The DAB
Safety Team’s - Update 10-14-12, SCE’s Replacement
Steam Generator $680 Million Debacle
1. If SCE’s and MHI’s Engineers had used all the following
guidelines, they would have prevented the
Replacement Steam Generators (RSG’s)
catastrophic failures and they would not be in financial trouble with the SONGS
Union Workers, the NRC, the Public, the News Media and their Ratepayers:
- · Human Performance Tools, along with the NRC Branch Chief and the World’s Foremost Expert’s sage advice of “read between the lines', ‘use critical
questioning & an investigative attitude', 'solid teamwork & alignment,
and ‘read the academic papers on eliminating fluid elastic instability and
flow-induced vibrations in nuclear power plant components.”
- · Benchmarked the design details of Palo Verde and other CE RSGs
design details in order to eliminate any potential fluid elastic instability
and or flow-induced vibrations experienced in the SONGS CE Original Steam Generators
(OSGs), so that they would not occur in their new RSG’s.
2. SCE should have embraced rather than bypassed
the FULL
NRC Licensing Amendment Process.
- · SCE “Sweet Talked” the NRC into accepting the results of
Inadequate Industry Benchmarking and the Defective 10 CFR 50.59 Evaluation and
thus avoided the thorough and lengthy scrutiny of FULL NRC 10 CFR 50.90
Licensing Amendment Process.
- · Note, the lack of strict oversight by Region IV NRC Staff as
required by NRC Reactor Oversight Process, was a critical flaw that enabled the
debacle.
WHAT IS NEEDED to
prevent the adverse consequence of a Main Steam Line Break outside Containment
and the resulting nuclear radiological disaster in Southern California, if SCE’s
Degraded Unit 2 is allowed to restart at 70% power for an operations trial
period of 5 months as an, “Unapproved Experiment”, as SCE and 3 out of 4
Nuclear Energy Institute Qualified “US Nuclear Plant Designers” are recommending?
1. Submittal of a NRC 10 CFR
50.90 Licensing Amendment Application for SONGS Unit 2 Restart Plan by SCE.
2. A thorough review of SONGS Unit 2 Restart Plan Return to Service
Report by Region IV NRC Staff, NRC Chairman and Commissioners, U.S. Senate
Committee on Environment & Public Works, and independent verification/ by the
NRC Offices of Nuclear Reactor Regulations, Nuclear Regulatory Research1
and the Union of Concerned Scientists.
3. Sworn testimony by all
parties responsible for the preparation of SONGS Unit 2 Restart Plan Return to
Service Report to insure that public safety and health will not be compromised
in case of a nuclear Accident caused by a Design Bases Earthquake/Main Steam
Line Break due to multiple tube leaks or ruptures or combination thereof.
4. Investigation of SONGS
Safety Violations and Worker Discrimination, Retaliation, Intimidation and
Harassment by an Independent Federal Commission appointed by the President or
the Supreme Court of the United States. This is required to guarantee
public acceptance of the results these investigations by the people of Southern
California.
5. Return of the 1.2 Billion
Dollars that the ratepayers have “fronted” SCE to date, with interest.
6. A Financial Bond Guarantee by Southern California Edison to
cover the Financial Ruin of Southern California’s economy in case of any
nuclear Incident/Accident.
_____________________________________________________
1Dr. Joram Hopenfeld, a
retired engineer from the Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research, sharply criticized NRC
officials for downplaying the dangers of degraded steam tubes in December 1999, three months before the Indian Point accident, and said, “To be
credible, risk-informed regulation mandates statistically valid and scrutable
data, competent insights of accident scenarios and their consequences, and of
accident prevention strategies, as well as meaningful public involvement. In
reality, the staff examines accident scenarios and their consequences in a
superficial manner; accident prevention is apparently dictated primarily by
financial considerations, and the public is being excluded from meaningful
participation in the NRC deliberation process’, ‘The nuclear industry and the
NRC have a poor track record of controlling steam generator tube degradation.”
The NRC's Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS) issued a report in
February 2001 and substantiated many of Dr. Hopenfeld's concerns.
Copyright October 14, 2012 by The DAB Safety Team. All rights
reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast or redistributed
without crediting the DAB Safety Team.
San Onofre, the risks live on 
