San Onofre Nuclear Plant Under Tighter Federal Scrutiny

The Los Angeles Times ^ | December 23, 2008 | Christopher Goffard

[dbz77]

Federal inspectors said Monday they will ratchet up scrutiny of the San Onofre nuclear power plant after discovering that a battery meant to power safety systems had been inoperative for four years.

Plant personnel discovered in March that bolts connecting an emergency battery to a circuit breaker were loose, a problem the Nuclear Regulatory Commission attributed to poor maintenance.

The commission said that the twin-reactor plant near San Clemente, run by Rosemead-based Southern California Edison, remains safe, and that other backup batteries are functioning. But the commission expressed concern that the battery problem had gone unnoticed from 2004 to 2008.

Apart from the battery, the commission discovered seven additional safety flaws that it described as minor in themselves -- including poor documentation and inconsistent follow-up on potential problems -- but that taken together formed a troubling picture.

As a result, the commission issued a "white finding," characterized as a low- to moderate-level safety concern, and said it will step up inspections at San Onofre until it sees improvements.

[Cicero]

Sounds like much ado about nothing. Bureacrats proving how important they are. Or maybe they are ratcheting up so Obama can close all the nuke plants when he gets into office.

[SeanOGuano]

San Onofre Ping

[seowulf]

Sounds like much ado about nothing.

Not terribly serious but it is typical in the nuclear industry to get increased audits when small problems pop up.

It's not the problem you found that gets them worried. It's the ones they missed the first time around.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

***Plant personnel discovered in March that bolts connecting an emergency battery to a circuit breaker were loose, a problem the Nuclear Regulatory Commission attributed to poor maintenance. ****

Don’t they have weekly checks for this stuff? Maybe the I & E department needs to get a good talking to.

[Tarantulas]

I predict the same thing will happen at San Onofre that happened at my plant. The NRC will start sniffing around and will find several other minor problems and maybe one more problem they will call major. They will also look at paperwork and administrative processes. Finally they will declare that although the plant is running safely, management and staff are administering the plant poorly. They will declare that all the problems they found are related to flaws in administration and will require a detailed analysis (by the plant staff) of all problems and their resolutions for the last few years. The plant staff will be running around for a couple of years, digging up and compiling information and generating corrective action programs. There will be a changeout in plant management and the whole thing will cost millions of dollars. It won’t be fun, either.

[ASOC]

Humm

Poor maintenace

Nuke power plant

Same sentance.

Hope the FedGov saves me from.......something.

Easist fix - require ALL workers & administrators and their families live “on site”, behind the wire, at the plant.

Bet you there would a lot fewer problems.....

[shove_it]

Screw loose?