nuclear-news

Radioactive water leaked from Vermont nuclear plant

Vermont Yankee employees allow water to drain from spent fuel pool  http://www.commonsnews.org/site/site05/story.php?articleno=5817&page=1  The Commons  August 1, 2012  By Anne Galloway/vtdigger.org VERNON—About 2,700 gallons of water from the spent fuel pool at Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant drained into a wastewater system on July 22.

The 300,000 gallon pool contains 2,500 spent fuel assemblies removed from the reactor core. The spent fuel assemblies are submerged below more than 20 feet of water.
The water drained about six inches over the course of about 30 minutes when employees who were working on the fuel pool cleanup system left drain valves open. Operators in the control room discovered the problem after an alarm system went off, according to Rob Williams, spokesman for the plant.

The radioactive water drained into a wastewater collection tank….

Arnie Gundersen, a nuclear engineer and former member of a Vermont Yankee oversight panel, said several steps in a procedure were skipped by employees. He is concerned about oversight and employee training at the plant as older workers retire. Procedures, he said, must be much more specific.

“It’s a big deal, it’s a safety-related system, we’re not talking about mowing the lawn at VY,” Gundersen said. “There’s 300,000 gallons in the pool, and it lost 1 percent of the water in 30 minutes. It is radioactive water, it’s not like what you put in a water cooler.”

August 6, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | safety, USA