nuclear-news

Expert weighs in on Seabrook Station safety study, relicensing

HAMPTON — Seacoast residents again questioned Tuesday during an annual meeting about Seabrook Station’s safety why owners of the degraded nuclear power plant can apply for a new license 20 years before their current license expires.

“I just don’t understand how you could be considering relicensing this far ahead with all the problems down there,” said Don Tilbury, an area resident, to Nuclear Regulatory Commission officials running the meeting. “You’re in the midst of something you don’t know the results of. … You don’t really know that they’re safe.”

Roughly 40 people, including elected officials and Seabrook Station employees, attended Tuesday’s annual open house and safety meeting for Seabrook Station at the Best Western in Hampton.

The purpose of the meeting was to inform the public that NRC officials have deemed the plant operated safely in 2013 despite increasing degradation and cracking caused by an alkali-silica reaction within the plant’s concrete, according to the NRC.

NextEra Energy is seeking to extend its license from 2030 to 2050. A determination about Seabrook Station’s license application won’t be made until specialized ASR tests are completed and various action plans are implemented, according NRC Division of Reactor Safety Deputy Director Jim Trapp.

Those tests, being conducted at the University of Texas at NextEra’s expense, are expected to take roughly a few years or longer to complete.

University of Massachusetts Lowell nuclear engineering professor Gil Brown raised several questions and concerns about the plant’s safety and the relicensing process during the question and answer period of Tuesday’s meeting, although he said the seemingly “arbitrary” and “early” 20-year relicensing application period is a good thing.

He said the plant “has to be safe” and that it’s not wise to wait until “five years” or “one year” before a plant’s license expires to conduct time-consuming tests to evaluate safety and structural integrity.

“I would say 20 years gives time to resolve things that have shown up, like ASR,” Brown said.

NRC staff say recent visual inspections indicate there are 171 locations of cracking throughout Seabrook Station’s various concrete structures due to the gel that slowly forms when the alkali and silica within the concrete react.

NRC Public Affairs Officer Neil Sheehan said tests last year indicate there were 131 locations of cracking due to ASR, which is a common problem with concrete. The number of locations is expected to grow over time, and the University of Texas tests are being conducted to determine how the cracking will affect the plant’s concrete and operability decades down the line.

The NRC claims the plant’s concrete is still able to handle its required loads despite the cracking, though, because the plant was constructed to structural specifications that far exceeded the design loads. NRC staff say Seabrook Station’s ASR is not “infringing” on those margins.

Detailed information about ASR findings at Seabrook Station, recent safety inspections and evaluations, and updates and findings from the University of Texas tests can be found online at www.nrc.gov.

June 25, 2014 - Posted by arclight2011part2 | Uncategorized