[kittymyrib]

Never forget...more people died in Ted Kennedy's Oldsmobile than at Three Mile Island, so this "worst accident" didn't amount to much.

[rlmorel]

Dang...why don't we just build these things out near Barbara Streisand's house in Malibu?

Then, a nuclear accident wouldn't be a wholly negative event.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

This plant should be mothballed, IMO, and replaced with a next-generation nuclear reactor built by the French.

All of our nuclear power plants are obsolete and insufficient to meet today's energy demands.

[rottndog]

A faulty instrument reading triggered the automatic shutdown,....

In other words, it worked exactly as designed.

More Nukes, Please!!!!!

[Nuc1]

Sounds like a spurious scram, no big deal.

[Question Liberal Authority]

I question the timing of this "accident".

[Palladin]

>>>but radiation was not released and there was no danger to the public, company and federal officials said.<<<

Yeah...they said the same thing in 1979.

[lepton]

The plant, about 10 miles southeast of Harrisburg, was the site of the nation's worst nuclear accident which was darn paltry.

[razorback-bert]

Somebody spill a Pepsi?

[Mr_Moonlight]

In other breaking news: A fuse blew out at the Con Edison plant in Long Island City, causing several dozen residents to lose power for 10 minutes ........... woman, children, and minorities hit hardest.

[burzum]

There is no event report yet. They should have filed within 8 hours so I'm guessing that the NRC web site hasn't updated yet (since it is now approaching 10 hours). The NRC spokesman noted: "It appears this was an uncomplicated, smooth shutdown," so it wasn't a scram (they didn't fear that reactor safeguards had been compromised to the point where it wasn't safe to perform a shutdown versus a scram)--therefore it was probably a minor instrument or if it was a major instrument their redundant instruments were working.

Basically, from my experience operating nuclear reactors (in the Navy) this means that there wasn't an issue in safely operating the reactor, but if one or more further instruments failed that they would have to scram. Sort of a minor issue here and not worthy of the notice of the AP. Read the recent event reports and you will find tons of events more serious than this in the last 2 weeks. This event is only getting attention because it involves the TMI plant.

[burzum]

Well the event report is in and it appears that it was actually a scram.

Power Reactor	Event Number: 42957
Facility: THREE MILE ISLAND Region: 1 State: PA Unit: [1] [ ] [ ] RX Type: [1] B&W-L-LP,[2] B&W-L-LP NRC Notified By: JOE SHOFFNEN HQ OPS Officer: JOHN MacKINNON	Notification Date: 11/02/2006 Notification Time: 14:53 [ET] Event Date: 11/02/2006 Event Time: 13:34 [EST] Last Update Date: 11/02/2006
Emergency Class: NON EMERGENCY 10 CFR Section: 50.72(b)(2)(iv)(B) - RPS ACTUATION - CRITICAL	Person (Organization): JOHN WHITE (R1)

Unit	SCRAM Code	RX CRIT	Initial PWR	Initial RX Mode	Current PWR	Current RX Mode
1	A/R	Y	100	Power Operation	0	Hot Shutdown

Event Text

AUTOMATIC TURBINE TRIP/ REACTOR TRIP DUE TO INVALID LOW CONDENSER VACUUM SIGNAL


"At 1334 on 11-2-06 an Automatic Reactor Trip occurred from 100% power. All systems functioned as required. One safety valve stuck open on both OTSGs. They subsequently re-seated. An employee working on the roof at the time of the trip fell off a ladder and injured his leg. Emergency medical was contacted to assisted with the injured worker. Two fire trucks and an ambulance was dispatched to the site to remove the injured worker. The worker was not contaminated. There is no indication of any OTSG Tube leaks. Initial investigation indicates the reactor tripped, due to a turbine trip due to an invalid low vacuum signal."

State and local officials will be notified of this event by the licensee.


I&C Techs were performing maintenance on one of the low pressure vacuum switches. An electrical fault fed to the other two low pressure vacuum switches causing a 2 out of 3 signal which resulted in a turbine trip followed by a reactor trip signal, as expected. All rods fully inserted into the core. One safety valve (9 safety valves on each OTSG) on each Once Through Steam Generator stuck open. OTSG "B" safety relief valve was open less than one minute. There are no leaking OTSG tubes. A condensate relief valve located in the turbine building opened/shut - nobody injured. The ICS (Integrated Control System) operated as expected. All emergency core cooling systems and the emergency diesel generators are fully operable plus the electrical grid is stable.

A licensee working on the industrial coolers on top of the industrial building, standing on a ladder, fell off the ladder when OTSG relief valve opened. Licensee either broke or badly sprained his leg.

The NRC Resident Inspector was informed of this event by the licensee.

[Popman]

Was Al Gore seen leaving the site?