Byron IL Nuclear Reactor Loses Power

[The Stig]

Byron Nuclear Reactor Loses Power, Venting Steam

Updated: Tuesday, 31 Jan 2012, 6:47 AM CST
Published : Monday, 30 Jan 2012, 2:28 PM CST

By Mike Flannery, FOX Chicago News Political Editor

Byron, Ill. - A nuclear power plant in Byron, Ill., lost power and shut down on Monday afternoon in an incident officials called "an unusual event."

Officials said small amounts of radiation called tritium were in the steam that was released to help cool the plant, which is northwest of Chicago. Tritium is a radioactive variation of hydrogen. Exelon said the levels were low and not a danger to the community.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's "incident response center" in Lisle was activated immediately after that agency learned the transformer in the electrical switching yard at Byron began smoking during the emergency shutdown of reactor two. The unit is still offline tonight.

On Monday night, engineers, a physicist and a team manager were still there, monitoring real time information about the temperature pressure inside that reactor.

"The plant is in stable condition," said Viktoria Mitlyn of the NRC.

"No injuries. No safety issue," said Paul Dempsey, Byron plant spokesperson.

People in the area are used to living in the shadow of the reactors and were not worried about Monday's incident.

"I have no concern whatsoever about that plant sitting out there," said Byron Fire Chief Galen Bennett.

Neither Exelon nor regulators have been able or willing to tell us how much tritium was released. Mitlyng said that information might be released in a quarterly report. That lack of transparency frustrates nuclear power critics like David Kraft.

"No numbers at all at this point. It's a billion dollar federal regulatory agency and a public record. We should have that information," Kraft said.

The Chicago area is the most nuclear-powered area in America. There are six nuclear plants currently in operation in Illinois, and they are all run by Exelon.

Original story from My Fox Chicago: http://www.myfoxchicago.com/dpp/news/illinois/byron-illinois-nuclear-reactor-losing-power-vent-steam-exelon-20120130

[The Stig]

Unit 2 at Byron Generating Station, about 95 miles (153 kilometers) northwest of Chicago, shut down at 10:18 a.m., after losing power, Exelon officials said. Diesel generators began supplying power to the plant, and operators began releasing steam to cool the reactor from the part of the plant where turbines are producing electricity, not from within the nuclear reactor itself, officials said.

The steam contains low levels of tritium, a radioactive form of hydrogen, but federal and plant officials insisted the levels were safe for workers and the public.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission declared the incident an "unusual event," the lowest of four levels of emergency. Commission officials also said the release of tritium was expected.

Exelon Nuclear officials believe a failed piece of equipment at a switchyard caused the shutdown. The switchyard is similar to a large substation that delivers power to the plant from the electrical grid and that takes power from the plant to the electrical grid. Officials were still investigating the equipment failure.

Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokeswoman Viktoria Mitlyng said officials can't yet calculate how much tritium is being released. They know the amounts of tritium are small because monitors around the plant aren't showing increased levels of radiation, she said.

Tritium molecules are so small that tiny amounts are able to pass from radioactive steam from the reactor into the water used to cool the turbines and other equipment outside the reactor. The steam that was being released was coming from the turbine side.

The amount of releasing steam helps "take away some of that energy still being produced by nuclear reaction but that doesn't have anywhere to go now." Even though the turbine is not turning to produce electricity, she said, "you still need to cool the equipment."

Tritium is relatively short-lived and penetrates the body weakly through the air compared to other radioactive contaminants.

Candace Humphrey, Ogle County's emergency management coordinator, said county officials were notified of the incident as soon as it happened and that public safety was never in danger.

In March 2008, federal officials said they were investigating a problem with electrical transformers at the plant after outside power to a unit was interrupted.

In an unrelated issue last April, the commission said it was conducting special inspections of backup water pumps at the Byron and Braidwood generating stations after the agency's inspectors raised concerns about whether the pumps would be able to cool the reactors if the normal system wasn't working. The plants' operator, Exelon Corp., initially said the pumps would work but later concluded they wouldn't.

From Times Live: US nuclear reactor loses power, venting steam - Times LIVE (http://www.timeslive.co.za/Feeds/Sapa/2012/01/31/us-nuclear-reactor-loses-power-venting-steam)

[The Stig]

CHICAGO — A nuclear reactor at a northern Illinois plant shut down Monday after losing power, and steam was being vented to reduce pressure, according to officials from Exelon Nuclear and federal regulators.

