

 

http://blog.alexanderhiggins.com/net2/Grand%20Rapids-MI-Real-Time-US-Radiation-Monitoring-Graph.aspx

[peanutbutter]

A citizens radiation monitoring network needs to be set up.

 

That way any leaks that are taking place can be spotted and quickly shut down.

 

The United States should not be adding any further to the escalating background radiation.

 

There seem to be plants around Chicago and New York that are currently leaking. The one in New York may be bad. Hitting Europe.

[kruztydj]

I live 9 miles south of this plant and 10 miles north of the cook plant. Both now store spent rods in casks in the parking lot. We have more Cancer here then any place I've ever been and I've been around a few blocks. I'd give ya a 100 dollars if you could find 1 person here that DON'T know someone with cancer......

[peanutbutter]

I live 9 miles south of this plant and 10 miles north of the cook plant. Both now store spent rods in casks in the parking lot. We have more Cancer here then any place I've ever been and I've been around a few blocks. I'd give ya a 100 dollars if you could find 1 person here that DON'T know someone with cancer......

 

I heard you bought a Geiger counter. Been using that? What do you see?

[solabeirtan]

That babys' on borrowed time. They just kicked it down a notch on its functional status. They may drop it another notch. Currently shut down for "routine" maintenance. One of 45 seals on the control rods was leaking. Wonder if they'll spring for a new set of 45 [3.75 dz] or just change out the single seal.

 

 

.... says here they're only doing the one seal. wtf ? Bussiness Week

[JohnB RPh]

I live 9 miles south of this plant and 10 miles north of the cook plant......

 

Howdy, neighbor.

[kruztydj]

Howdy, neighbor.

well, howdy to you as well.

 

 

No PB didn't get one yet but I sure the hell need to.You would think they would check or track cancer hot spots as this area would peg the needle. I know at least a 100 people with cancer and have had more friends die here of that then ANY other place I've ever lived. Hell the 20 yrs I lived on the west coast I didn't know ANYONE with cancer. I move back here and it's a normal thing. Everyone has it, everyone is dieing of it. Hell I'll up the bet.. Give you a grand if you can find 1 person in Berrien county that does not know 1 person with cancer.

Why I have no clue, could be from the nuke sites or just the fact we are a super fund site for toxic waste from the years and years of dumping crap in our rivers. I could show you spots here where it seaps up from the ground like the black gold the beverly hillbillies had shooting at that food,lol......

[Hempcheff]

Looks like the leak happened back in september...

 

Power Reactor Event Number: 47290 Facility: PALISADES

Region: 3 State: MI

Unit: [1] [ ] [ ]

RX Type: [1] CE

NRC Notified By: BRUCE BAUER

HQ OPS Officer: JOHN KNOKE Notification Date: 09/25/2011

Notification Time: 18:21 [ET]

Event Date: 09/25/2011

Event Time: 15:06 [EDT]

Last Update Date: 09/25/2011 Emergency Class: NON EMERGENCY

10 CFR Section:

50.72(b)(2)(iv)(B) – RPS ACTUATION – CRITICAL

50.72(b)(3)(iv)(A) – VALID SPECIF SYS ACTUATION Person (Organization):

ANN MARIE STONE (R3DO) Unit SCRAM Code RX CRIT Initial PWR Initial RX Mode Current PWR Current RX Mode 1 A/R Y 100 Power Operation 0 Hot Standby Event Text

 

REACTOR TRIP DUE TO LOSS OF TWO 120 VOLT AC INSTRUMENT BUSSES“At 1506 EDT, while the electricians were working on the left train DC bus, a bus bar slipped causing an arc and a loss of the left train DC busses D-10 L and D-10 R. This resulted in the loss of two preferred AC [120 Volt Instrument] busses Y-10 and Y-30. The loss of both preferred AC busses caused a reactor trip, a safety injection signal, auxiliary feedwater actuation signal, containment high radiation isolation signal, and main steam isolation signal. “All systems responded as expected. Electric power has been restored to the affected DC busses and preferred AC busses. The plant is stable in Mode 3 at NOT and NOP, and controlling temperature using Atmospheric Dump Valves. Pressurizer level is high due to the loss of letdown (result of containment isolation signal), however, it is recovering slowly.”

 

All rods fully inserted and the electrical lineup is back to normal.

 

The licensee has notified the NRC Resident Inspector, and will be notifying local agencies. The licensee will also be issuing a press release.

 

Entergy’s Palisades nuclear plant near South Haven is venting radioactive steam into the environment as part of an unplanned shutdown triggered by an electrical accident.

 

This shutdown, which began Sunday evening, came just five days after the plant restarted from a shutdown that was caused by a leak in the plant’s cooling system.

 

Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokeswoman Prema Chandrithal said that the current shutdown happened because an object slipped during work on a circuit breaker and caused an arc that took out power for one of two DC electrical systems that power safety valves and other devices. According to a notice filed with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the plant is stable and “controlling temperature using Atmospheric Dump Valves.”

 

“The steam that would normally go to the generators, that steam is now going into the environment … through the steam stack,” said Chandrithal. “This would have very low levels of tritium.” Tritium is a radioactive isotope of hydrogen.

 

The plant is monitoring the levels and will report them to the NRC, Chandrithal said. Palisades’ 798-megawatt reactor began operation in 1971, and through a license extension granted by NRC, may operate until 2031.

 

 

 

Source: www.nrc.gov, via Enformable

[peanutbutter]

Shut down .. restarted .. shut down .. restarted ..

