Oregon Live – by Ted Sickinger
The region’s only commercial nuclear plant, located just north of Richland, Wash, has a fuel leak in the reactor core that has led engineers to take four of its 764 fuel assemblies out of service.
John Dobken, a spokesman for Energy Northwest, the utility consortium that operates the Columbia Generating Station, confirmed there was a “fuel defect” at the plant but said it posed no safety risk to workers or the public. Radioactive gases detected in the coolant water were “barely detectable” and below the limit reportable to nuclear regulators, he said, though onsite inspectors and the board of Energy Northwest have been notified.
Dobken said the pinhole leak in the fuel assembly could have been caused by a manufacturing defect or by debris in reactor. It was discovered through routine chemical tests of the coolant water in mid September and confirmed through subsequent testing. Engineers isolated the four assemblies on November 7-8 and inserted a control rod to stop any nuclear reaction.
The plant, which generates enough electricity to serve a city the size of Seattle, is back at 100 percent power, and the plan is to remove those four assemblies when the reactor goes through its next refueling outage in May of 2017, Dobken said.
The reactor completed its most recent 50-day refueling outage in June, but was temporarily forced to operate at reduced power because of a stuck valve on a water pump. Plant operators also intend to fully repair the valve, which is only needed during refueling, as part of the next refueling outage.
– Ted Sickinger
tsickinger@oregonian.com
503-221-8505; @tedsickinger
http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2015/11/nuclear_fuel_leak_at_columbia.html
“The plant, which generates enough electricity to serve a city the size of Seattle,”
But can destroy an area the size of a continent.
“… said it posed no safety risk to workers or the public.”
Fukushima is more than adequate for the ‘job’.