( Robert Ray, File / Associated Press ) - FILE - In this March 16, 2011 photo, steam escapes from Exelon Corp.’s nuclear plant in Byron, Ill. A nuclear reactor the plant shut down Monday, Jan. 30, 2012 after losing power, and steam was being vented to reduce pressure, according to officials from Exelon Nuclear and federal regulators.

The steam contains low levels of tritium, a radioactive form of hydrogen, but federal and plant officials insisted the levels were safe for workers and the public.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission declared the incident an “unusual event,” the lowest of four levels of emergency. Commission officials also said the release of tritium was expected.

Exelon Nuclear officials believe a failed piece of equipment at a switchyard caused the shutdown but were still investigating an exact cause. The switchyard is similar to a large substation that delivers power to the plant from the electrical grid and from the plant to the electrical grid. Smoke was seen from an onsite station transformer, Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokeswoman Viktoria Mitlyng said, but no evidence of a fire was found when the plant’s fire brigade responded.

Mitlyng said officials can’t yet calculate how much tritium is being released. They know the amounts are small because monitors around the plant aren’t showing increased levels of radiation, she said.

Tritium molecules are so microscopic that small amounts are able to pass from radioactive steam that originates in the reactor through tubing and into the water used to cool turbines and other equipment outside the reactor, Mitlyng said. The steam that was being released was coming from the turbine side.

Tritium is relatively short-lived and penetrates the body weakly through the air compared to other radioactive contaminants.

Releasing steam helps “take away some of that energy still being produced by nuclear reaction but that doesn’t have anywhere to go now.” Even though the turbine is not turning to produce electricity, she said, “you still need to cool the equipment.”

Candace Humphrey, Ogle County’s emergency management coordinator, said county officials were notified of the incident as soon as it happened and that public safety was never in danger.

“It was standard procedure that they would notify county officials,” she said. “There is always concern. But, it never crossed my mind that there was any danger to the people of Ogle County.”

Unit 1 was operating normally while engineers investigate why Unit 2 lost power, which comes into the plant from the outside power grid, Mitlyng said. She said Nuclear Regulatory Commission inspectors were in the control room at Byron and in constant contact with the agency’s incident response center in Lisle, Ill.

In March 2008, federal officials said they were investigating a problem with electrical transformers at the plant after outside power to a unit was interrupted.

In an unrelated issue last April, the commission said it was conducting special inspections of backup water pumps at the Byron and Braidwood generating stations after the agency’s inspectors raised concerns about whether the pumps would be able to cool the reactors if the normal system wasn’t working. The plants’ operator, Exelon Corp., initially said the pumps would work but later concluded they wouldn’t.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Originally from Washington Post: Reactor shuts down, releases steam at Illinois nuclear plant after losing outside power - The Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/industries/reactor-shuts-down-releases-steam-at-illinois-nuclear-plant-after-losing-outside-power/2012/01/30/gIQALf13cQ_story.html?tid=sm_twitter_washingtonpos t)

[Sniper-T]

uh oh!

:eek:

[msomnipotent]

I was trying to convince my husband to go to my sister's house in Chicago last night. We are not extremely close to Byron, but close enough to have to worry about it. I am glad that it didn't happen last week because it was extremely windy, but we were in pretty rough shape last night. We were very sleep deprived from babysitting my 18 month old niece since Thursday, and celebrated a job well done with a bottle of cava. We probably would have caused an accident if we had to leave. All that prepping, and a toddler and a bottle of cava do us in!

At least my family members have moved from Byron. One article insinuated that the residents don't care about the reactor, but they complain about it all of the time. Not only has it really dragged down property values, but all of the reactors in northern IL are old and falling apart. I really, REALLY want to leave this state.

[bacpacker]

Tritium is part of the trigger system for setting off Nuclear weapons as well. i'll try to find more direct info on it and post it up tomorrow.

[izzyscout21]

I hadn't heard about this. Glad I found this topic.

All I know about Tritium is that it's the "go juice" for my night sights.