 

Yeah .. look at the Grand Rapids chart:

 

http://blog.alexanderhiggins.com/net2/Grand%20Rapids-MI-Real-Time-US-Radiation-Monitoring-Graph.aspx

[solabeirtan]

It was " sold " in 2006 after having it re-licensed for another 20 years ... till 2031. Its original charter would have expired on March 11, 2011.

 

Mysteriously there is no mention of the 21 casks of spent fuel still sitting in the parking lot. Is that the reason for relicensing ?

 

Strangely they wouldn't have been allowed to leave 21 abandoned vehicles in the parking lot and transfer ownership. 40 years of Spent nuclear fuel, hey! No Problemo!

[peanutbutter]

Looking at the radioactive chart, it looks like they may be dumping rads again .. Tritium?

 

Sunday Free Press front page.

 

Michigan's Palisades nuclear plant may be named one of nation's 5 worst

 

Looks like you can identify which plants are leaking by watching changes in background radiation and wind directions.

[peanutbutter]

The plant is back in the news:

 

http://www.cnn.com/2012/02/14/us/michigan-nuclear-plant-cited/index.html

 

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A nuclear power plant in Covert, Michigan, has been cited for three safety violations, according to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, joining two other U.S. nuclear plants in getting extra scrutiny from inspectors.

 

The worst of the violations stems from a September 25, 2011, incident at the Palisades Power Plant in which half of the control room indicators were lost because of an electrical fault "caused by personnel at the site," the NRC announced in a news release.

 

The NRC said it conducted a special inspection and "determined the plant failed to have adequate work procedures for the electrical panel maintenance work to ensure the job was done successfully."

 

The NRC said two other violations at Palisades were for a "low to moderate safety significance" issue related to a "coupling failure in the service water system." It said one of the service pumps failed last August due to cracking, something that also happened in 2009.

 

An inspection concluded: "The plant failed to prevent recurrence of the cracking condition and failed to completely consider the properties of the steel used in a past modification of the couplings."

 

The agency stated all three violations would result in additional NRC inspections and greater oversight of the nuclear power plant, located about 50 miles from Kalamazoo.

 

The Palisades plant, owned by the Entergy Corporation, joins two other plants singled out for closer inspections, according to Prema Chandrathil, spokeswoman for the NRC. The other two plants are the Perry Nuclear Power Plant Unit 1 near Cleveland, Ohio, and the Susquehanna Nuclear Power Plant Unit 1 in Pennsylvania about 70 miles northeast of Harrisburg.

 

Chandrathil said the only plant that ranks lower in the NRC's categories is the Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant in Athens, Alabama, 32 miles west of Huntsville.

 

As a result of the latest incidents at the Palisades, Chandrathil said, "An additional team of inspectors will be used to conduct 200 hours of additional inspections."

 

Mark Savage, spokesman for the Palisades plant, acknowledged the findings by the NRC and said, "We've cooperated fully with the agency, and we've shared information with them." Savage said the company will work with the NRC to plan future inspections.

[solabeirtan]

5 unexpected shut downs in 2011 and its safety rating should be RED, yet they're holding on to the yellow, for now.

 

Including blowing up half the control panel trying to replace a litye bulb.

 

" The plant was downgraded from green to white in 2010, but by 2011, was back in the green category. It can't be put back into the green category until the NRC is satisfied there are no further issues. "

 

WZZM13 - Covert, MI

 

 

 

Ratings run Green White Yellow Red (condemned)

[Timmahh]

scarier issues here is these 3 suffering plants are near our major fresh water supplies.. the infrastructure of this country has been swept under the carpeting since the late 60s. Like our medical community, it has become a case of the tail wagging the dog...

 

 

our Government has failed us on SO many levels, it would be almost be easier to flatten the entire system and re build it from the time our Declaration of Independance was signed and from when our Constitution was framed and ratified. WE need to put the Moral and Ethical Backbone back into our Government Body before we collapse under our own weight.

 

our Government as become as bloated as our population. But I digress, we are rich so who cares.

[Croppled1]

scarier issues here is these 3 suffering plants are near our major fresh water supplies.. the infrastructure of this country has been swept under the carpeting since the late 60s. Like our medical community, it has become a case of the tail wagging the dog...

 

 

our Government has failed us on SO many levels, it would be almost be easier to flatten the entire system and re build it from the time our Declaration of Independence was signed and from when our Constitution was framed and ratified. WE need to put the Moral and Ethical Backbone back into our Government Body before we collapse under our own weight.

 

our Government as become as bloated as our population. But I digress, we are rich so who cares.

 

 

On the fuel rods the Government had promised to build places to store radioactive waste and is behind . The Power Companies have been paying into a insurance or storage pool for that purpose since inception of reactors .

 

Since everyone is venting today having seen another acquaintance file bankruptcy today due to medical bills it is difficult to understand why a Country as wealthy as ours is the only one of the top Industrialized Nations without Universal Health Care recognized as a right of Citizenship . A country where a patient can understand what is covered and not in advance so they can purchase care accordingly . Customary and necessary injures and confuses patients it should not be a point of denial of care or benefits . There must be a better way to keep Doctors Patients and costs in line . .

 

http://www.healthcar...ince-he-was-12//

 

 

Summary of HR 676 and link to proposed legislation with sponsor credit .

 

 

http://www.healthcar...e-payer/hr-676/

 

Link on Spent fuel rod commitment of 1982

 

http://lobby.la.psu....meset_nuke.html