The Solar increasing activity affect EARTH? Expect more "unusual Events" like Palisades Nuclear PowerPlant shutdown and Nine-Mile Point last

Nine Mile Point Unit 2 remains shut down as of press time Sunday, after a “higher-than-normal leakage” was discovered inside the facility’s drywell over the weekend. The incident, classified as an “unusual event,” which is the lowest level on the scale of nuclear power plant emergency classifications, occurred at 3:22 a.m., Saturday. “We will remain shut down until we complete the necessary repairs and post maintenance testing,” said Jill Lyon, a spokeswoman for Constellation Energy Nuclear Group, the company that owns the two units that comprise Nine Mile Point. According to Lyon, the drywell is the containment structure that surrounds the reactor vessel and all the associated piping for the reactor. The drywell has floor drains for water to leak through, which is monitored by plant personnel. Neil Sheehan, a spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said if there are more than 10 gallons of water per minute of unidentified leakage inside the drywell, the plant would shut down.

Sheehan added that it appears that the source of the leakage is a valve on a recirculation pump inside the structure. He explained that these large industrial pumps are used to recirculate water through the reactor. “They are going to have to take a look as to why they have this problem with this valve,” Sheehan said. “They only go in the drywell when the plant is shut down. So the last time they were in there was 14 months ago when the plant was shut down for a refueling and maintenance outage. “They won’t know and we won’t know until they get a closer look at this,” he added. “It doesn’t appear to be as a result of maintenance or lack of maintenance.” The next refueling and maintenance at the facility is slated to occur sometime in spring 2012, Sheehan said. Lyon noted that the issue with the unit 2 facility has no relation to an emergency siren that inadvertently sounded in Scriba at approximately 8 p.m., Friday. That was a malfunction of the siren, she said.

[link to hisz.rsoe.hu]

Last Edited by manif3ste on 09/17/2011 03:18 AM