[Sniper-T]

Something kind of interesting:

Ground Zero II | Carloslabs (http://www.carloslabs.com/node/20)

punch in "Byron, Illinois", select your bomb size and nuke it. Think about your prevailing winds and how the fallout will be distributed.

[GunnerMax]

they should take that tritium, and increase production, thus decreasing the price for Tritium Night Sights :cool:

[izzyscout21]

^^
That's the best idea I've heard all day.........

[Grumpy Old Man]

Tritium is the isotope of hydrogen that contains 2 neutrons with 1 proton. Protium is the most common isotope of hydrogen and contains only one proton in the nucleus- this is what we typically refer to as hydrogen. Deuterium is the hydrogen isotope that contains one neutron and one proton in the nucleus. This is the isotope the Third Reich was using in their heavy water experiments during their attempt to develop an atomic weapon during WW II.

FWIW the half life of tritium is ~12 years. It is also injected during a fission reaction to cause it to go into a fusion reaction. This was proposed by Edward Teller as early as 1946. He is known as the "Father of the Hydrogen Bomb".

[bacpacker]

Grumpy, you beat me to it. Here is a link I found.
Tritium - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tritium)

Heres a little about the health risk.


Health risks

Tritium is an isotope of hydrogen, which allows it to readily bind to hydroxyl radicals, forming tritiated water (HTO), and to carbon atoms. Since tritium is a low energy beta emitter, it is not dangerous externally (its beta particles are unable to penetrate the skin), but it is a radiation hazard when inhaled, ingested via food or water, or absorbed through the skin.[14][15][16][17] HTO has a short biological half-life in the human body of 7 to 14 days, which both reduces the total effects of single-incident ingestion and precludes long-term bioaccumulation of HTO from the environment[16].

Tritium has leaked from 48 of 65 nuclear sites in the United States, detected in groundwater at levels exceeding the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) drinking water standards by up to 375 times.[18]

[Sniper-T]

Not sure if this is about the same place or not... but sounds kinda creepy

you boys down there, watch your sixes!

Reddit, I think there is a giant (nuclear) coverup afoot. : politics (http://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/uqlq9/reddit_i_think_there_is_a_giant_nuclear_coverup/)

[AlphaTea]

I work in the Nuclear Power Field.
Nobody is trying to cover up anything. They couldn't if they wanted to. Way too many checks and balances.
People are not "afraid for their lives if they speak".
If there was anything hinkey, the press would be all over it and they would make a garbage truck roll-over look like a EPA super fund cleanup site.
I dont believe in massive Gov't coverups anymore because there are too many loose lips who would jump at the chance for their 15 minutes.
I dont know WTF the Ohio story is about or where it comes from.
Our NRC resident inspector thought it was pretty funny.

[Sniper-T]

Thanks for the note of reason Alpha. I really have no clue about this shit. Our power here comes from water. I knew it was a little tinfoil, but thought I'd throw it up for discussion anyways, since this group seems to have a knack for seperating the flyshit from the pepper without melodrama.

T.

[bacpacker]

I too work in the nuclear field. I will second Alpha's comments. The local news has something in the news every few days. We have a local we bsite at work that is nothing but news stories about the facility i work at. There is 4-5 every day and few of them good.

[ladyhk13]

Can anyone tell mey why the U.S. doesn't recycle nuke waste like France?

[Vodin]

We got enough Waste with a powerful aura our selves. And we havent figured out how to recycle it really....

[ladyhk13]

But France does it very well so why don't we use their technology to do it?

[Twitchy]

But France does it very well so why don't we use their technology to do it?

It just shifts the problem elsewhere by creating a different form of highly toxic waste...

[Vodin]

Not to be a thorn but doesnt radioactive substances have a huge 1/2 life? It seems if it would take a 1000 years for it to reduce to 1/2 the size when it started... it cant be recycled...

[DarkLight]

A) not necessarily - some radioactive isotopes decay in a matter of seconds actually (nothing that we use for power but they do exist) &

B) when talking about "recycling" spent or used nuclear fuel, there are either 2 or 3 classes of nuclear power plants. In the US we are prevented, by presidential edict (it's Jimmy Carter's doing) from building/using all but the one type of plant.

France, on the other hand, can build and use at least the next level down which can utilize the "spent" fuel rods from the first type as fuel...after some processing. It's not as clean but it's doable and results ultimately in less waste.