By
BOB AUDETTE, Reformer Staff
Wednesday, November 12
In its press release Yankee stated the steam dryer had been inspected and it
"remains in very good condition."
No mention was made of the cracks, said Rob Williams, spokesman for Yankee,
because they were not new and had been discovered using enhanced inspection
techniques. Inspections of the steam dryer during three refueling outages were
required by
"In our best engineering judgment, these cracks have been there since
the early days of plant operation," said Williams.
"Why should we trust them?" asked Ray Shadis, technical consultant
to the New England Coalition on Nuclear Pollution, which raised issues with the
Atomic Safety and Licensing Board about fatigue cracks in the dryer.
Shadis said Entergy, which owns and operates Vermont Yankee, has not been
totally up-front about problems at the power plant, including a failure last
May of a gantry crane used to move nuclear waste and the collapse of a cooling
tower in August 2007.
"They would not have told us about the collapse except for the fact
that the photos got but," said Shadis. Pictures of the cooling tower
collapse were forwarded to NEC by an anonymous source several days after the
failure.
Shadis said Entergy doesn't do themselves any favors by not being as
forthright as possible with information about the plant.
"Just tell us the way it is."
A spokesman for the anti-nuclear Citizen Awareness Network also expressed
his dismay.
"Frankly, there is no reason to trust them based on their previous
behavior," said Bob Stannard. "We have been
told time and time again that things are fine there. The state was assured the
cooling towers were fine just a couple of days away from having it almost
collapse again."
Earlier this year Entergy revealed changes to the cooling towers meant to
prevent a collapse such as had occurred in 2007 had led to sagging in a
distribution pipe's support system. Entergy voluntarily supplied the
information to the media after the problem was discovered.
The cracks identified during the most recent refueling outage and were not
of the type that were of concern to NEC, said Williams.
"All were determined to be due to intergranular
stress corrosion cracking."
NEC was concerned with metal fatigue, said Shadis, which happens when metal
is flexed. The steam dryer is a static device with no moving parts meant to
extract water vapor from steam produced by the reactor before it is sent to the
power turbine.
Intergranular stress corrosion cracks occur
"due to the relief of metal stress first induced by the heat of the
original weld process," said Williams.
None of the additional cracks nor any of the
previously identified cracks have grown since the last inspection, he said, nor
were they related to metal fatigue.
The additional cracks weren't included in the original press release, he
said, because close to 5,000 tasks were performed during the outage --
including inspections and parts replacements -- making it nearly impossible to
inform the public of everything that was done while the reactor was being
refueled.
It's up to the licensee to inspect the plant and up to regulators to oversee
the process, he said.
"The dryer is in good condition and that's why it passed the
inspection," he said.
Entergy is required to submit a report to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
following all outages, wrote Neil Sheehan, NRC spokesman, in an e-mail to the Reformer.
"They will need to document for us the results of their steam dryer
inspections, as they have in the past," wrote Sheehan. "(But) Entergy
does not need to file a report with us on every task undertaken during the
outage."
Sheehan wrote that the NRC supplements its regular inspection program during
outages because they are periods of high activity.
"That includes bringing in specialists coming in to evaluate discrete
outage activities, such as the replacement of large components."
Whether Entergy is required to submit a report to
In addition to determining the steam dryer was in good condition, Entergy
inspection teams checked the reactor vessel as well as its surrounding
containment structure and both were found to be in good condition, according to
Williams.
Upgrades to the plant during the outage included service water valves and
piping, the safety-related cooling tower cell, installation of a new main feedwater pump motor and routine refurbishment of the main
turbine valves.
"Our team carefully selected the tasks to be done, planned each task
and brought the plan together in a very successful outage," stated Entergy
Vermont Yankee Site Vice President
The next refueling outage is scheduled for the Spring of 2010, at which time
another inspection of the steam dryer will be conducted.
Though it's too late to bring the new cracks to the attention of the Atomic
Safety and Licensing Board, which is reviewing evidence on metal fatigue cracks
in the steam dryer submitted by NEC, Shadis said the organization will present
the information to the Vermont Public Service Board, which is reviewing whether
the plant should receive a certificate of public good to continue to operate
from 2012 to 2032.
"That's for certain," he said.
Bob Audette can be reached at raudette@reformer.com, or
802-254-2311, ext. 273.