Radioactive Steam Leaks Near NYC

Source: Associated Press Publication date: Feb 16, 2000

BUCHANAN, N.Y. (AP) -- A small amount of radioactive steam leaked from a Hudson River nuclear plant, prompting the declaration of an alert, but officials said today that workers and residents were not in danger.

Soon after the leak was detected Tuesday night, plant officials declared the alert -- the second-lowest of four emergency classifications for nuclear plants -- but no evacuations were ordered and none was expected, police said.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said today that plant operators "have stabilized the plant and are in control of all systems" after manually shutting down the reactor. It said the operators successfully isolated the generator where the leak occurred.

"Radiological monitoring by the company at this point indicates there have been no measurable releases of radioactivity from the plant," said the NRC in a statement issued from the agency's headquarters in Rockville, Md.

The agency said NRC inspectors were at the plant to monitor the response to the incident at the Indian Point 2 plant in northern Westchester County, about 35 miles north of New York City. The plant is operated by Consolidated Edison.

"There is no danger to the health and welfare of the general public," Steve Quinn, Con Edison vice president, told reporters early today.

No plant workers were exposed to radiation above the level they would experience in a normal workday, Quinn said.

"All radiation measurements around the plant and in the community are within normal readings," he said.

It wasn't immediately known what caused the leak, which happened in a tube used to carry hot, radioactive, high-pressure water to a pool of cool, non-radioactive water. Steam, produced when the hot water hits the cool water, turns a turbine and generates electricity.

The steam was automatically released through a vent in the roof of the containment building, the sealed concrete building that holds the reactor, at 7:29 p.m. Tuesday. A monitor in the vent detected radioactivity and sealed the vent after just a few seconds.

Quinn estimated about 1 cubic foot of gas had escaped into the air outside, constituting a "completely immeasurable" amount of radiation.

The emergency sirens surrounding the plant were not sounded because the steam escape was so small, the utility said.

The alert remained in effect early today while officials waited for the water in the plant to cool. Quinn said the building was accessible but nothing could be done inside until the temperature dropped.

The plant was shut down after the leak and is to remain closed for maintenance for at least a week.

Power will be provided by other plants in the region.

"It's not something we want to rush," Quinn said of reopening. "Something unusual happened tonight."

The plant produces about a seventh of the power Con Edison supplies to its 3 million customers, but there was no loss of power.

The four classifications for emergencies at power plants, in ascending order of importance, are: an unusual event, an alert, a site-area emergency and a general emergency. Only one general emergency has ever been declared at a U.S. nuclear plant, after the March 1979 accident at Three Mile Island plant in Pennsylvania.

The alert was the first in the Indian River 2 plant's 26 years of operation.

Publication date: Feb 16, 2000 ) 2000, NewsReal, Inc.

Link:

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-- Carl Jenkins (Somewherepress@aol.com), February 16, 2000

Answers

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-- Henry Howfambofergilfer (howfambofergilfer@hotmail.com), February 16, 2000.

I hope we're not seeing the same slow release of information we saw during Three Mile Island.

The first reports for Indian River were VERY clear that all radioactive steam was contained within the building, and that none was released into the outside air. This story clearly disputes that.

Thw next question will clearly have to be:

Exactly how much was released???

I don't have confidence that this report is accurate either when it says that 1 cubic foot of gas had escaped"

I sincerely hope they have everything under control now, and really know what's going on inside the containment bldg.

Remember, with TMI, they weren't getting accurate reading on what was truly going on inside the bldg. Let's hope the cooling is still working effectively.

Whatever, I'm sure there are alot of tense people at Indian River right now!

Robert Cook, Is this latest report a little more concerning to you???

-- Duke1983 (Duke1983@aol.com), February 16, 2000.

Didn't this plant also have a major problem late this fall, just after the Japanese accident?

-- (snowleopard6@webtv.net), February 16, 2000.

A few too many leaks.... I'm getting this one confused with the leaks in Ukraine....

-- Squirrel Hunter (nuts@upina.cellrelaytower), February 16, 2000.

From above:

<< ...

It wasn't immediately known what caused the leak, which happened in a tube used to carry hot, radioactive, high-pressure water to a pool of cool, non-radioactive water. Steam, produced when the hot water hits the cool water, turns a turbine and generates electricity.

The steam was automatically released through a vent in the roof of the containment building, the sealed concrete building that holds the reactor, at 7:29 p.m. Tuesday. A monitor in the vent detected radioactivity and sealed the vent after just a few seconds.

Quinn estimated about 1 cubic foot of gas had escaped into the air outside, constituting a "completely immeasurable" amount of radiation. >>

---...---...

The first, supposedly "technical" description: " ... a tube of hot, radioactive water ..." makes no sense at all. I don't know what they think they are describing, much less what they actually are describing.

Apparently something leaked hot water, which drained to a dfferent system, where the hot contaminated water hit colder pure water (?) - which has NOTHING to do with the steam turbine system(s), then the cold water flashed into steam, which naturally went into the containment dome, then was prevented from venting by the closure of the automatic valve that allows venting of the dome .... so the dome didn't vent at all.

One cubic foot of the resulting steam in the whole containment dome (from the pure water that was heated by the dirty water) really would really have no measureable contamination ... at least that much does make sense.

The containment dome has (more or less) 3 millions of cubic feet of space for the original gas to expand into, so you're talking about the volume of the leak 1-2 gallons (?) which is 1/4 cubic feet, diluted by the 3 million cubic feet in the containment building, then letting 1 of the resulting 3 million go ...

Do the math: 1/4 divided by 3 million isn't very much, and even with that, you are assuming that radioactive particles actually got mixed up high enough in the air to get to the roof of the dome.

-- Robert A. Cook, PE (Marietta, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), February 16, 2000.